
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Three and a half stars.
Jake is consulted by the local archaeological dig, they have been receiving flowery threats from someone who claims to be a local folk hero, quoting verses from the bible. The dig is being televised in a long-running series. Separately, close to the dig, four of the archaeologists were lucky enough to discover a treasure hoard worth millions whilst metal detecting, although their trove is subject to identifying the owner of the land (who would be entitled to half the proceeds). Coincidentally, Rose (the local weed dealer)'s sister is one of the students at the dig. No sooner does Jake get involved than one of the diggers dies after drinking poison from a water bottle. Now Jake must assist the local police in investigating the murder and uncovering the identity of their letter-writer.
This is the third book in the series about Jake Jackson, a former police detective, who inherits a remote house in the English countryside, full of mod-cons such as a purpose-built library with speakers in the ceiling but no indoor bathroom. Despite the tiny size of the village, which is (apparently) exclusively populated by knuckle-dragging yokels, a middle-aged shopkeeper who also runs an underground (literally) bar, and a beautiful single-mother vet, Livia, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of violent crime. I enjoyed the first book, despite the somewhat lurid descriptions of Livia's body and public hair. I missed the second book, but I am pleased to announce I saw no references to pubic hair in this book, although the first third had an unusually high number of references to peoples clothes FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON eg Jake weas wearing beige shorts and a white vest - then it goes on to something else - why? Again, luckily, this dissipated.
I enjoyed the mystery, although Jake's group of rag-tag super sleuths is beginning to look alarmingly like the cast of the excellent Slough House series - beware if Jake starts farting LOL. What let this down for me was that I suspected the murderer almost from the start, unfortunately I can't say why without spoilering it, so I was alert to the other clues and felt a bit like rolling my eyes as Jake and his team went round and round in circles.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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