Tess Burnett
Author
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A brand new dark historical mystery
​​​A mother's love will never die.
a mother's love will live forever.
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"Chilling yet touching... Wonderful from beginning to end."
I’ve loved reading and telling stories from a young age. My first writing memory is of a school project when I was about nine or ten, when we were asked to write a play. Inspired by one of my favourite authors at the time, Alan Garner, I wrote about a magic dinner service that had been discovered in a lake. Actually, not so much inspired, more a brazen case of plagiarism. I clearly decided to aim for quantity rather than quality, and ended up writing over forty pages. I was inordinately proud of this achievement.
I was a quiet child and an even quieter teenager, and buried myself in fantasy, relishing the epic scale of Lord of the Rings, the unsurpassable characters of Gormenghast, the offbeat books by Michael Moorcock and the sword and sorcery works of Stephen Donaldson and David Eddings. I still love fantasy but now also have a taste for historical novels, ghost stories, mysteries, or anything with a storyline that makes me laugh, cry, and everything in between.
After a heavenly six years running a tiny Airbnb in the mountains of Kerry, Ireland, I've recently returned to beautiful Dorset to be closer to family. I shall continue to be inspired by the myths and legends which are just as bountiful here in the south of England.
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If I have one message to give it’s this:
It’s never too late to follow your dreams.
Bloodhound Books
I’m over the moon to have signed a 2-book deal with Bloodhound Books. My next novel, The Originals (working title), another dark mystery, will be published in April 2026, and I’m working on a sequel to The Hanging of Hettie Gale, where Alice will be called on to investigate hauntings at Silent Hill House, a converted Victorian mental asylum.
Sturminster Newton Literary Festival
I was delighted to speak at my first literary festival in June 2025. My interviewer was the lovely Jo Durrant, who immediately put me at my ease, and although our audience was small it made for a very intimate experience, with excellent interaction and some interesting questions.
Dorset Magazine
It was a thrill to be featured in the May 2025 edition of the Dorset Magazine. The interview with Jess Morency was a delight and it felt good to tell my story (so far!)
Lots of lovely reviews coming in for The Hanging of Hettie Gale. This might be just the read for you if you fancy a dark historical mystery. Order now. https://geni.us/HangingofHettie
#GothicThriller #HauntingMystery #BloodhoundBooks
WINNER
The Hall & Woodhouse DLFWest Country Writing Prize 2022
​I'm absolutely delighted to announce that The Hanging of Hettie Gale has been announced as the winner of the Hall & Woodhouse DLF Writer's prize. Many thanks to the judges, sponsors and organisers of this great competition and festival.
In life, she was wronged; in death, she seeks justice. A Mother will do everything to protect her children. 'The Hanging of Hettie Gale' is a historical ghost mystery you won't want to miss.
AVAILABLE NOW
https://geni.us/HangingofHettie
#GothicThriller #HauntingMystery.
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Superb read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2024
I cried at the end…….the whole story kept me gripped from page to page……I’ll not spoil it by telling you the story….I’ll just say, it was a beautiful story from start to finish.
Couldn't put this book down!
Reviewed in the United States on 19 October 2024
Verified Purchase
The Hanging of Hettie Gale by Tess Burnett kept me on the edge of my seat! I couldn't put this novel down!
Very well written and a great mystery.
Wonderful story
​​Reviewed in the United States on 16 October 2024
Verified Purchase
I found this book to be very hard to put down!
I throughly enjoyed it ! Highly recommend! Look forward to her next book.
Great book
​​Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2024
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this book read it in one sitting. Great story and a really good ending. Would definitely recommend.
My next book, working title The Originals, will be published in April 2026. It’s the story of 63-year-old Susan Reid, scarred by a childhood accident, who moves to a village in the middle of Cornwall where all is not as it seems. Strange occurrences over 500 years and a procession involving straw masks, the Dipping Pool and the burning of an effigy, build a tale of suspense, with a theme of how looking different can label or even demonise a person.
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This is the place that inspired this story.
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I've just finished writing another novel which is a series of stories, people and places spanning a hundred years and half the world, linked by a special book. I enjoyed doing the research for this one which features some of my favourite places, but writing the stories, filled as they are with desperation, dreams, heartbreak and happiness, really got under my skin. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this book will find a home before too long so that I can introduce my characters to you.
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And now it’s onto the sequel to The Hanging of Hettie Gale, which again features Alice who is tasked with investigating hauntings at Silent Hill House, a converted Victorian mental asylum. I can’t wait to get stuck in!
Morning Walk
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It was stuck in the fence,
the sheep's head,
hacked clean off at the neck.
No sign of the body but
there was a stench in the field up above.
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Its eye stared at me as I walked past,
accusingly. Bright at first
but dimming with the days,
dwindling echoes of its existence.
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Each walk witnessed a little less livery,
exposed a little more underpinning,
tiny creatures feasting on the darkening flesh.
Life taken, but life offered.
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In the end, isn't that all we are?
A tumble of bones, a toothy grin.
Naked of our disguise,
our cloak of humanity consumed by time,
stuck in an amaranthine fence.
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Chimney Pots
When the sun goes to sleep
and the sky casts its shade
and the trees play their slumbersome tune,
then the stars dance a waltz
in the dark of the night
and the chimney pots sing
to the moon.
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Wraiths
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Wraiths of silvered filigree
stitched to leaf and bough.
Hammocked, a home for the plunderer.
Stretched, a dartboard for pine needles.
Sinewy, a prison for the damned.
And yet we fail to see, until the morning dew
patiently dips each strand, plumps every thread,
the invisible industry, the endless toil.
Intricate beauty hidden in plain sight.
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