Tangled Web UK Review June 2007
Written in Bone by
Simon Beckett
pbk out April 08
(Bantam)
at £6.99
Forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter is returning home, facing anxieties
about his troubled relationship when a call about a corpse discovered in a fire,
sends him to one of the most remote areas of the British Isles. The island of
Runa in the Hebrides is sparsely populated and the community tightly knit.
No-one has been reported missing so whose remains are reduced to ash and
bone in the abandoned croft? When Hunter examines the skeleton, he can
tell that this is neither an accidental death nor a suicide but murder. Forging
an uneasy alliance with a surly local bobby and a retired policeman, Hunter
brings his scientific skills to the enquiry. However, there are more deaths to
come and with relentless storms battering the island, all communication with
the outside world is lost and Runa becomes a deadly place to be in every
sense of the word. In choosing this isolated location, Kernick updates and re-
invents the type of detective story where the sleuth has to pit his wits against
a closed circle of suspects who resent the interference of the interloper. The
isolated setting is well described and the web of deceit snarled indeed, though
Kernick saves some unexpected and shocking twists for the end of the novel.
A thoroughly engaging read and the fascinating forensic detail is applied with
a light touch throughout.
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
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