Bodies in a Bog

The Book of Killowen (Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire #4) by Erin Hart (Scribner hardcover, 5 March 2013).

After a year-long sabbatical, Nora and Cormac receive a call from the National Museum of Ireland, asking them to be part of a team planning to recover a body found in a remote Tipperary bog.  They agree, and decide to bring along Cormac's father Joseph, who's been recovering from a stroke.

A construction worker digging for a drainage channel had uncovered a car, completely submerged in the bog.  In its trunk were two human bodies:  one that appeared to be ancient with another, much more recently deceased, underneath.

The newer body turns out to have been  Benedict Kavanagh, a controversial television host who had disappeared just a few months earlier.  This, of course, leads to a criminal investigation as well as the historical one.

The researchers board at a nearby artists' colony called Killowen, which is inhabited by an eccentric group of people, most of whom seem to have something to hide. The owner of the land being dug up, Vincent Claffey, also appears to be keeping something from the investigators, as does his daughter.

The two groups of investigators work together out of necessity, finding both stories twisted and difficult to unravel.

Erin Hart's prose is a pleasure to read, despite its dark subject matter.  She takes us back to the Ninth Century to show us the story of the older corpse and how he came to die.  Her characters -- both present-day and historical -- are believable, have realistically messy lives, and evoke genuine reactions from the reader.  Her descriptions  allow us to feel the warmth of the sun on the garden, and we can almost smell the peaty scent of the bog. 

Do read the earlier books in the series before this one, if you can.  By the time you get to this one, Nora and Cormac will feel like old friends.


Please drop by Crime Fiction Collective today for a guest post by Erin Hart.


FTC Full Disclosure:  I received an e-galley of the book through Edelweiss.

Just finished reading...

The Perfect Suspect by Margaret Coel.*

Margaret Coel is well known for her Wind River mystery series (now numbering 15 titles), which take place on the real Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, and feature sleuths Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley.

The Perfect Suspect, however, is part of a completely different series featuring journalist Catherine McLeod, which takes place in Denver.

The story begins with Denver police detective Ryan Beckman facing off with her lover, David Mathews. They've been having an affair, we learn, which David has broken off. Ryan has gone to his home to ask him to reconsider. He refuses, and Ryan shoots him.

We learn this in the first sentence of the book, so this is not a plot spoiler.

What Beckman doesn't realize until she's leaving Mathews' house is that she's been seen, though she doesn't know by whom. Meanwhile, Catherine McLeod gets an anonymous phone call at the newspaper office naming the detective as the killer.

Knowing the identity of the killer at the beginning of the book doesn't make this book any less suspenseful or enjoyable. The plot becomes an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse between journalist and detective.

Of course, since it's a Catherine McLeod mystery, we must assume that Catherine wins the game. But we don't know for sure until the end of the book if Catherine succeeds in proving that Beckman is the killer. Nor do we know whether or not Beckman gets away with her crime.

This gripping mystery keeps the reader guessing all the way through, and the answer is not revealed until the very end. Catherine is a wonderful character, and it's to be hoped that there will be more books about her!


*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

The Vault by Ruth Rendell.*


After all his years on the job, Reg Wexford has finally retired. He and Dora have turned the carriage house of actress-daughter Sheila's Hampstead home into a second home, keeping their house in Kingsmarkham. Wexford is enjoying retirement, especially walking around and exploring London, but he admits to himself that he misses police work.

Enter Tom Ede, whom Reg had met years earlier when Ede was new to the Force. Now a Detective Superintendent in London, Ede asks Wexford to "consult" on a puzzling case.

During an inspection prior to some home renovations, a couple living in an affluent part of the city found four bodies dumped in what used to be a coal storage hole.

The staircase leading to the house from the hole was bricked over, and the outside entrance, a manhole cover, was also sealed. There's no identification on any of the bodies, though one of the two males has some fine jewellery in his pocket.

As expected, Wexford becomes almost obsessed with the case, and keeps on digging after the police have essentially given up.

As always, there is a second plotline involving Wexford's family. This time, daughter Sylvia has some complications with a romantic relationship.

The Vault is the twenty-third book in the Chief Inspector Wexford series. The first book in the series, From Doon with Death, was published in 1964. That (if my English-major math is correct) is 47 years ago. As a result, many readers worldwide have have plenty of time to become familiar and comfortable with Reg Wexford, his family and colleagues.

However, familiarity does not breed discontent here. Rendell's writing continues to be exceptional, and more Wexford novels are eagerly awaited by this reviewer!



*Many thanks to the publisher for the e-galley!
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Just finished reading...

Die Buying by Laura DiSilverio.*

Yet another new series about a young woman with an unusual occupation presents E.J. (Emma-Joy) Ferris, a former military police officer forced to retire due to injury. Her new means of supporting herself is as a security officer in the Fernglen Galleria, a shopping mall not far from Washington, D.C.

Unable to become a police officer due to an injured knee and frustrated at having to be a "mall cop" with a Segway, whose most difficult task is rounding up reptiles released from a pet store by animal activists, E.J. hopes that finding a corpse in a store window will make her job more challenging. However, the police, in the form of tall, blond Detective Sergeant Anders Helland of the Vernonville Police Department, are unmoved by her eagerness to assist and virtually pat her on the head and tell her to go home.

With both the police and her employers actively discouraging her from helping, E.J. enlists the aid of her grandfather, an ex-CIA agent who "likes to keep his hand in" to investigate.

A former Air Force Intelligence Officer herself, Ms. DiSilverio adroitly captures the frustration of a young woman unable to do many of the challenging things she loves due to an injury. The problem with knowing this is the first in a series is the predication that E.J. will continue to be a mall cop (thus probably a frustrated one). Hey, perhaps she could work undercover for the police...

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

Crime Fraîche by Alexander Campion.*

Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.

Parisian Commissaire Capucine le Tellier and her husband, food critic Alexandre de Huguelet have been invited to her uncle's estate in Normandy for a shooting holiday. They arrive to find that there's been a fatal hunting accident. Nobody thinks this is terribly unusual; such accidents do happen when many people with guns are in the same place.

But when there's another accident, and another, Capucine begins to get suspicious. The local gendarmerie are either incompetent or unwilling to investigate for some other reason, so Capucine takes it upon herself to do so. Her visit to the country gets longer and longer, while the work on her desk is piles up. Fortunately, the clever and competent Commissaire has three bright and resourceful assistants to support her.

Alexander Campion creates an inventive mystery with an absorbing plot. His characters are believable and mostly appealing. But the outstanding facet of this novel is his depiction of la vie française, that of urban Paris as well as the not-so-bucolic life of rural Normandy. The author has done his research, as is apparent when he describes foraging for mushrooms, the operation of the abattoir, and the byzantine structure of the French law enforcement system.

This book will be enjoyed by francophiles, foodies, travel buffs and even oenophiles along with the requisite mystery buffs.

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

Snare by Deborah J. Ledford.*

Deputy Steven Hawk is assigned to lead the local team guarding a young pop singing sensation by the name of Katina Salvo at her first concert ever, in the town of Bryson City, North Carolina.

Although this is Katina's first concert, she's released several CDs, and already has a huge following. Also, she's been receiving hate mail, a fact that she stumbles upon just the day before her concert. To make things worse, her father (who had been imprisoned for manslaughter) receives an early release for good behavior, despite the fact that he killed her mother and has threatened Katina, too.

Despite having bodyguards and a police presence, fans rush the stage and violence ensues. Hawk feels that he's failed to keep his promise to look after Katina, and resolves to make up for it.

The book opens with an exciting prologue/flashback that explains Katina's background, and although the level of emotion decreases once the narrative returns to the present day, there is an almost constant sense of being on the edge of a momentous occurrence. The major characters are generally appealing, though flawed, as humans are, and Ledford skilfully stokes the reader's desire to learn their fate. This is not a book to start at bedtime, unless you plan to stay up until you reach the end!

*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the author, who sent me an e-book for review purposes.

Just finished reading...

The Baby Thief by L.J. Sellers.*

Jenna wants a baby, even though she doesn't have a man in her life. A strong, independent young woman, she decides to be artificially inseminated and visits a fertility clinic. The doctor who examines her, however, has her own agenda. Dr. Elizabeth Demauer also wants a baby, but isn't able to become pregnant. A DNA test confirms Elizabeth's suspicion that she and Jenna are related, so she decides that Jenna will be her surrogate.

Dr. Demauer is involved with David Carmichael, a disgraced physician-cum-evangelist who believes that his mission is to artificially inseminate young woman so that they can populate the earth. He runs a compound on an isolated farm, where he lives with several women and girls.

Meanwhile, the restaurant that Jenna manages is robbed, and even though the the thieves are successful, Jenna saves the life of a customer. A freelance journalist who happens to be dining there asks Jenna for an interview, and in the time they spend together, they make a connection.

Demauer and Carmichael conspire to get Jenna out to the compound so that they can impregnate her using Elizabeth's eggs. What they don't consider, however, is Jenna's strength and resourcefulness.

This is a gripping, read-in-one-sitting story. Highly recommended!

*Many thanks to L.J. Sellers for the e-galley!

Just finished reading...

A Deadly Row by Casey Mayes.*

The first book in a new series by Casey Mays (a pseudonym for the extremely prolific Tim Myers) introduces us to Savannah Stone, a former high school math teacher, who now writes math and logic puzzles for a living. Her husband Zach is a retired police officer, having been forced to resign his position as Chief of Police in Charlotte, NC after being shot. Savannah's job allows her to travel with her husband when he's hired to consult with various police forces.

Having recently moved to a mountain cottage, Savannah is not pleased when one of Zach's first consulting gigs is with his old police department in Charlotte. But she's even more reluctant to stay home when he reveals that the case he's helping with may relate to the safety of their old friend Grady Winslow, now the mayor of Charlotte.

Once they arrive in Charlotte and learn that the perpetrator is sending cryptic messages about his plans, it becomes obvious that Savannah's puzzle-creating and -solving skills will be useful in solving the case.

This unusual combination of police procedural and intellectual puzzle with a little cozy thrown in works very well in Mayes' capable hands, and bodes well for future entries in the series.

*Thanks to the author for sending me an ARC.

Just finished reading...

The vows of silence by Susan Hill.


In this, the fourth Simon Serailler mystery, Simon's sister Cat, along with her husband Chris and their three kids, have just returned from a 9-month sabbatical in Australia. Chris thinks he is having a very difficult time recovering from jet lag, but it's something much, much worse.

Simon's mother Meriel and his sister Martha have recently passed away. Having been extremely close to his mother, Simon is somewhat disturbed when he realizes that his father is seeing someone.

Their old family friend Karin has come out of remission from cancer, and is very ill in hospice.

Amidst all these family issues, young women in Lafferton are being killed, and Simon's squad is in charge of the investigation. The biggest problem is that the victims don't appear to have any common characteristics, and the police are flummoxed. They consider the idea that there may be more than one killer, but that seems very far-fetched in the small community.

Ms. Hill combines these disparate threads and weaves in several others into a wonderfully well-constructed novel. The characters are all well-described and even the small glimpses we have of the murder victims show us a human being with a personality.

Simon Serailler is an angst-ridden, solitary police detective, a cliched character in a dark genre, yet this story still grips the reader and wants to be read in a single sitting.

A fifth book in the series, Shadows in the Street, is due in April 2010.

Just finished reading...

In the fourth title of the Bear Collectors' Mysteries, Brad and Ashleigh Lyon return to California. The impetus for their visit is the annual teddy bear festival in Sonoma, but they also plan to work in a visit with family and friends.
Of course, nothing goes as simply as planned. On the first day of the festival, Brad witnesses a person dressed in a bear costume steal the cashbox from one of the other exhibitors.
While they are having dinner with Brad's former partner and his wife in San Francisco, his partner is called out, and invites Brad to tag along. What a surprise when Brad stumbles over a robotic teddy bear in the parking lot at the scene of the crime!
Despite the cuddly subject matter, much of the narrative leans towards the gritty. The relationship between the Lyons is charming; it's so refreshing to see the hero of an action novel so smitten with his wife! I really appreciate reading a combination of my two favourite mystery genres: cozies and police procedurals.