The Funeral Boat

I enjoyed this book as much as I’ve enjoyed all the other Wesley Peterson novels I’ve read so far. A typical British mystery, intelligent and full of old English flavor, it reminded me of Dorothy Sayers and her Peter Wimsey novels.
My first introduction to the series came from my local second-hand bookseller. “Buy Kate Ellis,” she recommended. “I never have her books for long; they’re flying off the shelves.” After I read that first book, I understand why Ellis’s books sell well. What I don’t understand is why none of them says it is a bestseller. They definitely deserve to be.
Like all the novels of the series, this one combines several intertwined mysteries: an archeological mystery of the Vikings’ attacks on the show more Devon coast a thousand years ago, a series of current farm robberies coinciding with the annual Viking festival in town, and a kidnapping of a visiting Danish woman.
The action takes place in Devon, in the ancient town of Tradmouth, where Wesley Peterson, the protagonist of the series, works as a policeman. Detective Sergeant Peterson is an unusual policeman: he has a university degree in archeology. Many characters in the book describe him as a posh young black man, polite and charming. A son of two high-level doctors in Oxford and a grandson of a Trinidad detective, Wesley is fascinated by archeology. His university friend Neil, a local archeologist and a recurring character in the books, always tempts Wesley by archeological discoveries and old legends, but Wesley’s main concern is the safety of Tradmouth and her people.
Complicated interpersonal dynamics in the books, prompted by multiple repeat personages, including Wesley’s wife, his boss, and his coworkers at the Tradmouth police station, embellish the story, which is primarily plot-driven. While the characters don’t change much from book to book, the plot lines are endlessly inventive and subjects to tons of historical research.
The action in the book moves deceptively slow, like a real police investigation. Wesley gathers information, questions witnesses, and chafes at the sluggish progress. Ellis writes: “Things were moving at the pace of an elderly and arthritic snail, and Wesley felt frustrated.”
As the clues pile up, the entire puzzle refuses to assemble. Suspicions mount, but nobody is sure of anything, not the Tradmouth police nor the readers. Everybody involved has a secret, but not all secrets are connected to the main crime. The pressure keeps building up, and everyone’s nerves thrum like taut strings, both inside the book and on the reader’s side, until the last couple of pages, when Wesley’s intuition and perseverance save the day.
Besides Ellis’s masterful handling of the art of mystery, her love for old England oozes off the pages. Tradmouth, the town where Wesley lives and works, is a charismatic character in itself. After reading my first novel of the series, I was enchanted by the town’s steep streets, old buildings, and busy harbor. I wanted to visit and explore Tradmouth and its shops, planned to include it in my itinerary of the next trip to England, until I read on Ellis’s website that she invented the town.
I still want to visit it… again. That’s why I don’t read the series back to back. I finish one book and take a break, knowing that there are ten more Wesley Peterson novels waiting for me, something to look forward to.
Highly recommended. show less

This series so far, has always had a mystery from the past and a current one that the main story is built on. The characters become more developed in each addition and we learn more and more about them. They are all likable to various degrees...well, except for Steve...seems every police series has to have the odd bad apple. Along with a really good mystery we also have an archaeological aspect. This only adds to the content and ties the past and the present together. This is a great series for all readers that like a good murder mystery without a lot of violence or blood and guts.

The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis is the fourth book in her Wesley Peterson Murder Mysteries. Set in the fictional town of Tradmouth in Devon, DI Wesley Peterson and the rest of the crime solving team are investigating the disappearance of an attractive Danish tourist as well as a series of armed robberies. Wesley is an amateur archaeologist and is fairly certain that when a body is found buried in a farmers’ field that, even though apparently the victim of a crime, it is that of an ancient Viking.

The author interweaves both this mystery from the past with the contemporary crimes and delivers an entertaining and interesting story. The Funeral Boat is another good addition to this series that falls somewhere between a cozy mystery and a show more police procedural. show less

Isolated farmhouses are being attacked and robbed, a Danish tourist has been abducted, and a Viking burial has been discovered. The summer holiday season is upon us.

Some touches of humour in this one. There are hints that a promotion may be in the offing for Wesley, and about time too. It sometimes seems that Detective Inspector Gerry Heffernan reports to Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson rather than vice versa.

This was well-plotted with likeable characters and a strong Devon setting. The extracts dating from 997AD were directly relevant to the current day investigation and slotted in well. The archaeology was far better integrated than in the recent Elly Griffiths series.

Again modern detection meets an archaeological mystery this time involving a missing Danish woman, a buried viking and a group of re-enactors.

This series is getting better and the coincidences seem to be getting less strained.

The detective in this series of murder mysteries is Wesley Peterson who also has an interest in archaeology. In 'The Funeral Boat', the skeleton of what is later discovered to be a Viking warrior is discovered. The story of how it came to be killed and buried is given to the reader in a series of journal extracts by a monk in AD 997,and these extracts head each chapter.
There are of course several rather more modern crimes to be investigated. A Danish tourist is abducted and a series of robberies which become increasingly violent take place from isolated farms.
Each of the books featuring Peterson,are connected in one way or another with crimes from the past and it is this aspect which makes them somewhat different from the more show more run-of-the-mill crime novels. Plus the fact that Peterson is a very likeable sort of chap.
An interesting and readable story. show less