The Mermaid’s Scream by Kate Ellis
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by FernMost assumed that literary legend Wynn Staniland stopped writing because of his wife’s tragic suicide. Yet writer Zac Wilkinson hopes to reveal the true story to the world in his upcoming biography of Staniland.
When Zac is found brutally murdered, DI Wesley Peterson finds that Staniland is a link between Zac’s death and an unexplained poisoning of a couple in a local caravan park. He suspects that the killings are a grim re-enactment of the murder of Mary Field, which inspired Staniland’s best-known novel.
As Wesley begins to unravel decades of deception, he discovers that someone close to him is involved – and the truth proves almost too much to bear . . .
DI Wesley Peterson is called out to a suspicious poisoning out in the local caravan park in what looks might be a double suicide – or possibly a murder/suicide. With little but his instincts to go on he is reluctant to link it to another recent murder of a local author who is writing a biography of a local literary legend. Yet the more Peterson and his team look into the two loosely connected events, the more they find lurking in the background, and when a re-enactment of a young woman many years ago is also tied in the team have more than enough to keep them busy.
I found this to be an interesting and well-paced British murder mystery. I was impressed with the sub-plot revolving around Petersons nearly teenaged son, Michael and hope we can maybe see a bit more of him in future books to come. I also was really pleased that – for now at least – Wesley’s wife Pam seems to have settled down a bit and has a much better and more patient outlook on her life. I was very happy with the progress of both of these characters and found they really added to my enjoyment.
The plot was well contained and while readers who pick this book up and try to read it as a stand alone mightn’t find the same enjoyment with the character progressions that I did – the story and mystery aspect is very well handled and certainly is all tied up with no real loose ends. Readers who are hoping for a strong historical storyline or archaeological plot woven in with the modern day murder mystery might find that aspect to this book a little lighter than Ellis’ books in this series usually are. Speaking personally, I didn’t mind the lighter hand this time around as there was quite a bit going on – both with the characters, their longer running arc and family members as well as the main mystery plot. I felt had the historical aspect to the story taken up more room something else would have needed to be cut back and so I wasn’t upset to see the history take a bit more of a back seat this time around.
Readers looking for a solidly plotted and well-paced British Police procedural style of mystery should find this book really hits the spot. While I feel readers who have read a few of the previous books and know all the main characters and players will find this a little more emotional and more satisfying I do feel the plot is well contained and can easily be enjoyed just with this book alone. A good addition to a long running series and an author I really enjoy.
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