Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Unholy Rites” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Unholy Rites

(Danutia Dranchuk #3)

Kay Stewart (Goodreads Author),

Chris Bullock

it was amazing 5.00 · Rating details · 7 ratings · 1 review

The third book in the Danutia Dranchuk mystery series reunites RCMP constable Danutia Dranchuk and drama critic Arthur Fairweather. This time they are visiting England's Peak District, where the practice of ancient Celtic rituals persists as well as reminders of the exploitation of child labourers during the Industrial Revolution. Danutia has been transferred to the area f ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 264 pages

Published March 12th 2013 by TouchWood Editions

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Unholy Rites, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Unholy Rites

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-33

it was amazing Average rating 5.00 ·

Rating details

· 7 ratings · 1 review

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Unholy Rites

Jan 24, 2013 Lou Allin rated it it was amazing

Vancouver Island is an ocean away from the Peak District, but fertile crime territory for RMCP Constable Danutia Dranchuk and drama critic Arthur Fairweather. Arthur is back home in England attending to the death of his mother. Danutia is on a study visit, in particular Community Service Orders for juveniles. The pair are chalk and cheese, a prickly but caring partnership.
They have arrived in time for the annual ceremonies of well dressing, which date to a Celtic heritage honouring the source
Vancouver Island is an ocean away from the Peak District, but fertile crime territory for RMCP Constable Danutia Dranchuk and drama critic Arthur Fairweather. Arthur is back home in England attending to the death of his mother. Danutia is on a study visit, in particular Community Service Orders for juveniles. The pair are chalk and cheese, a prickly but caring partnership.
They have arrived in time for the annual ceremonies of well dressing, which date to a Celtic heritage honouring the source of life. Seeds and leaves and flower petals are pressed into clay for an ephemeral but beautiful ceremony. Those who favour a Christian interpretation are disturbed by accompanying phallic games such as the maypole dance.
Arthur’s mother has left disturbing scrapbooks dating to the “accidental” drowning of a young child several decades ago. She had suspicions about someone and mentioned to Arthur that she wanted to talk to Danutia about this situation. Now it’s too late. Mom had seemed faint at a Candlemas gathering, so a young boy was sent to walk her home to Well Cottage. A neighbour found her dead soon after. From a known heart condition or something more sinister? What about the herbs and naturopathic potions she took on trust from a friend? Was there an error in the dosage, an interaction with her normal meds? Did the boy do something? Impossible to tell now. Other than Arthur, who benefits from her will?
In the face of memento mori , Arthur becomes less stubborn and more endearing. To Danutia’s consternation, he finds comfort in smoking his father’s old churchwarden pipe and as they search for answers, begins to see her in a more tender light. Danutia, on the brink of her first promotion, examines her life goals. Might they include Arthur, or is that preposterous? A romantic night spent together leaves her pleased and puzzled. But they both get busy and days go by. Then a car accident sidelines Arthur.
The postcard village of Mill-on-Wye is shadowed by a sordid past involving child labour at the crumbling Monsal Mill, dating from the Industrial Revolution and a troublesome present. Local sheep mutilation under the full moon threatens to escalate. What of the sinister “triple death” practiced by the Celts? When one of the panels of grazing sheep is despoiled, is it a prank, or is someone sending a gruesome message? Do sinister roots lurk behind the pleasant faces and hospitality? Who is dossing down at the old mill?
The village has a special meaning for Arthur, a return to his childhood and an illustration of how the “blessed isle” has been reinventing itself, as one villager says:
That’s what happened when the trains shut down….the village dried up…with no railway to ship the stone, most of the quarries closed down and the workers moved away. Like a sleepy little ghost town….It was the well dressing as brought us back to life.
Authors Stewart and Bullock took a summer off to hike the tors and trails to provide the graphic details that illuminate the narrative. Danutia’s fear of heights resets the bar as it becomes obvious that only she has the small size to enter a perilous cave during a crisis:
The footpath led past a cottage and down a slope covered with scrub to a muddy footpath along the River Wye. Across the narrow gorge rose the forbidding limestone cliffs of Chee Tor, with ash trees crowding the base and clinging to the sides….Danutia felt her palms turn sweaty….
Suspects are everywhere. The herbalist, two warring ministers, the doctor, the publican, the woodworker, B and B chatelaines, and an assortment of wife beaters, thieves, and cheeky delinquents. Few lock their doors, but a serpent slithers by night as a country fair takes place and plastic ducks begin their wobbly race down the stream. Setting the book in 1997 to dovetail with the series preserves an innocence, keeping technology and forensics on a simpler level.
The abduction of a child ramps the suspense into high gear as everyone joins the search in this hilly and precipitous terrain. Stakes couldn’t be higher when this thriller draws to a nail-biting duel with a cunning sociopath whose blood lust calls the plays.
...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Tori rated it it was amazing
Jan 21, 2013

Chris rated it it was amazing
Feb 28, 2013

Emily Shorthouse rated it it was amazing
Jan 15, 2013

Emily Shorthouse rated it it was amazing
Mar 12, 2013

Ruth Linka rated it it was amazing
Jan 15, 2013

Andree rated it it was amazing
Jun 22, 2013

Sarah marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Nikki Thao marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Jack marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Sam marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Daniela marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Paul marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Alaina Maxam marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Michelle marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Kim Coomey marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Darlene Howard marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Sarah-jayne Sanders marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Sue marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Gordon Green marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Abby marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Cathy marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Cornerofmadness marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Cindy Gates marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Elizabeth Case marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Barry marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Violet marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Calista marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Sonia Hall marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Dallas marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Eunice Adeniran marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Nicci Hartland marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

Kristen marked it as to-read
Feb 01, 2013

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

About Kay Stewart

Kay Stewart

5 followers

It’s a long way from the dry, flat plains of West Texas to Vancouver Island, Canada, setting for the first two Danutia Dranchuk mysteries, A Deadly Little List and Sitting Lady Sutra .

It's even farther to the limestone hills of England's Peak District, setting of the most recent in the series, [Unholy Rites], co-written with my English-born husband, Chris Bullock (not the same as the Goodr

It’s a long way from the dry, flat plains of West Texas to Vancouver Island, Canada, setting for the first two Danutia Dranchuk mysteries, A Deadly Little List and Sitting Lady Sutra .

It's even farther to the limestone hills of England's Peak District, setting of the most recent in the series, [Unholy Rites], co-written with my English-born husband, Chris Bullock (not the same as the Goodreads author Chris Bullock!).

Chance, luck, and a little planning took me from Lubbock, Texas (home of Buddy Holly and the Texas Tech Red Raiders) to its northern cousin, Calgary, Alberta. A three-year layover for graduate studies at the University of Oregon kindled my passion for the Pacific Northwest, which wasn’t fulfilled until I left my teaching position at the University of Alberta to write full time.

The first Danutia Dranchuk mystery, A Deadly Little List , had its genesis when Chris and I decided to collaborate on a writing project that would be fun—not a notable quality of the academic writing we’d done together. Salt Spring Island, only a short ferry ride away from our summer retreat, proved to be a perfect setting. The landscape of Vancouver Island, with its infinite variety and Mediterranean climate, bewitches me as much as it does my Prairie-born main character.

My protagonist is braver about facing physical danger than I could hope to be, but we share a passion for justice. Her job leads her to focus on her duty within the criminal justice system. I like the scope crime fiction gives me to explore questions of social inequality and social justice.

As well as writing mysteries, I have published short stories and co-authored two textbooks widely used in Canadian colleges and universities, Essay Writing for Canadian Students and Forms of Writing . Personal essays appear in two collections of women’s writing I co-edited with Caterina Edwards, Eating Apples and Wrestling with the Angel.

I have two grown children, three granddaughters, and no pets. I have served as National Vice President and President of Crime Writers of Canada, and as co-chair of the 2011 Bloody Words Mystery Conference. I am also a member of Sisters in Crime and the Federation of B. C. Writers. I gave up gardening for organizing (anything except my desk). As I stare out my window at the ever-changing waters of the Gorge Waterway in Victoria, British Columbia, I wonder where Danutia’s adventures will take us next. ...more