Mortal Fire winner of GOLD in Adult Romance, ForeWordBook of the Year Awards, 2012

Nominated:Best Fiction Book of the Year, CRT 2012

In this award-winning debut novel and the first book in The Secret Of The Journal series, historian, Emma D’Eresby escapes the predictable safety of her life in Cambridge to seek the journal – the Seventeenth-century diary of an obscure Englishman – a portion of which was left to her by her grandfather. Secreted in the library of a university in Maine, USA, the journal is Emma’s lifelong obsession but, as she takes up the year-long teaching post at the university, she realises that the journal has a rival as she is irresistibly drawn to the enigmatic figure of surgeon, Matthew Lynes. As Emma evades the romantic advances of seductive colleague, Sam Weisner, she becomes aware of a more sinister presence haunting the university. Attacks on woman heighten tension on campus and Emma fears that she is the focus of a stalker’s attention. Suspense mounts on the eve of Halloween with horrific consequences; but where there is darkness there must also be light. Who is Matthew Lynes and what is his connection to the journal?

‘If I could say one thing…Read this!’ Colin Dexter, creator of ‘Inspector Morse’

‘The sense of growing menace will have readers gripping the edge of their seats. The hairs on my neck started to rise as I realised there was only one possible answer to the mystery. A tense and accomplished debut novel blending romance with thriller.’ Fay Sampson, award-winning author ‘The Hunted Hare’

‘I began MORTAL FIRE one winter evening, with a cup of hot chocolate near at hand. Within a few chapters the chocolate was ignored and had gone cold. CF Dunn writes vivid prose which will hold a reader’s attention to a riveting conclusion. ‘ Mel Starr, author of ‘The Unquiet Bones’