In "a wonderful, atmospheric mystery" featuring forensic archaeologist
Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson, six bodies of men killed during
World War II turn up in Brighton--bringing with them a long-buried,
nefarious secret (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Just back from maternity leave, forensic archeologist Ruth is finding it
hard to juggle motherhood and work when she is called in to investigate
human bones that have surfaced on a remote Norfolk beach. The presence
of DCI Harry Nelson, the married father of her daughter, does not help.
The bones, six men with their arms bound, turn out to date back to World
War II, a desperate time on this stretch of coastland.
As Ruth and Nelson investigate, Home Guard veteran Archie Whitcliffe
reveals the existence of a secret the old soldiers have vowed to protect
with their lives. But then Archie is killed and a German journalist
arrives, asking questions about Operation Lucifer, a plan to stop a
German invasion, and a possible British war crime. What was Operation
Lucifer? And who is prepared to kill to keep its secret?
"[A] page-turning mystery . . . it provides a wholly satisfying
whodunit as well as a good reason to look up the other two [books in
the series] . . . Griffiths's Galloway is a likable and alluring
character."--Associated Press