This story is just as good as the others in this series. I have docked half a star because this one is a bit on the gruesome side: ladies being kidnapped and locked up in poor conditions. I don't need that in my leisure reading.

The plot was as strong as usual and Ms Ellis' writing style leaves the reader (me) always just on the verge of solving the crime but, somehow still surprised by the denouement!

I shall still continue the series. ( )

The body of a strangled woman is found out at sea, floating in a rubber dinghy. Is it Jenny Bercival who disappeared during the Palkin Festival a year ago? A similar-looking woman, Kassia, a musician due to play at this year's Palkin Festival has also disappeared. What is the connection with the fantasy website Shipworld? Wesley Peterson investigates while Neil Watson excavates John Palkin's home and warehouse, the site of which now belongs to the owner of the website.

Kate Ellis is back in form with this episode in the Wesley Peterson series. Unputdownable. ( )

I don't know how Kate Ellis does it. The Shroud Maker is the eighteenth-- and one of the best-- in her consistently high-quality series. I'd no more miss one of these books than I'd forget to put my glasses on when I get up in the morning. Ellis knows the perfect way to combine a present-day murder investigation with a fascinating bit of history.

The chapters in the book begin with either an excerpt from a biography of John Palkin or a letter written by the biographer's wife. It is a very effective way of allowing readers to form their own ideas as to what's happening because-- as it usually does in a Wesley Peterson mystery-- history is having a decided effect on the present day. However, Peterson's investigation is hampered by the Palkin Festival because it's bringing in all sorts of criminals, making it difficult to match the right crime with the right bad guy.

Ellis always has a fascinating combination of crime and archaeology, but her characters are what make this entire series shine. Through eighteen books, these characters have grown and changed, and I've been witness to many of their life-changing events. The Shroud Maker is no exception. Wesley's wife Pam seems to have grown into the role of policeman's wife. One of Wesley's detectives, Rachel, is suffering from pre-wedding jitters, and Wesley's boss, Gerry Heffernan, is worried about his headstrong daughter, Rosie.

If you have the slightest interest in British police procedurals that combine strong mysteries with archaeology, history, and a fine cast of characters, I urge you to sample one of Kate Ellis's Wesley Peterson novels. You can read them as standalones with little or no confusion, but what's the fun in that? Do what I did and begin with the very first book, The Merchant's House! ( )

From Amazon:

A year after the mysterious disappearance of Jenny Bercival, DI Wesley Peterson is called in when the body of a strangled woman is found floating out to sea in a dinghy. The discovery mars the festivities of the Palkin Festival, held each year to celebrate the life of John Palkin, a 14th century Mayor of Tradmouth who made his fortune from trade and piracy. Now it seems like death and mystery have returned to haunt the town. Could there be a link between the two women? One missing, one brutally murdered? And is there a connection to a fantasy website called Shipworld which features Palkin as a supernatural hero with a sinister, faceless nemesis called the Shroud Maker? When archaeologist Neil Watson makes a grim discovery on the site of Palkin's warehouse, it looks as if history might have inspired the killer.

My Thoughts:

There are plenty of suspects, twist and turns, a stack of bodies and both a present day and historical mystery to solve. This is Book#18 in this series and I am happy to say it is still as interesting and exciting as it was in Book 1. ( )