Customer Reviews

An Unhallowed Grave (Wesley Peterson Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kate Ellis has developed an approach to mystery that parallels a historical event (in AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE the historical event is the lynch execution of a woman for murdering a child) and a current mystery (in this case the death by hanging of Pauline Brent). Sergeant Wesley Peterson, together with is boss, sex-starved Steve, and competent Rachel try to find motive for killing Pauline--a woman who fit into the background so well she shouldn't have been able to make any enemies.

As the mystery unfolds, Wesley discovers Pauline's secret. Now, rather than to few people with motive, there are too many. It turns out that relying on the historical parallels (being dug up by archeologist-buddy Neil) is key to solving the murder.

I enjoyed Ellis's earlier book THE ARMADA BOY but found AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE even better. Ellis writes well--definitely English but with little enough dialect that the novel is approachable by an American audience. Better yet, she doesn't write down to the reader, yet brings a thoughtful approach to both the mystery and the characters.

Somewhere between a cozy and gritty urban mystery, Ellis writes of bucolic but dangerous small-town England. Excellent.

I enjoyed reading "An Unhallowed Grave" very much -- it made for riveting reading, and the plot of this novel was as strong as those of the first two books in the Wesley Peterson/Neil Watson mystery series.

Pauline Brent, a doctor's receptionist, is found hanging from a yew tree in the local graveyard. A preliminary examination reveals that she may have been strangled and then strung up onto the tree. Not too far from the crime scene, Neil Watson of the County Archaeological Unit has just uncovered the grave of a woman who was buried at the crossroads (an unhallowed grave) about 5 centuries ago. Local legend has it that the woman was publicly hanged from the very same tree that Pauline Brent was discovered in -- it was believed that she had committed a horrific murder. Could Pauline Brent's murder be linked to a 500 year old lynching? D.S. Peterson wonders as he considers the fact that Pauline's murderer must have known of the tree's reputation. This would then make Pauline's death some kind of execution. What wrong could Pauline have committed to merit such a theatrical end? Peterson must discover all he can about Pauline, but she soon proves to be an enigma -- a woman who was well liked but not fully excepted by the villagers because she was an 'incommer', she also seems to have very few friends and practically no history prior to her arrival at the village. It looks as if Pauline Brent was hiding from something, but what and why? In the meantime, Neil Watson tries to discover more about the young woman who was executed 500 years ago, and of the crime for which she was hanged. Tension mounts as both men home in on the backgrounds of the the two women and of the crimes that they allegedly committed.

This novel was truly well crafted: the manner in which Ellis switches seamlessly between the centuries, and the way in which the solution of one mystery points to the solution of the other -- that was brilliant. I was well and truly hooked by "An Unhallowed Grave" and recommend as riveting reading.

The two teens enter the churchyard in Stokeworthy, England to cast a love spell. However, instead of seeing their true loves, Jo Talbott and Leanne Matherly find a corpse hanging from a tree. The police arrive to contain the scene and it turns out that the local constable did the right thing because the local doctor later followed up by the medical examiner believe that the victim was strangled first and then hung from the tree to make it look like suicide.

Detective Sergeant Peterson and Detective Inspector Heffernan begin investigating the murder of Pauline Brent, a doctor's receptionist. Immediately, the police learn that the victim was well liked, but never fully accepted as a local after living in the South Devon region for fifteen years. They also learn that the tree has a long history as legend says others as far back as five centuries ago have been hung there. With an archeology dig nearby adding clues to the seemingly impossible to solve case, Peterson, who has a degree in archeology, begins to see links between the murders and another incident in 1969, but still struggles to uncover the identity of the killer.

AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE is an excellent British police procedural with a touch of archeology enhancing the entertaining story line. Readers will enjoy the plot mostly because the key cast members such as Peterson and his family (through second hand accounts) seems real, making the inquiries feel genuine. The who-done-it is quite the puzzler, leading the audience to want to seek Kate Ellis previous Peterson novels (see ARMADA BOY).

Harriet Klausner

I love it when I pick up a book by a new author who I have not read before, and find that the author is capable in character and plot development. Ellis is a good writer at both of these particulars, not great, but definitely so good at what she does that her mysteries deserve a five star rating. For those readers who enjoy intelligent mysteries, her books will be a nice addition. Her Wesley Peterson, a black detective, seems to be an intelligent fellow with a different background in archaeology. This background comes of some use (and brings him in contact with hilarious 'tree-huggers' and friends from universities with agendas of their own) in a mystery involving two women separated by centuries who are hung for crimes they didn't commit. Nice to see we Americans are not the only ones who lynched first, and asked questions (or not!) later.

Ellis' characters are definitely characters. I love Wesley's boss, a lonely widower who is looking for friends. Part of the ability to draw realistic characters is the ability to observe real human beings and their reactions to normal life, which includes loved ones dying from cancer and the subsequent need of those left behind to find something to do with themselves besides work. If the reader can sympathize with the character, then the author has done a good job.

As always, I enjoy reading British writers and really enjoy reading mysteries with a historical bent. I had no idea about the existence of art called "Jesse Trees" which are an artistic rendering of the geneaology of Jesus. I am so intrigued by this I plan to look up some more information on these 'trees'...
Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

I recently discovered Kate Ellis's series when I ordered the second one "Armada Boy" for Kindle. Bought the next one "Unhallowed Grave" immediately and have now just added the third. I have found the flow of the plots and the historical parallels in these books make them hard to put down. I don't have a clue what "proper police procedure" is as one reviewer critiqued, but I do enjoy a good believable story with interesting people that have some "flesh" on their characters. Also, I very much dislike the shoot-em-ups that rely on frequent impossible escape scenes and super hero or heroines that seem to be so popular with some readers. These have none of that. So far , at least, the two I have read make for compelling reading and outcomes not contrived. I hope the author can keep it up. It is always a thrill for me to find a new writer in this genre.
My only reason for not giving 5 stars is at least so far Ellis is not quite in the league with PD James or Reginald Hill.

First Sentence: The girl looked out of the window.

Pauline Brent, a nice middle-aged lady about whom no-one speaks badly, is receptionist to the local doctor. She is also found hanged from a tree in the churchyard. A local archeological dig turns up a 500-year-old skeleton of a woman who was also hanged. Can clues from one case help solve the other?

I know; it's an older book. Being one who prefers to read a series in order, I finally found this third book in the Wesley Peterson series.

That said, I feel their being touted as "A Wesley Peterson Crime Novel" is something of a misnomer. To me, Ellis has created very much of an ensemble cast with my personal favorite being DI Gerry Heffernan, Wesley's boss with his wisdom and humor.

Ellis has done such of good job of making her characters real, I feel invested in their lives almost as if I were watching a series--who will find a girlfriend, who will get promoted, will a certain marriage last--because the characters' lives progress with each book. It's not an easy trick for an author to manage.

The reason the books marketing of the books is focused on Wesley is that he is the link to the second thread in the stories, which is the archeological and historical mystery. I am fascinated by English history and cannot imagine the thrill of discovering something hundreds of years old. Ellis conveys that excitement to the reader, educating and skillfully linking the present and the past. Occasionally, she I feel it unlikely a character wouldn't know a bit of information being related, but it's necessary to the story that the reader understand.

The dialogue could have been better. It's not bad, but it doesn't completely flow. The plot was constructed with an unexpected revelation. The climax was a bit abrupt and partly offstage, but final ending was very satisfying.

This is a traditional police procedural without graphic violence but with excellent characters, and a bit of history. It is a series I recommend reading from the beginning, which means you have quite a bit of good reading ahead of you as the 15th book in this series is due out next year.

AN UNHALLOWED GRAVE (Pol Proc-Wesley Peterson-England-Cont) - G+
Ellis, Kate - 3nd in series
Thomas Dunn Books, ©1999, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0312274602

When I'm reading a book and find myself muttering things like, "Why didn't they ask..."? or "Why don't they...?" that doesn't bode well for that book. Unfortunately, this novel kept me muttering throughout. This is classified as a police procedural, so why didn't these policemen use every advantage they had to solve this case? Granted, if they had it would have been a rather short story unless the author had some other bright ideas up her sleeve.

Detective Inspector Gerry Hefferman and Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson of the Tradmouth Police are called to the village of Stokeworthy to investigate the death by hanging of a local woman. Pauline Brent was found in the churchyard hanging from a yew tree commonly called the hanging tree because of a local legend of a woman who was hanged there in the 1470's and buried in an unhallowed grave. The modern day story is told while in an uncanny parallel with the other story in regards to who was killed, what the crime of the accused murder was, and how justice was carried out. Rather quickly in the investigation the police find that they can't come up with any background for Pauline Brent and that causes their investigation to come to a grinding halt. This is where my dissatisfaction with this book really began to show itself. This story takes place in 1999, forensic science was available to utilize fingerprints taken from a deceased person. Why in the world did this group of police investigators NEVER take the fingerprints of this victim? It seems to be such a natural path for their investigations to have taken. That one thing would have solved their major mystery and the fact that none of the officers involved ever thought of that method of identifying this woman is ludicrous. I do understand that part of the "charm" of DI Hefferman was his reluctance to have anything to do with modern technology in the form of computers, but to have never have any investigator ask for fingerprint identification? That's unbelievable. And so many times the investigators would be given an extremely obvious clue but would fail to investigate it. Why? If they found out two bits of information they investigated one and left the other alone until much time had passed. And, of course, the one they ignored was always the most vital of the two items. This disregard for methods of investigation point completely to the author's style of writing and I didn't like it.

This is the third novel in the Wesley Peterson series by Kate Ellis. I have another title in this series and one in the Joe Plantagenet series. (Will I never learn to read ONE book first before buying others by an author who is new to me?) I can only hope that either one or both of those will satisfy me more than this one. I kept reading in reviews how wonderful the characterization was in this book. Well, I'm sorry but I didn't feel that way at all. There are many characters and I was told a lot about many of them, but I didn't really ever feel that I actually knew any of them. In fact, I kept wondering why Wesley Peterson was considered the focal point of the novel.

So ultimately I think this book will do in a pinch if you don't have anything else you really want to read.