Letterbox

by Cameron Trost

Nobody's Letterbox is Safe!

Ian Carew is a mild-mannered teacher at the primary school in Mirebury, a quiet town lost in the moors. Six years after leaving London, he's still considered a newcomer, but his elderly neighbour, Mary Hopkins, treats him like a son, and the local butcher, Jack Fuller, is his best friend. All that's missing from Ian’s life is a touch of romance and a dash of adventure. Little does he know, he's about to get a taste of both. When Mary Hopkins opens her letterbox and makes a gruesome discovery, Mirebury is thrown into a state of shock and outrage. At first, the townsfolk assume it was a random act, but the horrible deliveries continue and they're forced to acknowledge they have become the target of a campaign of terror - and nobody’s letterbox is safe.

Is the Postman one of them, or an outsider? Tensions grow as suspicion and accusations tear the town apart. Neighbour is pitted against neighbour and tempers flare. The Postman only strikes at night and moves through the fog like a ghost. Catching him seems impossible, but Mirebury fights back, and in the end, the fate of the town will come down to one man.

LETTERBOX is a mystery thriller that pokes holes through the thin veil separating civilisation from savagery in an isolated, rural community.

Welcome to Mirebury. Open your letterbox if you dare!

Genres: Mystery

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Cameron Trost is an author of mystery, suspense, post-apocalyptic, and horror fiction best known for his puzzles featuring Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable. He has written four novels, Dead on the Dolmen, Flicker, The Tunnel Runner, and Letterbox, and three collections, Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable, Hoffman's Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales, and The Animal Inside. He runs the independent press, Black Beacon Books, and is a member of the Australian Crime Writers Association and The Short Mystery Fiction Society. Originally from Brisbane, Australia, his home is now in southern Brittany, between the rugged coast and treacherous marshland.

I aim to rate every book I finish and I usually leave a short review. I rarely leave one-star or two-star ratings. If I don't like a book, I won't finish or rate it. I'm here to share good reads.

Reviewers: Send me a message if you'd like to receive ebook copies for review.

Authors: If you'd like to suggest I review your book, get in touch via my blog: https://trostlibrary.blogspot.com/p/b...

You can find me on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, BookBub, TikTok, and other platforms. Complete links here: https://linktr.ee/camerontrost

Reviews

[David Hensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A darkly entertaining story with plenty of plot twists and personable characters. The book portrayed a little-imagined facet of rural village life. That being that even the most upright among us can be prompted to do the unthinkable if we allow the wrong buttons to be pushed.

[Lorraine Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having just completed a read, I was delighted to try this short story. A mystery, set apparently in Cornwall, where I have lived previously for thirteen years.
The story opens interestingly with a teacher leading a somewhat humdrum life in a small village, but the neighbour's discovery of a skull in her mailbox pricked my imagination and I waited for the story to gather pace. But the enticing starter lacked an equally interesting follow-up. Niggles in the back of my mind about how un-Cornish the setting and characters were, coupled with a slow pace didn't really deliver for me.

[sarah devine]

I haven't read in some time but last night I bought Letterbox and wow I was happy!
This is a short story but atmospheric, had some good twists and a great narrative, the characters were well rounded and the story had good pace.
All in all a fabulous book to enjoy anytime.

[Bryant Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happens when evil delivers the mail?

A great read is what. A small village must deal with the fear and violence that comes when all trust is shattered among old friends and lifelong neighbours faced with the psychological torture and shame that emerges from the daily post. Letterbox is a well plotted, well paced tale that will easily grab and keep your attention.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A ripping read! Cleverly written with plenty of teasers to keep you guessing. I love the imperfect characters and the sense of moral greyness that permeates the latter part of the story. I resented having to put it down to get on with normal life.

[Copper Chloride Kid · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sleepy, and ever so slightly creepy, little moor town of Mirebury holds many secrets beneath it's quant British facade. Cameron Trost teases them out patiently until a brutal act of violence upends the narrative, and the tale takes a turn towards the downright nasty. A delicious pleasure!

[Tracy Altvater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. This kind of book is right up my alley. I didn't see the ending coming! A very entertaining "who done it" read! I really enjoyed all the characters and getting to run around Mirebury with them (like a chicken with my head cut off), trying to figure out who was terrorizing their little town.

[Michael Boxall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing about unexciting people in unexciting places—assuming there are such things--is risky for obvious reasons. Kudos to Cameron Trost for accepting the challenge with Letterbox. The story itself is potentially dramatic: an old woman in a Cornish village finds a skull in her letterbox and believes it to be that of her long-dead husband. Unfortunately, the narrative potential of this discovery is outweighed by stylistic and technical problems. Instead of taking wing, Letterbox plods.
The voice of the writer is key to readability, or lack of it. In this case it verges on the pedantic. People don’t see things: they observe them. Instead of kicking a football, “one of the boys quickly put it back into motion.” It’s like listening to a slow-witted policeman read from his notebook. Get on with it, man. Every noun is weighed down with an adjective, every verb handicapped with an adverb. One result of this unrelenting fussiness is that all the characters sound the same and trudge through the story in lead boots. Even the place fails to come alive. What’s Cornish about it?
Omit needless words. Show, don’t tell . If Letterbox followed these guidelines it would be considerably better.

[Anthony Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This takes me back to the old country. A claustrophobic thriller set in a small southern English town. A sociopath is tormenting the locals by leaving unpleasant personal mementoes specific to them in their letterboxes in the middle of the night. The mystery intensifies as the protagonist determines to solve the puzzle and nail the psycho, all while trying to woo the new girl in town.

This sort of material is Cameron Trost's specialty. The plot thickens and the thrills intensify as the narrative moves toward the big revelation.