Where Old Bones Lie - Hardcover

Granger, Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312110979 ISBN 13: 9780312110970

Publisher: St Martins Press, 1994

Synopsis

Ingeniously plotted and full of vividly drawn characters, Where Old Bones Lie is Ann Granger's fifth crime novel featuring the exciting sleuthing team of Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell.
What do you do when you think your ex-lover murdered his wife? That's the question Ursula Gretton, an archaeologist working on an ancient Saxon burial ground on Bamford Hill, puts to Meredith Mitchell in the hope that Meredith's friendship with Cotswold chief inspector Alan Markby might cast some light on her dilemma. To Meredith's irritation, Markby is dismissive of Ursula's suspicions concerning the disappearance of Dan Wollard's wife - that is, until a woman's body is found in the garbage dump near the site Wollard and Ursula have been excavating.
The archaeologists aren't the only ones disturbing the peace of the remote windswept hill. Much to the fury of the local landowners, the taciturn and truculent Felstons, a band of New Age hippies has set up camp on the hill, only to disappear at dawn the day after the discovery of the body. Markby is faced with a tangle of conflicting clues, suspects and possible witnesses - including Meredith Mitchell herself. And when a second body is found it is clear the web is growing ever more complex - and destructive.

About this title

About the Author

Like her heroine, Ann Granger has worked in the diplomatic service in various parts of the world. She met her husband, who was also working in the British Embassy, in Prague and together they received postings to places as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. They are now permanently based in Bicester, near Oxford.

From Kirkus Reviews

Ursula Gretton has two problems: She can't seem to convince her archaeology partner, Dan Woollard, that their affair is over, and she can't seem to locate Dan's wife, Natalie, who has disappeared. While Ursula never succeeds in persuading Dan that she's finished with him, Natalie does turn up--dead, not far from the site where Dan, Ursula, and their team are digging for the remains of Wulfric the Saxon. Enter Ursula's friend, Meridith Mitchell, Foreign Service consul and occasional love interest of Chief Inspector Alan Markby, in whose Cotswold jurisdiction the body is found. With great enthusiasm, Meridith involves herself in the investigation, and with somewhat less enthusiasm she involves herself once more with Alan. When another body turns up at the excavation, the hunt for the killer becomes more urgent than the archaeologists' hunt for Wulfric. Alan interrogates a number of likely suspects, including the sour, hyperreligious landowner Lionel Felston, Lionel's reticent nephew, Brian, and a band of New Age travelers who have been camping near the site. In the interstices of the investigation, Meridith and Alan pursue their uninspiring romance (``Their eyes met across the gnawed pizza crusts''). This latest in a series (Murder Among Us, 1993, etc.) has some nice twists, but alas, it moves with the speed of an archaeological excavation: painfully slow. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0312110979
• ISBN 13: 9780312110970
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 278