Kate Ellis, An Unhallowed Grave (1999)

Another brief reading report (sorry; I have been very busy writing, working – and blowing my nose - lately).

This series combines serious police work in the shape of DS Wesley Peterson, the coloured element of the local police force, plus an archaeology theme (Peterson´s mate from university, Neil Watson).

As usual in the series there is a modern mystery. The doctor´s well-liked secretary, Pauline Brent, is found hanged in the local cemetery, and the murderer has not made a very good job of imitating a suicide. The theme is the past which catches up with you. Besides the team of archaeologist find the body of a young woman who was hanged several centuries earlier.

This is classical British crime fiction with a nice sense of place, and in my opinion there is a touch of cosy mystery. I bought the book myself.
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Kate Ellis, The Merchant´s House (1998)

[Denne bog er desværre ikke oversat til dansk]

The book is the author´s debut and the first in the Wesley Peterson series.

The story begins with any mother´s nightmare: a little boy disappears from the front garden. Next the skeletons of a woman and a baby are found among the remnants of The Merchant´s House, a sixteenth century building, by some archaeologists. Third, a woman walking her dog comes across the body of a young woman. And voila, the scene is set for a great crime story.

The story takes place in quiet ´Tradmouth´, Devon. The protagonist is DS Wesley Peterson, “smart, tall, dark brown face, pleasant and intelligent”, who studied archaeology before joining the police force so he prefers his bones dry. He has just moved to Tradmouth, and enjoys the change from London, but is forced to realize that he has brought his marital problems with him.

Wesley is even fully equipped with his own Dr Watson in the shape of Neil Watson, archaeologist and fellow student of Wesley. Neil is very engaged in solving the story of the old skeletons, and obviously enjoys working together with his old friend.

Apart from the modern crime story we get some journal entries, written by John Banized, the merchant of the story, in 1623. A good way of giving the reader some background knowledge for the old case, but the only minus in this really fine debut is that nothing much happens in the first many journal entries.

A recurring theme is parents and children (wanting them, having them or losing them), and the crime case is well planned and carried out all the way through, with nice little tidbits scattered over the pages, together with the very convincing descriptions of the characters.

NB: if you should be looking for Tradmouth, you´d better try this blogpost instead of consulting your maps.

Monday´s Morsel

[Desværre, denne bog er heller ikke oversat. Men jeg lover at den næste, som også skal være ugens Gæt en Bog, er tilgængelig på dansk – også fra biblioteket]

Like many other bloggers have tried before me, I have suddenly been struck by real life, and find that I don´t have time to read a book a day and blog about it as well right now.

So what you see is what you get (today):

“The child flung his tricycle aside and toddled, laughing, towards the basking cat. The creature, sensing the impending assault on her dignity, stalked off with her tail disdainfully erect. She squeezed herself through the bars of the garden gate and headed towards some warm and inaccessible hiding place.

The child began to follow gleefully, but the wooden gate was shut fast, secured against his escape into the lane. He pressed his face against the bars of the gate and watched the cat stop to paw a butterfly, then disappear elegantly into the thick hedgerow opposite.

Then a great purring thing, a shiny black bulk, blocked his view of the lane as it stopped by the gate. The car door opened slowly and the driver climbed out, all the time watching the child, who stood and stared, mesmerized by the sight of the stranger. The driver opened the gate and, after looking round, stooped down to the child´s level, offering a hand that held something brightly coloured and desirable.”

Do you like the language and the perspective? So did I.
Do you want to hear more? So did I. This is an appetizer for an upcoming review of my latest find, Kate Ellis, The Merchant´s House. Buy it, read it, or wait to hear what I think about the rest.

I think Cathy, Kittling: Books, was the first blogger to recommend Kate Ellis to me, and I have learned a lot about the author on Martin Edwards´ blog.

And the photo? - my own, taken here in Thy yesterday. It is far from good enough to call it a "Beth Fish", but if you know her blog and her Wordless Wednesdays, you will realize who inspired me.