When the body of a teenage girl is discovered in Birkbury, the villagers close ranks. Gossip turns to fear and suspicion as they realize the killer is one of them and is prepared to kill again.DCI Peter Hatherall must fight his past and class divisions to find the killer.All must decide which secrets are worth dying for.
The Skeletons of Birkbury (Peter Hatherall Mystery Book 1)
By dianajfebry
England, law-enforcement, procedural, murder, murder-investigation, skeleton, relationship-issues, rural, class-consciousness, small-business, small-town, horses*****
Hatherall’s personal life is a mess, Fiona (his off sider) is fresh out of a relationship, and the landholder where the skeleton was found is a real piece of work (as is his wife). The characters are so very well done (even the gossips in the pub). And the skeletons are about to be forced out of their closets. Good story!
The Skeletons in Birkbury, A Peter Hatherall Mystery by Diana J Febry was an outstanding cozy mystery set in the English countryside. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Hatherall is very good at his job, but his personal life is a mess. A body is discovered hidden in the rural countryside, setting off village-wide fear and accusations. But fear not! Peter and his junior officer Fiona are on the case.
Diana J Febry is a new author to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent who dunnit set in the Cotswolds.
The body of a teenage girl is found after a large tree is blown over in a storm, and the local police force are kept busy rounding up all of the suspects.
Well written and hardto put down; highly recommended.
This is the third Peter Hatherall mystery I’ve read, but the first in the series. The Skeletons of Birkbury was an interesting mystery from the first page, where although I read it over a few sittings, once I picked it up I found it hard to put down. Not many books are like this to me. Overall an excellent read!
One of the biggest mistakes a person can make is to believe that the events of the past will remain there.
There are plenty of people in this book who are dealing with the ghosts and skeletons of the past, some with powerful and tragic consequences.
The Skeletons of Birkbury is a very enjoyable and well-constructed mystery story, set in a seemingly normal English village populated by believable characters, most of whom seem quite likeable and all of whom seek to keep up appearances of respectability.
Whose ghostly chickens are about to come home to roost? And which members of the community will fail to get out of the way as they do?
The Skeletons of Birkbury is the story of a twenty-year-old mystery in the English countryside. During a storm, a tree blows over on a horse farm, revealing the hidden body, of a young woman, buried there. The subsequent police investigation takes the reader to the inside of an English country village. The characters are many and varied, from the; toffee-nosed land-owners to the hard-working labourers. All the characters have a special fell that is both fascinating and quirky. I think the author’s characterisation is what makes this story stand out. Despite the odd-ball set it is easy to empathise and find common ground with each of her characters.
This is a murder/police mystery that hooked me from the beginning and I think I was as keen to get to the bottom of it as were the main characters. Peter and Fiona. It’s perhaps a bit of a cliché but this was one mystery I couldn’t put down until I’d solved it and was sure I’d solved it correctly. If you like quintessentially English detective novels, you’ll love this one. A great read, for sure.
This story had me gripped from the first page to the last. The mystery slowly unfolds, twisting and turning and keeping you guessing to the end. The characters are real and interesting and, Peter, the main character has his own demons to fight as he works to uncover the clues to a twenty-year-old murder. It’s a well-told tale with an intriguing plot. I really enjoyed it.