Customer Reviews

THE BONE GARDEN (First UK Edition)

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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 why hasn't her Wesley Peterson mystery series been heralded with greater fanfare? It's not a series readily available on bookstore shelves, which is a shame because, truly this is a series that's worth taking note of and keeping an eye out for!

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.

Restoration has begun on the gardens of the seventeenth century Earlasacre country house in Devon. However, the digging turns macabre when the excavation team uncovers the remains of a woman interred three centuries ago. Not long afterward more human remains are found. The archaeologists begin putting together the grisly account of what happened at this locale during the initial construction of the gardens.

Trinidad Detective Sergeant Wesley Petersen would prefer to work on the historical mystery. However, he soon has a modern day who-done-it to contend with when a solicitor dies during a tea break at a cricket match. As Wesley and other police investigate the present-day homicide, patterns form that links the current death with those of the past, but who is the culprit today remains the question.

With several archeological mysteries already investigated by the hero, one would think this series would grow staler than some of the remains encountered in these books. Instead, Kate Ellis makes each new tale different and quite fresh with the two common themes being Peterson and duality of who-done-its in the past and present. THE BONE GARDEN is a superb British police procedural with both eras' mysteries well done and gripping even as the historical sub-plot opens up each chapter with a strong sequence followed by a powerful modern day string. Ms. Ellis will please fans of both sub-genres with her latest DS Peterson novel.

Harriet Klausner

This is my first Wesley Peterson mystery, which I devoured avidly in one day. Kate Ellis weaves two murder investigations into an exciting and well plotted story. Her protagonist, Wesley Peterson, a detective with a degree in archaeology, and his partner, Gerry Heffernan, a seasoned and experienced detective, uncover clues and deal with interwoven subplots as they work to solve several recent murders.

Interesting and realistic parallels between archaeology and police procedures - both painstaking seek to decipher clues to solve mysteries. The current murders in the story have intriguing parallels with the human skeletons found in an archaeological reconstruction. Opening each chapter with a brief letter from the distant past sets a tone for that chapter, obviously drawn from detailed research on Ms. Ellis's part.

The clues, red herrings, plots and subplots all move quickly and are tightly written. She creates a life for and gives substance to not only the main characters, but a number of supporting characters. Even though I have not read the previous Peterson mysteries, I found it easy to follow the story line and the background lives of the characters.

I look forward to reading the earlier Wesley Peterson mysteries, and hope for more to come.

Earlsacre Hall is undergoing renovations restoring the lost gardens to their natural splendor. In the process, two bodies are found. They were found under a splinth that was placed there in 1701. No sooner were the three hundred-year-old bodies found, than a man was found stabbed to death in a trailer. His identity is unknown. DI Gerry Hefferon and DS Wesley Peterson investigate. Little do they know that past and present murders are not only intertwined, they also mirror each other.

This is the fifth in the Wesley Peterson crime series. Ellis's novel is rich in local color with likable protagonists and very effective secondary characters. This is a first-rate British police procedural. In each novel, the characters have continued to grow and taken us on their journey with them.

I was so pleased to see this new book by Kate Ellis and I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed both mysteries in this one. The supporting characters were all interesting and original and I got a huge charge out of the mother-in-law. I hope Kate Ellis keeps going with this series because I've enjoyed all of the books. I think this book is the best so far. I think my teenage daughter would enjoy this series too.

First Sentence: The man stared at the shape lying beneath the faded cover on the ancient iron bed and took another sip of wine.

Not only weeds are dug up during the restoration of a 17th century Devon garden at Earlsacre Manor, but skeletons. The first is of a woman who was buried alive, standing up. While not of investigative concern to the Tradmouth police, the body in the caravan is. The only clue to the identity of the victim is a link to Earlsacre. And what about the murder at the cricket pitch. Is that linked as well?

It's the characters which keep me coming back to Kate Ellis' books. With each book, we learn more about the main characters and we see their lives change and develop.

In this book, Wesley is a new father and both he, and his boss Gerry Heffernan, are promoted. Although the books are marketed as "A Wesley Peterson Crime Novel," in some ways I find Heffernan the more interesting character, but they balance each other nicely. I love some of Heffernan's expressions and he's the kind of boss you'd love to have.

Add to the characters, the plot which is well done and contains excellent twists. I am never able to anticipate where the story is going or how it will end up. That's always a very good thing.

A series containing both ancient mysteries and contemporary ones could be formulaic. Yes, the threads of having the present mirror the past are contrived. But they are also, beautifully woven, interesting and, in this case, cleverly related to one of the principal characters.

With each book, I look forward to learning of the murders in each time period and how they will tie together. With ten more books and counting in the series, I am a happy reader, indeed.

THE BONE GARDEN (Pol Proc-Insp. Wesley Peterson-England-Cont) - VG
Ellis, Kate - 5th in series
Thomas Dunne Books, ©2001, US Paperback - ISBN: 0312300379

If you're looking for a light, entertaining mystery, The Bone Garden should do the trick. Ellis is a competent writer who can intertwine plotlines and keep dialogue moving. But my opinion of Bone Garden isn't quite as glowing as other reviewers', mainly because the solution to the central mystery becomes evident about 2/3 of the way through. Characters are also somewhat two dimensional, with their relationships weakly portrayed. Wesley seems rather distant from his wife, for example, and shows little emotion regardless of circumstance. Worth reading, nonetheless.