Starting over might mean getting too close.
A missing girl.
A buried past.
A connection that shouldn’t happen.
When DI Harrison Black transfers to the small Yorkshire town of Hartswick, he’s chasing distance—from grief, guilt, and the case that broke him.
But Hartswick doesn’t stay quiet for long.
Within hours of his arrival, a seventeen-year-old girl vanishes on a woodland path the locals know all too well.
A place where, thirteen years ago, another girl disappeared in the exact same place.
Robyn Whitton was never found.
Her brother, Jake, never moved on. He couldn’t. Not when his world fractured overnight. Not when the town closed ranks and carried on without answers. And not now, when the police are digging into the past he’s spent years trying—and failing—to survive.
As Harrison leads the investigation, Jake is there at every turn—angry, guarded, carrying a grief he’s never been able to set down. And Harrison finds himself inexplicably drawn to him. To the fire in him. The fierce loyalty. And the way he throws himself into everything without holding back. Even the way he looks at Harrison… as if he isn’t broken at all. As if there’s a second chance in him yet.
But Jake doesn’t trust the police. He never has. Not after they failed his sister… and failed him. But something about Harrison gets under his skin. A feeling he’s not used to after years of fleeting dalliances.
What begins as proximity becomes something harder to ignore. A quiet pull. Unwanted. Unspoken. But there all the same. And the closer Harrison gets to the truth—of the case, the past, and Jake—the more dangerous everything becomes.
For the case.
For his career.
And for his heart.
Because in Hartswick, nothing stays hidden forever.
And this time… the truth might be too close to home.
Too Close to Home is the first book in the Whitton and Black trilogy—an MM romantic suspense blending gritty police procedural with slow-burn romance. Set against the moors of Yorkshire, it follows a Met detective and a local roofer drawn together by a missing girl, a buried past, and a romance neither of them are ready for.
Genre: Mystery
A missing girl.
A buried past.
A connection that shouldn’t happen.
When DI Harrison Black transfers to the small Yorkshire town of Hartswick, he’s chasing distance—from grief, guilt, and the case that broke him.
But Hartswick doesn’t stay quiet for long.
Within hours of his arrival, a seventeen-year-old girl vanishes on a woodland path the locals know all too well.
A place where, thirteen years ago, another girl disappeared in the exact same place.
Robyn Whitton was never found.
Her brother, Jake, never moved on. He couldn’t. Not when his world fractured overnight. Not when the town closed ranks and carried on without answers. And not now, when the police are digging into the past he’s spent years trying—and failing—to survive.
As Harrison leads the investigation, Jake is there at every turn—angry, guarded, carrying a grief he’s never been able to set down. And Harrison finds himself inexplicably drawn to him. To the fire in him. The fierce loyalty. And the way he throws himself into everything without holding back. Even the way he looks at Harrison… as if he isn’t broken at all. As if there’s a second chance in him yet.
But Jake doesn’t trust the police. He never has. Not after they failed his sister… and failed him. But something about Harrison gets under his skin. A feeling he’s not used to after years of fleeting dalliances.
What begins as proximity becomes something harder to ignore. A quiet pull. Unwanted. Unspoken. But there all the same. And the closer Harrison gets to the truth—of the case, the past, and Jake—the more dangerous everything becomes.
For the case.
For his career.
And for his heart.
Because in Hartswick, nothing stays hidden forever.
And this time… the truth might be too close to home.
Too Close to Home is the first book in the Whitton and Black trilogy—an MM romantic suspense blending gritty police procedural with slow-burn romance. Set against the moors of Yorkshire, it follows a Met detective and a local roofer drawn together by a missing girl, a buried past, and a romance neither of them are ready for.
Genre: Mystery