Lewis Hinton
Novelist and scriptwriter Lewis Hinton's mystery thrillers published by The Book Guild are set in the late 1960's and early 1970's and feature special investigator Jack Sangster. The books centre around searches for missing children, which in turn uncover deeper enigmas that often challenge the protagonist's core beliefs. With hints of the supernatural, The Face Stone, its sequel Angel's Blade, and the recently published third Sangster novel, Jehovah's Wind, step away from the traditional detective story, using detailed settings to evoke an ambiance in keeping with plots that are designed to leave the reader guessing until the very end.
This approach has struck a chord amongst readers, with many reviewers saying they particularly liked the 'is it/isn't it supernatural?' aspect of the plots. With a keen (albeit skeptical) interest in the paranormal, Lewis Hinton is a member of The Ghost Club, the world’s oldest society dedicated to the study of psychic research, which he cites as a marvellous source of inspiration for spookier elements of the Sangster books.
"I was always fascinated by the countryside and folklore of the places I've lived," he adds when explaining the series' vividly drawn locations, "and have used some of those places as backdrops to the Sangster stories. I think the area where you grow up leaves a particular imprint on the mind, and I was lucky enough to spend my early years in south-west Wirral, with its red sandstone hills, heathland, and views across the Dee estuary to Wales. This was a perfect setting for The Face Stone, with the atmosphere of the local woodlands, especially at dusk, making it easy to imagine that ancient spirits still guarded rock and tree."
Angel's Blade, brings Sangster to south west Cornwall and the countryside around the river Fal, a setting, according to Hinton, "so steeped in legend and natural beauty that the story almost wrote itself."
Jehovah's Wind primarily takes place in Devon, with additional scenes set in Donegal and Cheshire. "I particularly wanted to send Sangster to Dartmoor," says Hinton. "The place has a brooding atmosphere all of its own, very different to the gentle beauty of the surrounding Devon countryside, so that it's not hard to imagine the moor harbouring profound secrets." Hinton also notes that reviewer feedback from the first two books influenced the plot.
"I was surprised and delighted with the many wonderful reader responses to the first two Sangster books," he says, "and took note of the bits people really liked, then focused on bigging them up in Jehovah's Wind."
Besides novels, Hinton has also written a number of short film screenplays and is currently contracted by UK production company Triskelion Pictures to write a feature length film script. The screenplay, for a murder mystery set in the London and Luxembourg of 1986, will be adapted from his novella 'The Arrangement'.
Lewis Hinton's Books
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Jehovah's Wind
28 Jun 2023An investigator unwillingly thrown into the search for a missing teenager must try to thwart an obsessive man from exploiting captured Nazi technology to achieve a twisted ambition…
It is the mid-summer of 1970, and Jack Sangster, special investigator for a philanthropic organisation dedicated to aiding troubled youngsters, and with a sleuthing talent for finding missing children, has been sent to a remote Dartmoor hotel, where a local boy has disappeared.
Already suspicious that the government is taking too intense an interest in the case, Sangster only becomes more apprehensive when the boy’s father, a scientist at a secretive nuclear facility, seems oddly indifferent to his son’s disappearance.
And as the case unfolds, this dilemma, a link to his own wartime past, as well as the evidence of his own eyes, all combine to conquer Sangster’s natural cynicism and bring home the implications of a discovery that could literally ‘change everything’.
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Angel's Blade
28 Oct 2022A profound secret that echoes down the centuries is uncovered by a uniquely gifted girl, who in doing so jeopardises her own life and that of the only person who can protect her…
Spring, 1970. A beautiful and precociously talented pupil goes missing from a residential school in Cornwall; special investigator Jack Sangster is assigned to help local police find her.
At first nonplussed by the girl having apparently disappeared into thin air, Sangster gains an understanding of local people, legends and landscapes that help him unravel mysteries far, far deeper than could have been imagined. Despite initial scepticism, he wonders…
Did events from two thousand years ago in this remote corner of Europe really have repercussions that might rock the very foundations of western society?
Governments on both sides of the iron curtain, and even hallowed religious institutions, certainly seem to think so. As pressure mounts from all sides, it will take all of Sangster’s skill and determination, as well as some luck, to discover the truth before it’s too late...
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The Face Stone
28 Jun 2022Do ancient rocks and woodlands really harbour a secret that could bring about worldwide catastrophe? And can saving the health, life, and even mortal soul of one missing boy avert that catastrophe?
The year is 1969, and Jack Sangster, a special investigator for a philanthropic organisation dedicated to helping troubled children, is sent to an elite school, where the son of a wealthy local family has disappeared.
Sangster, despite his talent for dealing with people and problems, only comes upon more mysteries as the case unfolds, struggling to reconcile his natural pragmatism with disturbing questions.
Follow as he navigates clues and red herrings, learning at every turn that if his eyes and ears are to be believed, the stakes linked to this case are rising at an alarming rate. Sangster tries to do the right thing even as his uncertainty rises; all the while a seemingly well-ordered and rational world is slowly revealed to perhaps be older, darker, and more chaotic than he ever imagined…