4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kept me reading, but plot was awfully complicated., February 29, 2008
This review is from: The Skeleton Man (Charnwood Large Print) (Hardcover)
The fifth in the mystery series set in East Anglia with detective Philip Dryden. The plot is competent but overly complex. Anyway, it kept me reading to find out what happened -- and also what is happening with Laura, as readers of previous novels in the series will understand.
The best thing about the book is the setting in the fens (many novels have been saved for me by the strong evocation of an unfamiliar part of the world). The author makes the fens vivid and real. He keeps commenting on how the roads go in a straight line for miles, not unfamiliar for someone living in the US midwest, although here it is not so DAMP.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
superb whodunit, January 11, 2008
The military exercise focuses on the abandoned small village of Jude's Ferry off of Whittlesea Mere. Reporting on the war games is The Crow journalist Philip Dryden, who has learned the ghost town had never reported any official crime in its millennium of existence. Following the artillery shelling, a shocking sight surfaces when a grave underneath the cellar of what had been a pub has been opened. The skeletal remains of a person hung to death are found.
Not expecting much from the police on this cold make that frozen case, Dryden cannot resist learning the truth about the ancient skeleton and who uncovered the tomb and why. However, the former residents are not only scattered those he interviews remain reticent not offering him much in the way of useful information. However, Dryden obstinately keeps digging until someone begins to think he is getting to close and plans on him being the second victim in the history of Jude's Ferry.
This complex somewhat convoluted investigative tale is a superb whodunit as Dryden struggles with finding a nano clue at a time. The support cast is in the quadrillions with most providing cameo appearances in response to the reporter's inquiry. This makes it difficult to keep score yet for those who relish solving the case, they are each critical in what may seem incognizant as a puzzle part, but the whole is needed for lucid resolution. Although how Jim Kelly kept track is beyond me, THE SKELTON MAN is a terrific look at rural England where local talk is not a repression but a depression.
Harriet Klausner
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3.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 Stars - Not my favorite but still quite good, February 1, 2010
First Sentence: The Capri shook to the sound of snoring, and through the fly-spattered windscreen of the mini-cab Philip Dryden contemplated the Fen horizon.
Journalist Philip Dryden accompanies the Territorial Army on a war games exercise. Jude's Ferry is now deserted but was a small village in Cambridgeshire which, for 1000-years, never recorded a single crime. Until now. When an errant shell hits the old pub, a cellar, unmarked on ordinance maps, is uncovered as are the remains of someone who died by hanging. It might have been a suicide except for the marks on the ribs which indicate the victim was stabbed.
This was not my favorite book by Jim Kelley. I found there were too many characters, and few about whom I cared, yet each was critical to the resolution of the story. Even the two of the three primary characters seemed diminished. The relationship between Philip and his driver, Humph, was there but didn't have the level of import as in previous books. Now that things have changed with Philip's wife, Laura, some of the emotion impact of the series is gone. What I do like is that Kelly has allowed his protagonist to have his phobias and weaknesses.
The plot was convoluted but purposefully so. I was taken down one path, only to be turned to another and another. It worked but, at the same time, wasn't as satisfying it perhaps should have been.
One element at which Kelly excels is description. I love that the books are set in Fens near Ely. For the armchair traveler, Kelly evokes the region in an atmospheric and haunting manner.
While this may not have been my favorite book of the series, it was still a very enjoyable read in a series with which I shall continue.
THE SKELETON MAN (Unl Inv/Journalist-Phillip Dryden-Cambridgeshire, England-Cont) - G+
Kelly, Jim - 5th in series
Michael Joseph, 2007, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 9780718149482
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