A Painted Doom by Kate Ellis

October 11, 2023 By Leave a Comment


A Painted Doom by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Teenager Lewis Hoxworthy discovers a disturbing painting in a medieval barn; a find which excites archaeologist Neil Watson, who is excavating an ancient manor house nearby.

But when a man is found shot through the head in Lewis’s father’s field and Lewis himself goes missing, it is Neil’s friend, Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson, who faces one of his most intriguing cases yet.

It seems that the Devon village of Derenham is full of secrets, both ancient and modern. As Neil uncovers the story of Derenham’s medieval past, it becomes clear that the Doom, a 500-year-old painting of hell and judgement, holds the key to the mystery. And as events reach a terrifying climax, Wesley has to act swiftly if he is to save a young life . . .

Newly promoted DI Wesley Peterson is enjoying a rare slow period, relishing the chance to catch his breath before the tourist season begins once again. Only the peace is shattered when ex-rock star Jonny Shellmer is found shot in the head in a farmers field. When a local teenage boy disappears – the son of the farmer whose field the rocker was found dead in Wesley and his team need to sort out what might really be going on in the small village.

This is the sixth book in the DI Wesley Peterson series and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the British mystery series. While the plot and mystery can certainly be easily read as a stand alone – and there is no cliffhanger or dangling threads to deter readers picking this book up by itself – I must admit some of the relationships between the police team, and Wesley and his wife, does have some aspect of history to it and so readers should be aware they might miss a few of the smaller points in these respects.

That said I felt the plot itself was very well handled and I really enjoyed it. Complicated enough I didn’t guess what was happening straight away, but not so convoluted I got lost, I felt he author had a really good balance in this book. I admit some of the archaeology took a bit of a back seat this time around in the story but that didn’t bother me because the mystery part to the plot really was larger in this book and so it didn’t feel like anything was being padded out or embellished a little too much.

A really strong series and a great British police procedural this is a great book and an author I am definitely addicted to.

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The Skull by Jon Klassen

October 5, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Skull by Jon Klassen
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Holiday, Paranormal, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jon Klassen’s signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit—with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note—The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.

Would you spend the night in a haunted house?

Otilla was a brave girl who I quickly grew to like. She was kind and sweet even when she was afraid. That’s not always an easy thing to accomplish, so it made me more curious to learn about where she came from and why she was running away from something that frightened her in the first scene. The more I learned about her, the more I wanted to know.

Some of the scenes in this picture book were pretty intense, especially since this was rated for ages 4 and older. I would be hesitant to read this with younger kids without first figuring out how much horror they can handle. Certainly some of them would love it, but I also felt that the talking skull’s biggest fear in life was much darker than what is typically written for preschoolers and elementary-aged readers.

Otilla’s friendship with the skull was sweet. Both of them had pasts they didn’t want to talk about and seemed to find difficult. It was rewarding to watch them figure out they had this in common and decide they were going to protect each other. Few things are better than having a friend who behaves so loyally!

I would have loved to see more character and plot development. The eerie setting had a nice Halloween vibe, but there weren’t a lot of explanations about who the skull was when it was alive and still had the rest of its body or how they were connected to the grand old mansion that was now slowly falling apart. As an adult, I was able to make certain assumptions about what the author might have meant based on subtle context clues, but I don’t think a lot of kids would necessarily pick up on enough of them to make sense of everything without help.

With that being said, I did enjoy the scenes that explained what the skull could and couldn’t do. For example, it could taste tea, but it could not keep tea inside of its mouth because it didn’t have a body or a stomach to digest it. There were multiple examples like this, and each one made me smile as I added more details to my mental file of what this character’s abilities and limitations were.

The Skull was a spooky Halloween read.

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The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones

October 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson reunite after decades apart―and a mountain of secrets―in this debut exploring the repercussions of a single choice and how an enduring talisman challenges and holds a family together.

On a routine trip to the Piggly Wiggly in Albany, Georgia, widower Fletcher Dukes smells a familiar perfume, then sees a tall woman the color of papershell pecans with a strawberry birthmark on the nape of her neck. He knows immediately that she is his lost love, Altovise Benson. Their bond, built on county fairs, sit-ins, and marches, once seemed a sure and forever thing. But their marriage plans were disrupted when the police turned a peaceful protest violent.

Before Altovise fled the South, Fletcher gave her a peach seed monkey with diamond eyes. As we learn via harrowing flashbacks, an enslaved ancestor on the coast of South Carolina carved the first peach seed, a talisman that, ever since, each father has gifted his son on his thirteenth birthday.

Giving one to Altovise initiated a break in tradition, irrevocably shaping the lives of generations of Dukeses. Recently, Fletcher has made do on his seven acres with his daughter Florida’s check-ins, his drop biscuits, and his faithful dog. But as he begins to reckon with long-ago choices, he finds he isn’t the only one burdened with unspoken truths.

An indelible portrait of a family, The Peach Seed explores how kin pass down legacies of sorrow, joy, and strength. And it is a parable of how a glimmer of hope as small as a seed can ripple across generations.

Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson shared a youthful love nearly fifty years ago, will a secret unravel their chance for a loving life together?

This novel follows the Duke family and the dynamics of their family over a span of generations. I was excited once I read the excerpt and was looking forward to reading about the Duke family’s male tradition. What a wonderful idea to follow the first peach seed talisman and how its inheritance was passed down through generations. I enjoyed the story, however I felt that the author was doing too much and there were too many storylines and backstories that watered down such a good plot. I was left wondering what the main story was.

For example, the enslaved story of Malik Wele’ did not quite fit nor really tie into the current day family event. Malik’s story could have been a quick explanation of how the tradition started. Then there was the backstory of Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson along with the other parts of the novel that included Bo D’s story about his battle with drug addiction and there was Siman Miller discovering and connecting with his biological family.

The story only seemed to focus on specific family members, and not much time was spent on Georgia and Mozell. It was understood that Fletcher had remorse at not having boys to continue the family tradition, but the names were odd, Fletcher’s children called him Ourdaddy and Fletcher’s nickname for his daughters were ‘son’. Not sure what purpose was served including so much talk about the Albany Civil Rights Movement, and that the family helped with the campaign for Obama, but it was mentioned several times throughout the story. The book was told from several points of view. There were a lot of characters named which made me wonder why they were being mentioned or what was their importance in the story.

I rated the book a three star because of what I stated above, however what I took from the story was that the family is resilient, that they stick together and are able to work out their disagreements and differences. I like the idea of the peach seed being passed down as a rite of passage as custom tradition. Also, there had to be someone of skill to continue to carry the knowledge of carving the peach seeds, but it seemed to stop with Fletcher. I don’t think Bo D was taught how to carve. I enjoyed reading about Fletcher and Altovise. Their past story and their love for each other was still there after so many years had passed. Their love would have been a story all to itself and the secret that Altovise brought with her gave the story some of the climax. The author included drug and alcohol addiction which was a way to show the family’s strength and endurance to overcome their obstacles and that they are able to seek help in order to stay strong.

I enjoyed the story, the realness of the situation and events made for a pleasant read. Overall, it was a good story idea, with some structure and a better outline this could have been an even better story. The idea of telling about the rite of passage, seeing the growth and maturity in the Duke family was inspiring, I will definitely give the author another try.

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The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis

October 3, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Bone Garden by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

The ancient gardens of Earlsacre Hall are being excavated by a local team of historians in preparation for plans to recreate the gardens in their former glory. But the dig is called to a halt when two bodies are discovered under a stone plinth. More than 300 years old and buried on top of one another, there is every indication that one of the corpses had been buried alive. Despite the intriguing circumstances, DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby for archaeology: a man has been found brutally stabbed to death in a trailer at a popular vacation site. There are no clues to the dead man’s identity except for a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Soon after, the body of local solicitor Brian Willerby is found during a game of village cricket. The postmortem reveals that his death was caused by being struck by a hard ball several times with some force. Now Wesley must decipher the connection between Earlsacre and the murders before any more victims arise.

DS Wesley Peterson is called in when a body is found buried under a three-hundred-year-old plinth. Even though it’s soon proven that the body was buried all those centuries ago, work in the gardens of Earlsacre Hall is halted when yet another body is found to be buried under that original grave. Wesley is deeply curious about who these people were – and why were they buried in the large gardens – but soon a man is stabbed in a rental caravan and Wesley is called away to investigate something more recent than the old skeletons. And when yet another body turns up, Wesley realizes there might be some deeply sinister secrets floating around after all.

I have been greatly enjoying this series and found this book to be a lovely addition. Wesley is really beginning to settle into the police team and the small township, and I was pleased that the author had what I felt was a good balance between the history/archaeology angle and the more current police procedural aspect of the current murders. Readers who enjoy both historical mysteries as well as modern British police procedural style murder mysteries should find this book – and the series as a whole – a good read.

I definitely feel the plot of this book can be read as a standalone. The characters are linked throughout the series, but this book does stan well by itself and aside from catching up on how everyone knows each other I feel readers shouldn’t worry about whether they’ve read the previous books in this series.

An interesting plot with a good balance between history/archaeology and the present times, this was a good read.

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Carnival Songs by S.V. Brown

September 22, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Carnival Songs by S.V. Brown
Publisher: Golden Storyline Books
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

A small city in Indiana nestled along the banks of the Ohio River, Torrenceburg is a place holding onto archaic beliefs that shroud long-kept secrets. Beginning with the eradication of the native populations in the early 19th century, Carnival Songs explores the influence of the city’s founding family upon the next two centuries of politics, religion, and its transition into the new millennia. Told from the perspective of the last heir to the family wealth and privilege, fueled by his dying mother’s confessions, the narrator searches for the truth about his parents and ancestors but discovers events far too difficult to reconcile with his love of southeastern Indiana and pride in his family history.

Nuance is the name of the game here.

Is personal experience living in a small town that is grappling with a horrifically racist past strictly necessary to enjoy this tale? No, but there are some gems in here for readers who do know what that’s like. There’s something to be said for authors who know how to speak to multiple audiences at the same time, especially for a topic as sensitive as racism and rural life. I appreciated how much time was spent exploring how racism is expressed in both subtle and explicit ways.

This book included nearly four dozen characters, some of whom were occasionally referred to by nicknames that were not always clearly linked to the person in question by that portion of the storyline. At times I struggled to remember who everyone was and how they were related or connected to everyone else. Having such a large cast also meant that there wasn’t much space for character development in the vast majority of cases. As much as I wanted to give this a higher rating, my confusion over the often complex ties between so many characters prevented me from doing so.

Adjusting to change can be difficult for everyone sometimes. The mystery elements of the plot included this fact of life, and I was intrigued by how the various characters reacted to the idea of welcoming gaming boats to their city dock as a way to improve their economy. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what the positive and negative consequences of this decision were, but I thought it was interesting to see how inevitable change is in even the sleepiest villages that at first glance seem most immune to it.

Carnival Songs captured the complexities of small towns nicely.

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The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis

September 20, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When a skeleton is discovered on a Devon smallholding, DS Wesley Peterson, a keen amateur archaeologist, is intrigued by the possibility that it is a Viking corpse buried in keeping with ancient traditions. But he has a rather more urgent crime to solve, when a Danish tourist is reported missing.

Wesley finds disturbing evidence that the woman has been abducted. His boss Gerry Heffernan believes that Ingeborg’s disappearance is linked to a spate of brutal robberies and that she witnessed something she shouldn’t have.

But is her disappearance linked to far older events? For it seems that this may not have been Ingeborg’s first visit to this far from quiet West Country backwater . . .

A skeleton is discovered on a small farm and DS Wesley Peterson’s boss is convinced it’s the remains of a criminal that had lived on the land then mysteriously disappeared three years ago. But the skeleton appears to have been buried in a boat – one of the rituals many Viking graves have. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil, is convinced the body is extremely old, but a number of questions remain. Then when a Danish tourist goes missing, Wes and his team have to juggle both cases as well as a spate of robberies that have occurred with the local farms.

I have been enjoying this series of police procedural mysteries and am feeling the author is starting to hit her stride. I find there is a decent balance of police procedure and murder mystery – though I do admit readers looking for a heavily historical or strongly archaeology based series might find this side of the plot is often not as front-and-center as the more modern mystery and police aspects of the plot.

I am also enjoying the fact Wesley’s police colleagues and team are definitely being fleshed out a little more and the team is knitting together very well. This has been more of a slower paced arc covering the series as a whole but I am really starting to enjoy it all. This book can absolutely be read by itself and while I am enjoying the longer arc having read each of the previous books in the series, it definitely isn’t necessary to thoroughly enjoy this story on its own merits.

A fun and well written British police procedural murder mystery I enjoyed this book and can definitely recommend the series as a whole.

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River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War by David Scott Richardson

September 19, 2023 By Leave a Comment


River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War by David Scott Richardson
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

ADVENTURE. HISTORY. AWAKENING. Life is good for high school senior Alex Haugen. He has a group of buddies to fish the Nisqually River with, his membership on the football team guarantees status with his peers, and he’s recently set his sights on Amanda Schneider – an engaging blend of brains, beauty, and personality. He’s beginning to think that the lead cheerleader and star lineman go together like burgers and fries.

Learning that his dad participated in the latest fishing raid at Frank’s Landing, Alex’s curiosity is piqued. The more he reads, the more he realizes how little he knows about the deep-rooted conflict between the Washington State Game Department and local tribes. The state claims the right to enforce conservation measures and the tribes claim that their treaty rights supersede state regulations.

Alex has strong convictions about conservation but wonders if there’s more to the story. Indian netting can’t be the only reason fish are in decline. Strident and entrenched certainties dominate both sides of the fishing controversy, and Alex begins to resent that a side may have been chosen for him at birth.

Chancing conflict with his dad – an officer with the game department – Alex’s quest for understanding rouses discovery of his own voice and the courage to stand apart from his parents and peers. Along the way, he befriends Charlie McCallister, a Nisqually Indian his dad arrested in a raid.

Amanda, whose mom does pro bono work for the tribe, is a social justice warrior at heart. As the fish war heats up, her readiness to support the tribe clashes with Alex’s reluctance to rock the boat with his father and threatens to drive a wedge in their blossoming romance.

Charlie, Amanda, and the Nisqually River form the key catalysts for Alex’s awakening as the story unfolds against the backdrop of a nation gripped by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the seismic tunes of rock ‘n roll.

Sometimes change is painfully slow.

The last year or two of high school can be such an exciting and restless time in life. Soon classes will end and everyone will go their separate ways in life. This was a quieter portion of the storyline in the beginning, but it grew more and more enjoyable and meaningful as Alex and his friends inched closer towards graduation and the many different paths they all would take. Mr. Richardson captured this stage in life nicely, and it has made me curious to see what else he may write in the future.

I struggled with the slow pacing of this novel. Most of the plot and character development was released gradually and between scenes that didn’t always seem to push anything forward. As interesting as the descriptions of nature and the small town setting were, there were so many of them that they were distracting for me as a reader as well. In my opinion, this would have been a stronger story if some of those scenes were trimmed down to either shorten the length of this in general or to provide more space for action scenes.

Racism is a complex topic, especially for teens like Alex who hadn’t spent much time thinking about how race can impact everything from how a student is treated by his or her peers to what sorts of jobs someone might be encouraged or discouraged to apply for. The historical setting amplified these themes as well given that societal expectations of what should and shouldn’t be said about race can shift a lot from one decade to the next. I appreciated how much effort the author put into developing this portion of the plot and showing how even a kind and sensitive kid like Alex can still have misconceptions about race and culture.

River’s Reach – Coming of Age Amid the Fish War was a thought-provoking read.

Filed Under: Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , ,

The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths

September 14, 2023 By Leave a Comment


The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Far below Norwich is a maze of old mining tunnels. When Ruth Galloway is called to examine a set of human remains in one of them, she notices the bones are almost translucent, a sign they were boiled soon after death. Once more, she finds herself at the helm of a murder investigation. Meanwhile, DCI Nelson is looking for a homeless woman who he hears has gone “underground.” Could she have disappeared into the labyrinth? And if so, is she connected to the body Ruth found? As Ruth and Nelson investigate the tunnels, they hear rumors of secret societies, cannibalism, and ritual killings. And when a dead body is found with a map of what seems to be the full maze, they realize their hunt for the killer has only just begun—and that more bodies may be underfoot.

Dr Ruth Galloway is called in when a local contractor discovers bones in an old miners tunnel. They expect the bones will be mediaeval and date back to when the tunnels and old chalk pits were last in use – but they are all very surprised to find the bones are not just modern, but less than ten years old and show signs of cannibalism. DCI Harry Nelson is called in, but he already has a lot on his plate with a number of murders of local rough sleepers, and then things get even harder when a young mother also mysteriously disappears. Can Ruth and Harry work out what’s behind all this?

I’ve been really enjoying this series and found this to be an excellent addition to the series. There is some progress in the rather complicated relationship between Ruth and Harry – though very clearly this is a long-running plotline that might never actually reach a full conclusion. I did enjoy seeing the many strong secondary characters as well. While I do feel a reader can pick this book up and both understand and enjoy the plotline having not read any of the previous books there is a lot of history between a number of the characters and I feel for a really richer enjoyment at least some of the previous books should have been read first.

I did really enjoy though how the plotlines and police procedural aspect to the mysteries were written. There is a good pace to the plot – with plenty of forward momentum but still enough time for the reader to try and figure everything out themselves as well. I feel readers who expect a high level of action or a really fast pace to their stories might feel this is a somewhat slower paced book – but I think most British police procedural fans will enjoy the many layers to the plot and the chance to try and sort it out for themselves as well.

I was also pleased that while the archaeology definitely took more of a back seat in this story it was not forgotten nor did it feel to me like something just added in for the sake of it or half-hearted. I really enjoyed the extra level it added to the story as a whole and while it wasn’t as front-and-center as I enjoy in some of the other books in this series, it definitely added properly to the story in my opinion.

A good read and a well written mystery; this was an enjoyable book.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Death In The East by Abir Mukherjee

September 12, 2023 By Leave a Comment


Death In The East by Abir Mukherjee
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Genre: Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

1905, London. As a young constable, Sam Wyndham is on his usual East London beat when he comes across an old flame, Bessie Drummond, attacked in the streets. The next day, when Bessie is found brutally beaten in her own room, locked from the inside, Wyndham promises to get to the bottom of her murder. But the case will cost the young constable more than he ever imagined. 1922, India. Leaving Calcutta, Captain Sam Wyndham heads for the hills of Assam, to the ashram of a sainted monk where he hopes to conquer his opium addiction. But when he arrives, he sees a ghost from his life in London—a man thought to be long dead, a man Wyndham hoped he would never see again. Wyndham knows he must call his friend and colleague Sergeant Banerjee for help. He is certain this figure from his past isn’t here by coincidence. He is here for revenge . . .

After finally admitting his addiction problem, Captain Sam Wyndham has headed into the remote countryside of India at his doctor’s advice, to stay at an Ashram well known for its success in curing addicts. While there, Wyndham has many demons to face, and not all of them drug related. After finally coming out the other end, Wyndham realizes what he first mistook to be hallucinations caused by his getting clean are actually very, very real. Wyndham calls for his friend and colleague, Sargent Banerjee and together they can hopefully make things right again.

I was quite pleased the author didn’t skimp on the complexities and serious nature of Wyndham fighting – and beating – his addiction. This has been a slow burning plot from the very first book of the series and while I can understand some readers mightn’t be pleased that nearly the first three quarters of the book revolves around the Ashram and Wyndham fighting this particular battle I strongly felt such a long running – and life altering for Wyndham – plot deserved a good chunk of the story.

Indeed, the author managed to blend this “current” timeframe of Wyndham in 1922 with one of the very first cases the freshly minted police constable Wyndham ever came across back in 1905. At times I grew a little frustrated with the back and forth between the two timelines – I’m usually not a fan of this style of storytelling – but for the final quarter of the book it became crystal clear why the author had laid everything out in exactly this manner and I was quite pleased with how the two storylines dovetailed together and drew to the climax of the story.

I really love how this series crosses quite a few genres – it is a very well written historical series, also set in Colonial India, which has quite an injection of exoticness about it. It is also a very well plotted British police procedural style of murder mystery which is always a favourite of mine. I definitely feel this book – and the series as a whole – should appeal to quite a wide range of readers. This particular book might be better read in conjunction with at least a few others in this series. I do feel for the best emotional investment and appreciation of how hard this fight and resolution was for Wyndham – getting rid of his drug addiction – some of the background in previous books should give the reader a stronger attachment to this conclusion, but I have to be honest and I do feel this book would read quite well just by itself as well. Readers who find this book by itself shouldn’t hesitate to read it simply because it is one in a series – it holds up I feel exceptionally well just by itself.

Readers looking for a different style of murder mystery or police procedural definitely should give this a go. I enjoyed the plotting, characters and different setting and feel it’s a good book and well worth the read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis

September 6, 2023 By Leave a Comment


An Unhallowed Grave by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A twisted murder mirrors a dark legend . . .

When the body of Pauline Brent is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard, DS Wesley Peterson immediately suspects foul play. Then history provides him with a clue. Wesley’s archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, has excavated a corpse at his nearby dig – a young woman who, local legend has it, had been publicly hanged from the very same tree before being buried on unhallowed ground five centuries ago.

Wesley is now forced to consider the possibility that the killer knows the tree’s dark history. Has Pauline also been ‘executed’ rather than murdered, and, if so, for what crime? To catch a dangerous killer Wesley has to discover as much as he can about the victim. But Pauline appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives and a past she has carefully tried to hide . . .

DS Wesley Peterson is called to investigate when the body of a young woman is found hanging from a yew tree in a local graveyard. They quickly realise this death was not suicide – but certainly murder and Wesley is further confused when his archaeologist friend, Neil, points out that the yew tree the woman was hung from was previously known for public hangings and the bodies then buried in unhallowed ground nearby. Just as Wesley feels he may be getting a handle on the case, yet another dead body turns up. Can he solve what’s really going on before disaster strikes again?

I’ve been enjoying this series and found this a particularly well written addition. I am becoming familiar now with all the main characters and feel the team is beginning to really gel together and work cohesively as a unit. I also found this mystery both layered and interesting – not easy to guess at a first glance and well woven enough that it kept my interest all the way through the book.

I was pleased with the balance between police procedural work and archaeology. I felt that while the mystery and murder investigation definitely took a greater share of the storyline, there was regular and important involvement from the archaeology side of the plot and for this book I felt the balance between the two was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel readers wanting a book really steeped in history or focused more on the archaeology rather than the mystery mightn’t find the balance as enjoyable as I did – but for readers mainly after the mystery/murder aspect and with just a good amount of seasoning with the history and archaeology this book should be very satisfying.

And enjoyable and well plotted read, I absolutely will be reading more books in this series.

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