SKELETON HILL by Peter Lovesey

Book Quote:

“Two men lay dead on a battlefield and one said ‘Hey!’
The other stayed silent.
‘I’m talking to you.’
There was no response.
‘You with the head wound.’
Now the other one stirred. ‘I’m dead,’ he said through his teeth like a ventriloquist.’ ”

Book Review:

Review by Lynn Harnett (OCT 30, 2010)

History professor Rupert Hope takes a time-out from his role as a dead Cavalier in an annual reenactment of a 1643 battle with the Roundheads on Lansdown Hill, and unearths a human femur. Excited by the find – certain it’s part of a centuries-dead soldier – Hope keeps digging. Until someone stops him.

Shortly after Hope is reported missing, a woman walks into Supt. Peter Diamond’s Bath station and turns in a suspiciously human looking bone her dog found. It’s that femur, of course, and the skeleton it belongs to is no unknown soldier but a headless woman only a decade or two dead – murdered most likely, judging by her missing skull.

The forensics head and the new public relations officer bear the brunt of Diamond’s usual sardonic wit while the murder case and the missing professor bumble along in a teamly mix of missed connections and quick thinking.

In addition to the accustomed tussles between the classes, Lovesey manages to mix in a bit of politics with his crime, when a connection to Eastern Europe exposes refugee sex trafficking closer to home.

As always Diamond’s gruff manner, wily thinking and benevolent dictatorship are wholly engaging, while the secondary characters are well developed with small subplots of their own. Lovesey fans will enjoy this latest reunion with an old friend, but newcomers should start with an earlier volume, as the pace is more leisurely and the outcome less believable than usual.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 11 readers
PUBLISHER:	Soho Crime; Reprint edition (August 17, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Lynn Harnett
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Peter Lovesey
EXTRAS:	Publisher Page
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Stagestruck Another UK Detective: Death Comes for the Fat Man by Reginald Hill