The Bone Garden (Wesley Peterson Crime Series) (Hardcover)

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Review
"detective fiction with a historical twist - fans...will love it." Scotland on Sunday "Liverpool born Kate Ellis (no relation) has written a series of fascinating detective novels set in Devon...featuring a quietly intelligent black policeman...They are intriguing books with mysteries that mirror event s from previous centuries ' Ron Ellis "She writes well...recounted with pleasant wit and a genuine feeling" Birmingham Post "Kate Ellis gets my personal vote as Most Promising New Crime Writer" Sherlock Holmes Magazine "sense of the abiding presence of history that adds another dimension to an already intriguing tale" Northern Echo "moody mystery...a splendid piece of whodunnit, and when?" Newcastle Evening Chronicle"

Five bodies, two centuries, no waiting. All the corpses-the two buried under an 18th-century garden plinth, the one beneath a centuries-old shell grotto, the one beside a cricket field, and the one in a holiday caravan park-are the responsibility of DS Wesley Peterson (The Armada Boy, 2000, etc.), archeology buff and sidekick to DI Gerry Heffernan at the Tradmouth stationhouse. The cricketer was timid solicitor Brian Willeby, who rang up Peterson for a confidential chat but died before they could meet. Did his demise have anything to do with the ownership of venerable Earlsacre Hall, recently sold by Charles Pitaway, the last of his line, and now under renovation? Or did one of the working girls he was fond of photographing at their sexual tasks have it in for him? While Peterson and Heffernan work the Willeby and caravan deaths, Peterson's pal Neil Watson, an archeologist digging up the Earlsacre gardens, uncovers the ghastly events surrounding the three centuries-buried bodies: a serving girl, a transported noble returned from Barbados, and a Good Samaritan sea captain. But poor DC Rachel Tracey, on an ill-advised romantic outing, will almost become victim number six before Peterson and Heffernan swoop down to stop the Earlsacre slaughter. The 18th-century tale of murder is more beguiling than the contemporary one, but Ellis is particularly crafty in dovetailing them, even writing in a role for a Peterson forebear in the process. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
A Wesley Peterson crime novel The ancient gardens of Earlsacre Hall in Devon are being excavated by a local team of historians in preparation for plans to recreate the gardens in their former glory. However the dig is called to a halt when two bodies are discovered under a stone plinth. Over three hundred years old and buried on top of one another, there is every indication that one of the corpses had been buried alive. But, despite the intriguing circumstances, DS Wesley Peterson has little time to indulge in his hobby for archaeology for he has a rather more recent murder case to solve. A man has been found brutally stabbed to death in a caravan at a popular holiday site. Only there are no clues to his identity but for a newspaper cutting about the restoration of Earlsacre. Does local solicitor Brian Willerby have the answer? He seems eager to talk to Wesley but before he can reveal his secret he is found dead during a 'friendly' game of village cricket. The post-mortem reveals that his death was caused by being struck by a cricket ball several times with some force. If Wesley is looking for a demon bowler this appears to let out most of the village side. But what is it about Earlsacre Hall that leads people to murder?

First Sentence
Brain Willerby, partner in the firm of Blake, Willerby and Johns, Solicitors, sat staring at the file on his desk, his heart pounding and his mouth dry. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
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3 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   10 of 10 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A clever weave of historical and modern detective writing., 9 April 2001 By  hudson@ls15.freeserve.co.uk (Leeds, Yorkshire, England.) - See all my reviews "The Bone Garden" continues Kate Ellis' creative mixture of concurrent archaelogical and criminal investigations in the fictional Devon town of Tradmouth. Restoration work on a late 17th century Devon garden at a country house called Earlsacre unearths the remains of a young woman, buried alive during the original construction. As the work continues, more bodies are discovered, and the archaelogical team piece together the story behind their finds with the aid of historical records. As an archaelogy graduate, Detective Sergeant Wesley Petersen has an interest in the Earlsacre finds over and above that required by his job; but his enthusiasm to be involved has to be postponed when a solicitor meets an unusual and untimely end, during the tea interval at a village cricket match in which Wesley was playing. As the investigation progresses, parallels between the murders of yesteryear and the present day begin to emerge. The fifth Wesley Petersen novel, "The Bone Garden" is the best yet. Kate Ellis is developing her main characters well, and the reader is eager to learn more about them, not just concerned with the main storyline. Above all, like it's prequels, "The Bone Garden" is a ripping yarn - or rather two yarns, as the historical sub-plot which begins each chapter is a good story in its own right! New readers will enjoy this novel, and then seek out the earlier books to find out more about Wes and co. Like me, they will then eagerly await the next instalment! Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars a very engrossing read, 16 Jun 2005 By  tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Bone Garden (Wesley Peterson Crime Series) (Paperback) The archeological mystery is quite a popular sub-genre with many avid mystery lovers. However, it is not an easy sub-genre to execute brilliantly. Kate Ellis, however, has been cleverly penning the masterfully engrossing and addicting Wesley Peterson mystery series for quite a few years now. So that one really beings to wonder why this mystery series hasn't been heralded with greater fanfare! Earlsacre Hall (in Devon) has recently been sold to a charitable trust with an eye of turning the entire estate into an art centre. And one of the first projects is to restore the seventeenth century garden to its former glory. The escavation and restoration work is going swimmingly until the workers make an unsettling find: the remains of a woman who had been buried alive in the garden almost 300 years ago. Naturally the police are called in; and DS Wesley Peterson of Tradmouth CID finds himself becoming really intrigued by the find. A former archeology student, DS Wesley Peterson would rather like to get involved in solving the mystery of the woman's identity and why she was buried in the garden, but a current murder drags him away from the tantalizing find at Earlsacre: a young man is found brutally stabbed to death is his rented trailer nearby. Who he is and why he was murdered remains a mystery; but intriguingly a newspaper clipping about the escavation and restoration work going on at Earlsacre is found amongst his belongings. What is the connection between Earlsacre and the murdered young man? As the body count, both from the past and present mount, Peterson is determined to uncover this connection and to put an end to this current murderer's cold-blooded killings... This is the fifth Wesley Peterson archeology murder mystery, and it is one of the better ones. Tightly woven and suspenseful from start to finish, I found it very hard indeed to put down "The Bone Garden" until I had reached the last page. Kate Ellis definitely knows how to spin a good yarn. I espeically liked the manner in which she blended the 300 year old mystery with the current one practically seamlessly. Colourful, vivid and terrfically engrosing, "The Bone Garden" definitely was a fantastic read, and one that should not be missed by any avid mystery fan. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Ms Ellis triumphs again, 12 May 2001 By  grayhoward@home.com (Vancouver. Canada.) - See all my reviews The continuing saga of Wesley Petterson is once again wrapped in old and new mystery. The bodies are discovered and our hero's are beset with clues ancient and modern. This book brings the lives of two generations to life with thrilling twists and turns which keep the reader absorbed to the last page. I do hope that there will be many more in this excellent series and eagerly await the sixth book. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 3 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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