KATE ELLIS – The Armada Boy. St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, July 2000. Previously published in the UK: Piatkus, hc, 1999.

Genre: Police procedural. Series character: DS Wesley Peterson, 2nd in series. Setting: Devon, UK.

First Sentence: Norman Openheim lit a forbidden cigarette and inhaled deeply.

   The Americans have come back to Devon in tribute to the time spent there preparing for the Normandy Invasion. The reunion does not go without incident when Neil, an archeologist and friend of DS Wesley Peterson, find the body of a murdered veteran at the chantry chapel ruins, the site where sailors of the Spanish Armada are said to be buried and where in more recent times, couples went for a bit of privacy.

   The only thing better than discovering a new author I like, is when they have a backlist for me to read. Kate Ellis is such an author.

   It is nice that this book is set in the fictional town of Tradmouth in Devon. From the author’s website, I learned that she used Dartmouth as her guide. While it is nice to be outside a major city, providing a stronger sense of place would have been appreciated, particularly as I am completely unfamiliar with this area. Thank heaven for the Internet.

   I cannot, however, fault her for character creation. Although this is billed as “A Wesley Peterson Crime Novel,” it read more as an ensemble cast, and a good one. Again, quoting the website, “Each story combines an intriguing contemporary murder mystery with a parallel historical case.”

   Wesley received his degree in archeology prior to joining the police force and therefore provides the bridge to his archeologist friend, Neil. Wesley is polished and university educated, in contrast to his superior, DI Heffernan, whom I am delighted to say he gets on with well.

   To this pair add a bright, ambitious police woman; a young detective who’d really like the action of London; Wesley’s archeologist friend; and an unseen psychic who calls to tell them to look for the Armada Boy.

   What I particularly appreciated was that the background of all the characters is provided in bits throughout the story. The story’s plot is well constructed. It is intricate and filled with red herrings and twists but never feels contrived or manipulative.

   The clues are revealed to the reader as they are to the characters. The past is a critical element of the story as it relates to both location and motives. Ellis skillfully blends the historical information into the plot, even enabling a particularly poignant thread to the story.

   Ellis is an intelligent writer excellent at combining the past with the present and in her use of allegories and understanding the impact of the sins of the father. She has definitely joined my “must read” list.

Rating: Very Good Plus.

      The Wesley Peterson series —

1. The Merchant’s House (1998)

2. The Armada Boy (1999)
3. An Unhallowed Grave (1999)
4. The Funeral Boat (2000)
5. The Bone Garden (2001)

6. A Painted Doom (2002)
7. The Skeleton Room (2003)

8. The Plague Maiden (2004)
9. A Cursed Inheritance (2005)
10. The Marriage Hearse (2006)
11. The Shining Skull (2007)
12. The Blood Pit (2008)

13. A Perfect Death (2009)
14. The Flesh Tailor (2010)
15. The Jackal Man (2011)

Note: Kate Ellis has also written two detective novels featuring DI Joe Plantagenet, and one with Lady Katheryn Bulkeley, a 16th century abbess.