A tangle of conflicting clues, suspects and possible witnesses...
Meredith Mitchell is involved in yet another murder case with Cotswold Chief Inspector Markby in Where Old Bones Lie, the fifth whodunit in Ann Granger''s Mitchell & Markby series. The perfect read for fans of M.C. Beaton, Agatha Christie and ITV''s Midsomer Murders.
''A tidy, inventive and intricate plot graced with lovely scenic descriptions'' - Publishers Weekly
What do you do when you think your ex-lover has murdered his wife? That''s the question Ursula Gretton, an archeologist working on the Saxon burial ground on Bamford Hill, puts to Meredith Mitchell in the hope that Meredith''s friendship with Cotswold Chief Inspector Markby might cast some light on her dilemma. But Markby is dismissive of Ursula''s suspicions concerning the disappearance of Dan Woollard''s wife - until a body is found in the rubbish dump near the site Woollard and Ursula have been excavating.
Woollard''s team of archeologists aren''t the only ones to disturb the peace of the windswept hill. Much to the fury of a taciturn pair of local landowners, a band of New Age travellers has set up camp on the hill, only to disappear the day the body''s discovered. Markby is faced with a tangle of conflicting clues, suspects and possible witnesses - amongst the latter Meredith Mitchell - and when a second body is found it is clear the web is growing even more complex, and destructive.
What readers are saying about Where Old Bones Lie:
''Ann Granger peppers her stories with plenty of characters, twists and turns and motives, keeping the reader guessing as to who the actual killer could be''
''You''ll hang on each and every page until you come to the amazing conclusion''
''A well written mystery with an interesting archaeological background and well-drawn characters''
Industry Reviews
Ursula Gretton has two problems: She can't seem to convince her archaeology partner, Dan Woollard, that their affair is over, and she can't seem to locate Dan's wife, Natalie, who has disappeared. While Ursula never succeeds in persuading Dan that she's finished with him, Natalie does turn up - dead, not far from the site where Dan, Ursula, and their team are digging for the remains of Wulfric the Saxon. Enter Ursula's friend, Meridith Mitchell, Foreign Service consul and occasional love interest of Chief Inspector Alan Markby, in whose Cotswold jurisdiction the body is found. With great enthusiasm, Meridith involves herself in the investigation, and with somewhat less enthusiasm she involves herself once more with Alan. When another body turns up at the excavation, the hunt for the killer becomes more urgent than the archaeologists' hunt for Wulfric. Alan interrogates a number of likely suspects, including the sour, hyperreligious landowner Lionel Felston, Lionel's reticent nephew, Brian, and a band of New Age travelers who have been camping near the site. In the interstices of the investigation, Meridith and Alan pursue their uninspiring romance ("Their eyes met across the gnawed pizza crusts"). This latest in a series (Murder Among Us, 1993, etc.) has some nice twists, but alas, it moves with the speed of an archaeological excavation: painfully slow. (Kirkus Reviews)
