Customer Reviews

Haunted Ground: A Novel

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I approached Erin Hart's "Haunted Ground" with some trepidation. First, this is a story of Ireland, written by Hart, an American from the Midwest, as well as a first novel. The pastoral Irish moor provides the backdrop for the teaming Cormac Maguire, a brawny/brainy Irish archeologist, and Nora Gavin, equally eligible American pathologist, providing all the necessary ingredients for a breathless "Harlequinesque" romance. Fortunately, my fears could not have been further off the mark. Rather, Hart demonstrates remarkable talents as a storyteller, lyricist, and historian in this unusual and captivating mystery.

While in the bog cutting turf for fuel, farmers find the severed head of an ancient red-haired girl, perfectly preserved in the damp, dark peat. Meanwhile, Mina Osborne, wife of local gentry High Osborne, and her toddler son have been missing for over two years. Husband/father Hugh is the prime suspect, but there are neither bodies nor solid evidence to convict him. Hart moves deftly between the twin plots of solving the circumstances behind the apparent execution of the red-haired girl centuries before, and those of the disappearance and apparent murder of the Osbornes. The author does a great job of capturing the culture and landscape of rural Ireland, building credible characters in believable situations. The rainy bogs and dark, decaying manors of central Ireland lend a spooky, gothic, air to the tale, which twists to a mostly unexpected and cleverly conceived conclusion.

"Haunted Ground" is a well researched, well written, and refreshing change of pace from the more-standard mystery fare. I would suspect that fans of Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child and Dan Brown would appreciate the history and science Hart blends with her fiction. I would also recommend Martin Cruz Smith's "Rose". In summary, a very impressive debut - I'll look forward to reading more from Erin Hart.

I have never written a review before. However, I hope this book will receive more attention from the publisher, reviewers and bookstores, who tend to promote books by their publicity, marketing and displays. I just happened upon this book at Books a Million. For some reason, this particular store, but not others, had the book on display, which grabbed my attention. I bought it and was thrilled to read it.

The other reviews tell the potential reader about the plot. I just want to reiterate how well this book is written. I would much rather see this book on the bestseller lists, than John Grisham. I mean no disrespect to Grisham. But, Erin Hart has written a superb mystery with an emphasis on science. The book is well researched and well done from beginning to end. I hope more people will read it and enjoy the suspense and human interactions of the book!

"Haunted Ground: A Novel" is one of the most original mystery-suspense novels I have read in a long while. Set against the background of contemporary Ireland, the complex, multilayered plot is filled with fascinating tidbits of Celtic culture, folklore, music and history. Indeed, the landscape of western Ireland permeates the plot and heightens the novel's haunting ambiance. Author Erin Hart brings her characters to life, giving them believable personas, feelings and motives. She captures beautifully the cadence of Irish speech, which gives the narrative a realistic lilt.

While cutting turf, a Galway farmer discovers the severed head of a woman in the ancient bog. Cormac Maguire, an archeologist and faculty member at the University of Dublin, is called in to investigate when the chief state pathologist determines that the grisly find appears to be centuries old, and not a recent victim. Assisting him is Irish-American archeologist and anatomy expert, Nora Gavin, who has a particular interest in bog bodies. Peat bogs preserve skin, hair, vital organs and even facial features. This particular head belonged to a young woman who had long red hair. The curious townsfolk begin to call her "cailin rua," "red colleen."

The archeologists search for clues in ancient records, folk songs, and local lore, trying to discover the story of the woman's violent death, a murder perpetrated in approximately 1660. Gradually the one investigation turns into a triple murder mystery. Maguire and Gavin are intensely involved with the ancient investigation. They also become more than curious about the recent disappearance of a local woman and her child in the same area where the head was found. The murders remind Nora of her sisters violent death. She believes that her brother-in-law is the killer, but the crime has never been solved. The weight of her sibling's death, along with the two other unsolved mysteries, sits heavily on her.

Maguire and Gavin are a wonderful pair with great chemistry, and soon sparks begin to fly. The suspicious villagers give a gothic feel to the story, as do the centuries old buildings, tower and priory. The secondary characters, with all their quirks, feuds and jealousies, are an interesting and realistic lot also.

I found myself glued to "Haunted Ground." It is a riveting read.
JANA

Erin Hart's "Haunted Ground" begins in the peat bogs of Ireland. A young man is harvesting the peat on his property when he discovers a severed head hidden in the bog. Archeologists are called in to unearth the remains and study any evidence of the identity of the mysterious red-haired woman. Coincidentally, a local woman named Mina Osbourne and her small son Christopher have been missing for over 2 years. People begin to wonder if the head may belong to Mina. Her husband, Hugh Osbourne, is the prime suspect in the disappearance. Will the head of Cailin Rua, as the red-headed woman comes to be called, lead to the answers behind Mina Osbourne's disappearance?

I really enjoyed "Haunted Ground" by Erin Hart! I would have given it a higher rating if the ending had not been so predictable. There was great character definition, a solid plot, and a beautiful and mysterious landscape as the backdrop. The only problem with this novel was that I found it to be extremely obvious who the "bad guy" was, which made the ending disappointing and anti-climactic.

I will definitely be checking out further works by this author.

Erin Hart, Haunted Ground (Scribner's, 2003)

Erin Hart's first novel, Haunted Ground, shows some of the hallmarks of a first novel, but fortunately sheds them as the pages turn, and we end up with quite a fine read here. If you picked this up and couldn't get past the first few pages, press on. Trust me on this.

The story revolves around an ensemble of characters, but the central two (who seem to be becoming a detective team, as Ms. Hart's website informs us that she is working on a second novel featuring them) are American expatriate Nora Gavin, who fled to her ancestors' home country after the murder of her sister, and Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire. The two of them meet at the site of the discovery of a new bog body (an archeological curiosity of natural bogs, in which bodies can stay perfectly preserved for hundreds of years as long as they're not exposed to the air), but this one has a twist; it's not a body, it's only a head. As they're uncovering it, an hysterical local arrives to find out if it's the head of his wife, who went missing a couple of years before. Despite themselves, and for very different reasons, Nora and Cormac find themselves working on the two parallel mysteries of the disappearance of Mina Osborne and her son in the present day and the identity of the head found in the bog.

There is a good deal of setup, much of it slow, in the first half of the novel. (This seems to be a common thread in the novels I've been reading recently, for some odd reason.) A little trimming could probably have cut thirty to forty pages of the setup, just by rearranging sentences, and made the book more readable. Thankfully, though, once it gets past the halfway point, Haunted Ground gets more compelling, and by the time I got to the last fifty pages, I was staying up late to keep reading. Because of the differing layers of the mystery, it would have been impossible to tie everything up at once, so the ending may seem a bit drawn-out, but at the end, all of the loose ends are tied, everything is resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and the book has turned out a lot better than the first half presaged. A very good debut from a promising new author. *** 1/2

There are plenty of good mystery stories set in the British Isles. Haunted Ground isn't one of them. The plot is transparent, easy to figure out after only 50 pages or so, and so are the few relationships that Hart attempts to develop. The rest is just window dressing. It puzzles me how so many reviewers have found this novel full of Celtic lore and history. I didn't notice much of either.

Corpses missing body parts, two mysteries centuries apart, music, romance and a genealogy that ties everything together are found in Erin Hart's first novel Haunted Ground. Set in Ireland and highlighting the mystery inherent in all history, Haunted Ground has all the elements of a great history mystery. Nora Gavin an American pathologist and Irish archeologist Cormac Maquire become involved in trying to determine the identity of a red-haired woman while at the same time trying to find the whereabouts of a local Irish woman and her child missing for nearly two years. Irelands bogs, traditional music and tumultuous history play an interregnal part in the entire story. As the story progresses Nora and Cormac's attraction to one another intensifies.

Hart writes two wonderful mysteries that have separate story lines and intersect in peoples lives, time and place. The red-haired woman's head has been severed and dumped in to a centuries preserving bog, but the woman's body is nowhere to be found. Good pathology, historical research, and a bit of luck begin to piece together a possible identity for the body-less woman. While searching for clues to the red-haird woman Gavin and Maquire search for and stumble on to clues to what happened to the missing woman and her child.

Hart has a way of allowing Gavin and Maquire to be central to the story, while exploring the thoughts and feelings of the supporting characters as well. The story lines of these characters are as enjoyable as the relationships between the main characters and the two mysteries.

Hart also has a wonderful feel for history and the pains-taking effort involved in historical research. Her characters have a feel for the pleasure a researcher gets from sifting through the everyday of history to find little details that sketch out a person or an event. If you love the mystery of the past and digging through the ordinary to find answers, Haunted Ground is a great read.

In central Ireland, farmers cutting into peat bog to obtain a means of fuel make a grizzly discovery. The severed head of a woman is found. Given that it has rested in the frigid water of the bog, it is in remarkably good condition. Features could easily be recognized including the bright red hair. The question is- who is she? It is up to Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire and American pathologist Nora Gavin to discover her identity. In the meanwhile, people wonder whether this is the remains of Mina Osborne who disappeared two years before while returning home with her son from a shopping trip. The main suspect is Mina'a husband Hugh Osborne. Policeman Garrett Devaney investigates.
HAUNTED GROUND is a literate crime novel. Ms. Hart is American, yet her writing style is purely British. The great sense of locale will immediately bring to mind the exceptional novels of Stephen Booth or Charles Todd. Her pacing is quite leisurely and the reader will find it difficult to traverse these pages rapidly. Characters are well fleshed out, however, I could not feel a connection to any of them. The writing is strong and sure, yet, when all is said and done, in spite of Ms. Hart writing a fine book, it is one I just did not enjoy reading.

While cutting the turf, Brendan McGann literally uncovers the perfectly preserved head of a red-haired woman, in a peat bog located on his farm in County Galway, Ireland.

Cormac Maguire, an archeologist and faculty member at the University of Dublin; Nora Gavin, an American lecturing at Trinity College; and Garret Devaney, a local detective, investigate the gruesome find. This body could be a recent death or one that has gone undetected for centuries, given the preservation abilities of peat bogs.

Nora is both drawn to and repelled by the find. As a scientist she is excited about the potential information that the head could yield, but is also disturbed by the reminder of her own sister's death. Cormac continues to mourn the loss of his friend and colleague, Gabriel McCrossan. It is to be his first trip into the field without McCrossan. Garret Devaney is there to determine if a crime has been committed.

While in County Galway, Nora and Cormac are hired by Hugh Osborne, primary suspect in the disappearance of his wife and young son some two years previous, to do an archaeological survey on a construction site. Nora and Cormac agree to stay at Osborne's manor, Bracklyn House. There they meet Osborne's cousin Lucy, an odd woman, who is Hugh's housekeeper and Lucy's troubled 17-year-old son, Jeremy.

Disturbing things occur at Bracklyn House during Nora and Cormac's stay, an attraction between the two develops, the investigation into the history of the preserved head takes twists and turns-and the mystery of the disappearance of Hugh's wife and son takes center stage.

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart is a riveting debut mystery. It is written with an intensity and fluidity that begs to be read slowly and savored because it is not just a grand story but because it is filled with interesting information about Celtic culture and folklore, Irish music and history.

I can't wait to read Lake of Sorrows and I highly recommend Haunted Ground.

I actually read this book last fall and it impressed me in two ways. First it delivered a structured story, a plot that didn't have holes big enough to drive a truck through. And it does what you will begin to believe won't happen, it actually concludes to a satisfying ending for BOTH mysteries that come into play.

Second, after all these months the book and certain aspects of the story still cross my mind. In fact I wouldn't have minded if there had been more indepth coverage of the anthropology and forensic side of things.

Highly recomended!