The Merchant's House-A Wesley Peterson Mystery [Hardcover]

Kate Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1999

Detective sergeant (and amateur archaeologist) Wesley Peterson hoped that a transfer from the lively but frantic pace of London to the bucolic river port of Tradmouth would have a beneficial effect on both his personal and professional lives. But Wes's first day on the job has hardly begun before he finds himself heading up an investigation into the murder of an unidentified young woman whose face has been brutally disfigured. And it's not long before Wes discovers that the Tradmouth force is as hopelessly overstretched as London's Met; in addition to the unidentified murder victim, the local police have been embroiled in a frantic search for a missing child.

As Wes and his fellow detectives try to determine the identity of the young woman in hopes of catching her murderer, a strange parallel emerges between this case and a nearby archaeological dig being conducted by Wesley's college friend. Two skeletons have been unearthed in the ruins of a seventeenth-century merchant's house, one of them the apparent victim of a four-hundred-year-old murder. At first Wes is interested on a purely personal level, but strange connections between the murdered girl, the missing child, and the murder that occurred four hundred years ago soon begin to surface. Wes must act quickly to prove his suspicions, before another body joins those already residing in the dust of the merchant's house.

As these threads intertwine and fray apart in ingenious fashion, Kate Ellis keeps her detectives and her readers on edge, turning pages and guessing at conclusions, until at last the pattern is complete and the shocking truth revealed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Enough promise survives this choppy debut to warrant hope for future mysteries by Ellis. British Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson's transfer from London to Tradmouth in South Devon promises a fresh start near his wife's hometown. Peterson, a black detective with a degree in archeology, is warmly received by his new colleagues, among whom are unorthodox Detective Inspector Gerry Heffernan and bright Detective Constable Rachel Tracey. Although Tradmouth is a small town, the precinct has its hands full with two puzzling cases: one involves the kidnapping of a young boy, the other the brutal murder of an anonymous woman. As Peterson and his colleagues track down the identity of the murder victim and find her killer, Ellis unfolds a parallel mystery set 400 years earlier by placing short excerpts from an old journal at the beginning of each chapter. All the while, Peterson also follows a longtime archeologist friend's excavation of a 17th-century house that contains the skeletons of two bodies. Peterson, Heffernan and their colleagues form an interesting ensemble, and an effective subplot concerning Peterson's wife's anxiety over her inability to conceive a child adds emotional punch to the tale. Ultimately, however, the coincidences converge too neatly, and the clumsy tying together of the historical and present mysteries undermines the novel.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

An exciting blend of historical and present-day police procedural, this first novel stars Wesley Peterson, a black British detective who majored in archaeology. Newly transferred to Tradmouth, Peterson chances upon a university buddy whose excavations at a building site have yielded a victim of Elizabethan murder. Up in the hills, meanwhile, the discovery of a grisly murder sends police off in the wrong direction until the supposed victim turns up alive. And elsewhere a little boy has disappeared. Peterson's skill and intuition make this is an involving, adventurous, nicely detailed work for all collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312205627
• ISBN-13: 978-0312205621
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid! Absorbing and Unusual..., April 3, 2001

By 

Christine "loves to read" (Setauket, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Merchant's House-A Wesley Peterson Mystery (Hardcover)

Well executed tale about Wesley Peterson, a black English detective in an interracial marriage, who moves his wife Pamela and his job from London to the English countryside. His first day on the Tradmouth police force presents Wesley with a gruesome murder and a seemingly unrelated case of a missing child. On the other side of town his long time friend and archeologist Neil (who happens to be Pamela's former lover) has unearthed an unidentified skeleton from what used to be a 17th century merchant`s house. Little does Wesley realize that the skeleton may be the key to solving his murder case, as well as the case involving the missing child.

Also intriguing is the 17th Century diary of John Banized, the merchant whose home Neil is now excavating. We are greeted with excerpts from John's diary at the beginning of each chapter, and this creates a whole other story line that is just as compelling and suspenseful as the main plot.

I was fascinated by the multi layers of this novel. Ellis very deftly draws the reader into two story lines simultaneously. The medieval plot of John Banized's infidelity and his ominous secret is unfolding just as rapidly as Wesley Peterson's missing child and murder cases. There is also a premise that evolves around children...infertility, greed and desperation. But I won't say too much about that here. Just suffice it to say that this is a very well written and enjoyable mystery with unrelenting suspense. I consider it one of those rare finds that you always look forward to discovering on a rainy day.

Enjoy.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Debut, May 17, 2001

By 

P. Bigelow (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Merchant's House-A Wesley Peterson Mystery (Hardcover)

In this debut mystery, Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson has recently transferred from London to the port town of Tradmouth. Just prior to his transfer, the Tradmouth police are faced with a kidnapping of a small boy by person or persons unknown. On Peterson's first day on the new job, a woman is found brutally murdered in the local park. The first thing the police must do is identify her. Also, archaeologists working on a dig of an Elizabethan merchant's house find a skeleton in what they think is the cellar. Finally, Peterson's wife begins visiting a local medical clinic in an effort to get pregnant and he must be present at several appointments. Peterson had expected a laid back kind of life in the countryside, but Tradmouth's criminals keep him and his colleagues busy.

In the hands of a lesser writer, juggling four distinct stories might turn into a confusing morass. Ellis, however, pulls it off and keeps the readers' interest sustained in all three stories. She is able to deftly pull the stories together at the end. Peterson is an interesting and likable character - well rounded with interests (archaeology to be specific) other than police work. The minor characters are also likable, and one hopes that they will be fleshed out in future books.

While not strictly a historical mystery, one of the four stories is set in Elizabethan Tradmouth and adds piquancy to the modern-day stories. This has all the potential of being a first-class series - part procedural, part historical, part cozy. This is an excellent start.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great comtemporaty mystery with a historical twist!, June 6, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Rapid City, South Dakota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Merchant's House-A Wesley Peterson Mystery (Hardcover)

This story satisfied both my tastes for a great whodunit and a historical read. The characters are an interesting and believable mix. The plot is wonderfully woven, and the author keeps you guessing throughout the main story as well as throughout the historical insets, which were a great complement to the main story. I look forward to more "Wesley Peterson Mysteries" from Kate Ellis!