The Grave Tattoo [Hardcover]

Val McDermid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2007

In a novel reminiscent of The Rule of Four, The Dante Club and The Historian, suspense master McDermid spins a psychological thriller in which a present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty. After torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, long discarded old wives' tales takes on a chilling new plausibility. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. And there, he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem--a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive. Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District, feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed--and whether it still exists today. But as she pursues each new lead, death follows hard on her heels. Suddenly Jane is at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line. Against the dramatic backdrop of England's Lake District a drama of life and death plays out, its ultimate prize a bounty worth millions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An intriguing, 200-year-old mystery propels this multilayered stand-alone from British author McDermid set in England's Lake District. Scholar Jane Gresham pursues her theory that HMS Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian returned secretly from exile to his homeland in the late 18th century. A shriveled body found in a bog seems to bear resemblance to this dashing hero, right down to the South Sea tattoos that blacken his buttocks. Jane searches relentlessly for a lost manuscript by the poet Wordsworth that relates Christian's tale in tantalizing excerpts between chapters. Various subplots complicate her quest, including a fraught friendship with precocious 13-year-old Tenille, a lonely, mixed-race girl who also loves Romantic poetry. With a feminist, socially conscious spin, McDermid (The Distant Echo) vividly contrasts marginal subsistence in London's dismal Marshpool neighborhood with the Lake District's bucolic lifestyle. Boasting blurbs from such notable authors as Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen and Joseph Finder, this could be McDermid's break-out book. 100,000 printing; author tour. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—During an English summer of record-breaking rains, a peat bog in the Lake District opens to reveal a 200-year-old body bearing South Pacific island tattoos. The area, home to Romantic poets, is where Jane Gresham, Wordsworth scholar, grew up, and she finds her interest piqued by the news. She has long believed that Fletcher Christian, HMS Bounty mutineer, didn't die on Pitcairn Island but returned to England. She has theorized that Christian recounted his adventures to his old schoolmate Wordsworth, who wrote them down, and those documents and a related poem, now worth millions, lay forgotten in a local home. In the race to retrieve the valuable manuscripts, Jane finds herself competing against sinister forces that would stop at nothing, including murder, to reach them first. The suspenseful story and its subplots, which include Jane's friendship with 13-year-old poetry-loving Tenille, who lives in Jane's London public housing project, create an absorbing thriller. McDermid establishes a strong sense of place in the atmospheric and pastoral Lake District that contrasts sharply with the sprawling housing project. Historical and literary references to Wordsworth's life and work and to the South Pacific adventures of the Bounty mutineers all help to make this novel come alive. Teens will enjoy the lively characters, brisk pace, and careful unraveling of the centuries-old mystery with its satisfactory conclusion.—Susanne Bardelson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition first Printing edition (February 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312339216
• ISBN-13: 978-0312339210
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bit of a departure, February 7, 2007

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Grave Tattoo (Hardcover)

Val McDermid is an excellent writer, one of my favorites in the gritty mystery genre, so I did not hesitate to pick up The Grave Tattoo. This new offering is also a kind of detective story, with some truly nasty goings-on but involves more painstaking scholastic research than typical sleuthing. It reminds me of the line in "DaVinci Code" where Robert's reaction to being chased is "I need a library", one of my favorite quotes. In Tattoo, McDermid deftly combines history, forensics, suspense, literature, and danger into another compelling, atmospheric murder mystery. Both male and female characters are skillfully drawn in 3 dimensions, and the plot with its tantalizing backstory inexorably draws the reader in and won't let go. Definitely not a cosy or a romance, Tattoo should appeal to readers who enjoy a bit of intellectual exercise embedded within their entertainment.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars `Now it was her job to make him come alive all over again.', March 17, 2008

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grave Tattoo (Hardcover)

A bizarrely tattooed body is discovered in the UK Lake District. There are persistent rumours that Fletcher Christian secretly returned from his exile to Pitcairn Island and was harboured by William Wordsworth, a childhood friend, who turned his tale into an epic poem. Because the manuscript has remained hidden, there is no conclusive proof of its existence. Can the body be that of Fletcher Christian? Is the manuscript still extant? Who holds the key to the past? Wordsworth Scholar Jane Gresham would love to find the manuscript, as would many others and not all are as scrupulous.

Peopled with interesting characters, the research through the past in combination with some fast action in the present provides the potential ingredients for a good mystery. This book involves a number of different subplots, some of which are more satisfying than others. Overall, the total package worked well for me, and I enjoyed the read.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars search for the lost manuscript, December 30, 2006

By 

Robbie De Clercq (Gent, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grave Tattoo (Hardcover)

This is one of Val McDermid's best books. A great mix between history (Mutiny on the Bounty),poetry (William Wordsworth), mystery (multiple murders) and action.

Jane Gresham, a specialist in the works of William Wordworth, is intriguid when a 200-year old body is found. She is sure that this is the body of Fletcher Christian, the person who started the mutiny on the Bounty. Furthermore, she is convinced that the only reason why Fletcher returned to England was to meet William Wordsworth, a friend of his family, and to tell him the real story about the mutiny on the Bounty.
The search for the lost manuscript, which is worth a fortune, can begin.

Because this is not just a detective story, a lot of people who have never heard of Val McDermid, will probably also want to read this book. It has everything to become a bestseller. A must-read.