Hollow Grave by Kate WebbMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Its the third outing for DI Matt Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad. This time its the case of a missing girl, Nazma Kirmani, from 1999. Originally reported missing by her family, the hunt was abandoned when she walked into a police station in London claiming it had all been a mistake. But 21 years later and nothing has ever been heard from her. Now, a bag with her passport and other items has been pulled from the river close to where she was working as part of a group excavating a Bronze Age burial site in the grounds of Trusloe Hall, a minor stately home in Wiltshire.
It seems as though the investigating officers leapt to some racial assumptions (eg Nazma was escaping some arranged marriage, even though her father is a Christian and her stepmother is white) and were relieved when it seemed she had just run away from her family. But the closer Matt and Gemma look into things the more suspicious they seem. Everything centres around that archaeological dig and the people Nazma knew then.
I think this series has really got into its stride, although the necessity for Matt and Hedy's baby to develop normally means they are about to go into the November 2020 lock-down which all just seems a distant memory.
Although Matt still does a little too much navel-gazing for me, I can see progress in his relationship and it wasn't as pervasive as in the previous two books.
Really enjoyed this.
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
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