When the body of a middle-aged woman is found hanging from a yew tree in Stokeworthy Churchyard, the police suspect foul play. But the victim is an unlikely one. Pauline Brent was the local doctor's receptionist, respected and well liked. She seems to have no real enemies-and yet someone killed her.

Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson, a black detective recently transferred to the quiet, West Country English village, is determined to discover the truth and, once again, it is history that provides him with a clue. For Wesley's archaeologist friend, Neil Watson, has excavated an ancient corpse at a nearby dig: a woman who had been buried at a crossroads, on unhallowed ground. It appears that the body is that of the same woman whom local legend has it was publicly executed in the churchyard centuries before.

A chilling echo of the fifteenth-century lynching, Pauline Brent's death forces Wesley to consider the possibility that the killer also knows the tree's dark history. Has Pauline been "executed" rather than murdered-and if so, for what crime?

To catch a dangerous killer, Wesley has to discover as much as he can about the victim. But Pauline Brent appears to have been a woman with few friends, no relatives, and a past she has tried carefully to hide...

Maybe it's because I've not heard of this author or maybe it's due to the cover but I presumed that this was not only new to me but also a new series - wrong! Of course, I've not started at the beginning (this time coming in at number 3) but I felt as if the characters were already old friends.
Checking the copyright, it seems this tale is knocking on 20 years old & the only nod to its age I felt was the implication that as a West Indian, Peterson seemed to be a both a bit of a novelty in a rural village & also as an archaeologist graduate - not quite PC maybe but perhaps of its time, I'm not sure anyhow....

It's an entertaining read, not a cosy mystery but certainly more inclined towards that genre rather than the gritty, gory ones I so frequently read. It's not a series I'll be avidly following but if anymore happen my way I'll certainly read them.

Added to KaleLewin's Crime Bookbox

Released as part of The SPOOK-TACULAR CHALLENGE (#31)

Taken from KaleLewin's Crime Bookbox!

Sent to the winner of a sweeps!

Thank you T_richardson_x for this book and the other one which arrived with it, along with the yummy tea and chocolate :)
Feeling spoiled!

An enjoyable read, although it seemed to take me forever to finish it. This is the first I've read in the series.

Welcome to BookCrossing!

Thank you for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry on the BookCrossing site (www.bookcrossing.com) to let me know that this book has found a good home with you. You may choose to remain anonymous, or to join (its free). If you join, please consider indicating that you were referred by keeta1. It’s all free, spam-free and confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address).
I hope you enjoy the book. Happy reading!

Released for the What's in a Name Challenge 2017 and the KTM Challenge 2017

Found this book in the free book exchange in the Wyndham Quarter on the water front in the central city in Auckland.

I have passed this book onto my mother who is going away on holiday and will take it with her and read it then. She has left books in the shared B&B's libraries for guests before so I'm half assuming she'll leave it somewhere similar...