Murder in the Queen's Armes (1985)

Gideon Oliver is honeymooning in Dorset and pays a visit to an archaeological dig where one of the team has been missing for a few days. He senses that something isn't quite right at the time, and when a body shows up a few days later, Gideon is asked to provide an expert opinion on the bones of the victim since much of the body decomposed or was eaten by fish in the coastal waters. Soon Gideon's sense of something amiss is confirmed as fraud and other irregularities at the dig become evident. This is not the most solid mystery although the solution to it does make sense. The problems lie in manner in which the author wove the story to reach the conclusion. It is still a quite interesting read. ( )

Fun one. I really like Abe - any story with him in it is neat. There are several scary bits though - the dog, in particular. I _know_ he gets away (there are lots more books in the series!) but it doesn't feel like he's going to. And why does Gideon never scar? His nose is broken but that was before the first book, and he's had some major damage to his face since then (in this book, among others) but no one ever mentions scars on his face...Also, it's a _very_ convoluted mystery. Motives galore, and the real one shows up very sideways and gets explained very late. Weird and wonderful. ( )

While in southern England on his honeymoon, anthropologist Gideon Oliver pays a courtesy call on colleagues at a nearby archaeological dig. The dig's leader hints about a major find, but refuses to reveal any details to Gideon. Several days later, the local police request Gideon's expert assistance in identifying a body recovered from the sea. Gideon begins to suspect a connection between the corpse and the strange goings-on at the dig.

I visited several of the places mentioned in the book during the years I lived in England, and I enjoyed revisiting that part of the world in the pages of this book. The explanation of the mystery was logical, but more convoluted than perhaps it needed to be. ( )