Playing With Bones

This has been an exceptionally busy summer, with more hospital visiting and less writing and reading than I anticipated some months back, and as a result, my list of things that I should have done but haven’t is nearly as long as my list of must-read books.

One of those must-reads is definitely Playing with Bones, by Kate Ellis. Published on 2 July by Piatkus, it is the second Joe Plantagenet mystery, set in Eborby (which bears a very close resemblance to York, a marvellous city which has also featured in a number of books by other crime-writing friends of mine, John Baker and Barbara Whitehead.)

As with Seeking the Dead (Joe’s first recorded case, which I covered in this blog a while back) there is an eerie feel to the story-line. Singmass Close has a sinister past, and is reputed to be haunted by children’s ghosts. In the 1950s, it was the hunting ground of the Doll Strangler, who was never brought to justice. When a teenager’s strangled corpse is found, Joe wonders if he is dealing with a copycat killer.

I really enjoyed Seeking the Dead, which had a characteristically clever plot designed to confound even determined whodunit-solvers like me. I’m looking forward very much to devouring Playing with Bones.

Seeking the Dead

I mentioned the other day Kate Ellis’s first book in a new series, Seeking the Dead. In some respects, it’s a departure from her previous books, set in a fictionalised Dartmouth, and featuring Wesley Peterson. The backdrop here is Eborby (a fictionalised York) and the detective Joe Plantagenet, who gave up a calling as a priest to become a cop. But the new book possesses the same virtues that have made the Wesley books very popular.

Prime amongst those virtues is a gift for complex, yet credible plotting. Kate’s books invariably offer a traditional convoluted whodunit in modern guise. Here, the mystery concerns a serial killer, the Resurrection Man, who is terrorising Eborby. There is a very neat red herring and I have to admit I fell for it. I was for many chapters convinced that I’d figured out the solution, but Kate managed to confound my expectations with a double twist ending.

Kate’s enthusiasm for history and archaeology is again well to the fore. The Wesley books offer a historical mystery that runs in parallel with the contemporary puzzle, and in this book there is a comparable plot strand, harking back to the Great Plague.

Joe is a likeable fellow, similar to Wesley in that respect and various others, and I look forward to his next outing. Kate is a prolific writer, so fans can be assured that there will not be too long to wait!

Easter Break

An enjoyable way of celebrating the fact I’ve finished the first draft of The Serpent Pool proved to be to invite two good friends, the crime writer Kate Ellis and her husband Roger, to spend Easter Monday with us.

I’ve just finished reading Kate’s latest book, and the first featuring Joe Plantagenet, Seeking the Dead (about which, more soon), only for her to break the news that she’s another book of hers has just come out – a sure sign that I can’t keep up! She has now produced sixteen crime novels, and has built up a loyal following.

The sun shone on us, and as we walked the circuit from the house that winds around Lymm Dam, we saw a heron and a couple of cormorants – a reminder to me that there is a beautiful world away from the desk and computer. I must get out and see a bit more of it!