A hot summer on the Northumberland coast, and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son murdered. Luke has been strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers. This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope and her team intrigued. But then a second body - that of beautiful young teacher Lily Marsh - is discovered laid out in a rock pool, the water strewn with flowers. Now Vera must work quickly to find this dramatist, this killer who is making art out of death. Clues are slow to emerge from those who had known Luke and Lily, but Vera soon finds herself drawn towards the curious group of friends who discovered Lily's body. What unites these four men and one woman? Are they really the close-knit, trustworthy unit they claim to be? As local residents are forced to share their private lives and those of their loved ones, sinister secrets are slowly unearthed. And all the while the killer remains in their midst, waiting for an opportunity to prepare another beautiful, watery grave ...

A good read. More engaging than the last one that I read in the series.

Travelling to brunton11 :)

Wow thanks keeta1 for not 1 but 4 wishlist books. You are far too kind! Looking forward to this one too! I’m reading book 2 next for a tag so sure this one will be read sooner rather than later.

I vaguely remember seeing the TV adaptation of this book but couldn’t remember who the murderer was!

A gentle read compared to some of the crime thrillers I’ve read of late but enjoyable all the same.

No takers as yet on the Read It, Want It forum so will likely take it to a local LFL.

Releasing into the Phone ‘Books’ (an old telephone box)