Monument to Murder by Mari Hannah

This one starts with the discovery of bones revealed by a collapse of the sand. Mari Hannah's 'Monument to Murder' is another mystery for DCI Kate Daniels to unravel. This fourth book again brings Kate into a contest with the damaged individuals that have been conjured up in Mari Hannah's mind. As in the previous books there is the ongoing and under lying tensions within the murder room. The characters either bounce off one another or combine to form a team that knows how to get a result. They are not all perfect of course.

As in her other stories we see that there is a gulf of expertise between her staff and that of the lowly uniform 'plods' that sometime seem to be there just to be there to stand at a murder scene in atrocious weather or simply there to receive a rebuke. Is it fair to be spoken to like that? However some readers may enjoy that aspect of the story. There is one instance, beautifully written, where it is deserved, but really only one.

There are several threads to this one with some of the story set inside a prison. We get the details of what does go on and again she has characters, both inmates and staff, that lodge in our minds.
Violence seems to be an everyday occurrence.

The setting is wonderful as a body is found buried among the dunes below Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. Seemingly a magical setting and in full view of Holy Island. Is there any significance that can be attached to that?

The story is woven around the discovery of a life that ended years before to lay undetected for a decade. It is a fast moving plots that alternates between the outside world and that of inside a prison. There is more than one crime occurring in the course of this story.

Kate adds to her personal feelings of a past lesbian love and one that has still, or maybe not, to be allowed to happen or will the power that her job demands deny the love that she craves for. A great story and so well written. I enjoyed all of it and the best one so far. I still have one more to read and establish what Kate can achieve both in her private life and in her professional one. Can it get any better for her and the reader?