The woman had been house-sitting at Serpent's Point and Wesley is surprised to discover that she was conducting an investigation into unsolved missing person cases. There were elements in the story as I read that seemed familiar but it still felt as if I hadn’t read the book. A predator is finding vulnerable women, draining their resources and disposing of them in various ways. Susan is sure that her friend Avril's husband, Ian, is up to no good but Avril doesn't want to hear it. The book starts with the friend of a woman getting married at the courthouse without family or friends attending.

This is extremely difficult to do because author Kate Ellis is one of the best at supplying some first-class misdirection. The number of potential suspects and the work Gerry, Wesley and the rest of the team have to put into whittle them down keeps you guessing to the end.Of course the width and breadth of this evil only becomes evident after the team begins investigation of one death near a very busy location where a Regency script is being acted and filmed. A complex story, involving the detectives travelling to Yorkshire and the Cotswolds in their efforts to find out the reason for Susan's death. Overall, it was an ok read and I may be inclined to give Kate Ellis's works another go as the style of her writing is enjoyable.

Lovely to be with old friends, again, even if it was only for a few days and thank you to Kate Ellis being able to transport me there. As in every book of this series, there's a parallel story involving Wesley's archaeologist friend Neil Watson, who's excavating a possible Roman site near the scene of Susan's murder. But as they investigate Susan Brown's life, they discover she was investigating the disappearance and murder of two other women. As always such a treat to revisit the characters who are now, after 26 books in the series, cosily familiar. There were a few other little leaps of logic in the book which also jarred slightly and could very easily have been smoothed out.Also, that she had been conducting an investigation into unsolved missing person cases, in various parts of the country. But I was surprised at how well the book went, how easy it was to pick up the plot considering this series has been going on with this book being number 26. As he delves into the case, he starts to notice that there are other murders from around England that could be linked to why Susan had been killed. I really enjoyed Serpent's Point because Wesley's friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, has a larger role. Kate Ellis has created a likeable and interesting set of characters that develop as the series continues.

A male character talks about his male partner who died and the cops says "well he couldn't have had a sexual interest in the woman, then".

The intermittent excerpts from the 1921 archaeological dig team didn't feel too relevant throughout the book and it didn't have too much impact on the ending which was disappointing. When the body of Susan Brown turns up dead, DI Wesley Petersen is set the task of finding her murderer. and, once again, an amazing plot and the connections made between archaeology and the present time and crime are enthrauling. I wouldn't say this story gripped and intrigued me as much as some of the others but still a solid, very readable instalment.