The Merchant's House

The description is a little misleading but those things do happen in the story... they just aren't tied together quite like it reads. That being said...I read a tremendous amount of books in a year so it's not surprising that I don't remember all the details of some. I don't know how I could have forgotten so much of this one. The story is absolutely captivating. It draws the reader in and allows the mind to soar...as one of my reading friends said. You have to like DS Wesley Peterson and his commanding officer DI Heffernan. They are so believable and don't do stupid things. They are extremely competent police officers. We are reading this series as a group read so I am eagerly awaiting book #2.

The description is a little misleading but those things do happen in the story... they just aren't tied together quite like it reads. That being said...I read a tremendous amount of books in a year so it's not surprising that I don't remember all the details of some. I don't know how I could have forgotten so much of this one. The story is absolutely captivating. It draws the reader in and allows the mind to soar...as one of my reading friends said. You have to like DS Wesley Peterson and his commanding officer DI Heffernan. They are so believable and don't do stupid things. They are extremely competent police officers. We are reading this series as a group read so I am eagerly awaiting book #2.

These are just the sort of books that I enjoy as a post slumber treat: they are not too gory, always leave the reader believing that they are ahead of the detective and finally completely flummoxed as to how one could have missed all the signals that 'X' was the murderer.

This is the first in the series but I have read another, out of sequence, and the omens are good that this will be a series well worth reading from beginning to end. I shall not release any information that could lead to the guilty party, but I would just say that this is how to write the first of a series: there is not a long pre-amble introducing the characters, one is thrown in at the deep end. The characters emerge, fully rounded.

A toddler is abducted and a few days later a woman's body is found on a clifftop. Newly transferred Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson is investigating the murder, while his archaeologist friend Neil Watson has found evidence of a Jacobean tragedy during an excavation.

The modern day mystery was very well done, setting up a good group of characters I'd like to see more of, but I found the extracts from the Jacobean journal which served as chapter epigraphs unsatisfactory, not so much from the story-telling point of view but simply unconvincing as Jacobean English.

Book 1 in the Wesley Peterson series: Having read Book 2 first, this title was a bit lack-lustre in comparison. The characterizations were not as vivid but the parallel mysteries between the archeological skeletons and the current day death and missing child were masterful.

Part of the story involved Wesley and Pam's interactions with a physician at a fertility clinic. Somehow, this was too much side-play and it was strange that in the end, the doctor wasn't charged with illegally being paid to abet infertile women in finding surrogates. Despite this distraction, I was kept guessing who committed the murder until close to the end.

This is a slightly suspenseful mystery which had three-dimensional characters that were engaging. show more Recommended for fans of the cozy mystery genre. show less

The Merchant’s House by Kate Ellis is the first in her series featuring DS Wesley Peterson. Newly transferred to the port city of Tradmouth, Wesley’s first investigation is into the murder of an unknown women found beaten to death on a cliff side path. This isn’t the only major case the police are working on as a young child was abducted from his home just a couple of weeks earlier.

I found this to be a story that moved along at a steady pace, the reader is introduced to all the main characters and gets a feel for both the community and for Wesley‘s private life as well.. Wesley has a background in archaeology and this is introduced to the storyline in a seamless way that actually enhances the plot. Even though Tradmouth, Devon show more is a fictional setting, I found it realistic and well portrayed. The author’s descriptions left me eager to visit this area again.

Although I found the mystery fairly easy to figure out, I did enjoy how the past shadowed the future and how all the various plots entwined with each other eventually. This is definitely a series that I intend to follow along with as I enjoyed how the author unfolded both the historical aspect and the police procedural into a cohesive unit.. show less

This is the first in a series set in Devon and featuring DS Wesley Peterson and his colleagues. Wesley's team investigates the murder of a young woman, while another team is trying to locate a missing toddler. Wesley studied archaeology at university and meets up with a friend, Neil, who is working on the site of a 17th century merchant's house. The chapter headings feature sections from the journal of said merchant, and these were interesting, although the sections where Wesley and Neil discuss the dig were not so interesting and didn't add anything to the story from my perspective; I would have been happier with just the modern day mystery.

I think I'll continue with these - I hope Wesley's wife cheers up, though!