Where Old Bones Lie (1993)

Entertaining audio for the daily commute. The bodies and bones keep piling up along with the number of suspects as an archaeological team of generally unlikable sorts digs into a farm where a group of hippie "travelers" has set up camp. Detective Inspector Markby of Bamford gets the case when the first contemporary body turns up, wrapped in a rug and dumped in an old quarry. His not-girlfriend-but-semi-regular-bed-partner Meredith, friends with one of the archaeologists, meddles annoyingly and puts herself in peril more than once. What does Markby see in her anyway? My first Ann Granger, but I'll happily listen to others in this lengthy series. ( )

If you like British police procedurals, then I highly recommend the Mitchell and Markby series. This is the fifth book in the series, and it has all the things in it that I have come to expect from this author. Ms. Granger is a master craftsman of character design. Her characters are wonderfully real, with just enough eccentricities to make them enjoyable. The plot is also wonderfully intricate and complex. The book explores all sorts of issues such as family values, unhappy marriages, disfunctional families and it does so effortlessly and seamlessly. This book is centered around an archeological dig where modern bodies and ancient bones seem to keep turning up. It's a great puzzle. ( )

I did something here I don't normally do, and that is to start a British mystery series out of order. Not only is it out of order, it's #5 and I haven't even read #1. But I figure that's okay since I really don't care about the whole love/romance aspect between the two main characters, so if you think of it that way, you really haven't missed anything. You can read this as a stand alone if you take that tack. I'm not anti-romantic in real life; far from it. I just don't like it in mystery novels. Call me weird if you must -- I just like getting down to the mystery.

Anyway, having said this, Where Old Bones Lie is set at an archaeological dig sponsored by a local trust that supports a small museum in Bamford. The dig leader is positive he's close to finding a Saxon warrior chief named Wulfric. One of the members of the excavation is one Ursula Gretton, a friend of Meredith Mitchell, who is one of the two key crime solvers in this novel. Ursula, it seems, calls Meredith because she has been trying to end an affair with a married man (Dan) who will not take no for an answer. On going to visit with him, Ursula notices Dan's wife purse on his sofa, although Dan has told her that his wife Natalie has disappeared. Ursula calls Meredith with fears that Dan may have offed his wife. This sets into motion a series of events that lead Meredith and Inspector Alan Markby down a path of lies, danger and murder, in a story that has a nice twist at the end.

I liked it; the characters are a bit plastic but the basic story was okay. There are enough suspects to keep you guessing until the end. A fine little British murder mystery; I'd recommend to those who like that genre, and those who are interested in mysteries in an archaeological setting.

Overall, not bad; I will definitely get back to the other novels in the series. ( )