A Painted Doom

A Painted Doom by Kate Ellis is the 6th entry in the Wesley Peterson series of mysteries. These books are always a mixture of an archaeological discovery and a modern day murder with a loose connection that eventually ties together. In this outing the murder of aging ex-rock star and a collection of medieval letters along with a painting discovered in an ancient barn combine to lead Wesley and his team on the hunt for a cold-blooded murderer.

From a 15 year old teenage boy to an emotionally damaged woman, witnesses were both hard to come by and difficult to make talk and this case was beginning to seem unsolvable. But Wesley continued to pick away at the few clues they had and eventfully was able to put the pieces together and come up show more with the villain.

While the story was interesting and the author supplied plenty of historical background, I am not sure if I will continue to read this series as there are a number of things that I have trouble with. After 6 books I still haven’t warmed up to Wesley and his attitude toward his wife and child is a concern as he seems to find them more of an inconvenience than an important part of his life. Also the link between past and present is starting to wear a little thin and feeling forced. I have one more book of this series on my shelf and that my well be my last. show less

I always enjoy this series and watching...(in my head)...Wesley and this small police force work their magic and find the guilty party. Each book in this series is a historical mystery that gradually becomes a modern mystery with modern repercussions. As usual there is a complicated plot with plenty of twists and turns to mislead both the police and the reader...and then it's all nicely resolved. The intertwining of the distant past...the not so distant past...and the present was very well done. Anyone that enjoys solving puzzles and a well planned and executed mystery story should give this series a try.

Entertaining, but not quite up to the high standard that I have come to expect from Kate Ellis. It is difficult to elaborate upon my views without giving a big clue as to the miscreant: let's just say, that the solution was a little too contrived.

Still worth the read!

I had a few niggles with this one - Wesley still regarding his son as an inconvenience for his teacher-wife to manage between work and housework, the character of Lewis (specifically what happened to him after he disappeared - really?), and the fact that a large part of the solution to the mystery was so evident from the halfway mark that waiting for the police to catch up was frustrating.

SPOILER

I also found it unbelievable that no one recognized James - he was 17 or 18 when last seen - men don't change that much after that age...

I like the concept of the series, but sometimes the parallels feel a bit stretched and I found myself almost shouting at the book for the cops to check out who it turned out to be the killer. It was just obvious to me and I was quite annoyed at them for it.

An ageing rock star is found dead in the place he came to holidays in the past, a place he was going to return to live in, it turns out that there are twists and turns in what is going on.

Not bad, could do better.

A medieval skull and later the decapitated body are found in an archaeological dig and an aging pop star's body is found dead in a hedgerow.

The usual two for the price of one parallel mysteries combining present day police work and historical mystery, which make this series so compelling

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