First installment of Kate Ellis' Wesley Peterson detective series. Detective Sergeant Peterson, recently transferred from London to the quiet Devon town of Tradmouth, is assigned to investigate the murder of an unidentified young woman on his first day at the new job. Wesley also stumbles across an old college friend, Neil Watson, now working as an archeologist on a dig in the same town. I really enjoyed the mix of murder mystery and historical thriller. Great characters in the book too. Looking forward to reading more in this series!
Bland. Characters are pleasant-enough cardboard, with checklists of personality traits, rather than anything like rounded personalities.
The excerpts from a completely unrealistic 17th Century diary, which lead each chapter, are written in a clunky, cod-medieval "odds-bodkins" diction that is like fingernails drawn over chalkboard.
Much of the tension depends on the investigating officers not sharing information. and not making the simplest of connections until nearly clobbered over the head with them. Solution of historical mystery also depends on the survival of original documents that is beyond fantastic.
The the solutions to the mysteries, both ancient and modern, are clunkingly obvious, if you have ever read a mild, unchallenging mystery, or watched an episode of "Midsomer Murders." "Midsomer Murders" has better jokes.
From other reviews, I understand that this series (which had reached volume 19) gets better. I think I would need convincing (or being trapped on a desert island, with no books except those by Ms. Ellis) before I would test that theory.
The excerpts from a completely unrealistic 17th Century diary, which lead each chapter, are written in a clunky, cod-medieval "odds-bodkins" diction that is like fingernails drawn over chalkboard.
Much of the tension depends on the investigating officers not sharing information. and not making the simplest of connections until nearly clobbered over the head with them. Solution of historical mystery also depends on the survival of original documents that is beyond fantastic.
The the solutions to the mysteries, both ancient and modern, are clunkingly obvious, if you have ever read a mild, unchallenging mystery, or watched an episode of "Midsomer Murders." "Midsomer Murders" has better jokes.
From other reviews, I understand that this series (which had reached volume 19) gets better. I think I would need convincing (or being trapped on a desert island, with no books except those by Ms. Ellis) before I would test that theory.
