Hello all,
Here is my first Arc review for Allison and Busby. I'm so excited to share this with you. It's been delayed with my two stays in the hospital.
Let's get into this great book.
The Hidden Bones (Hills & Barbrook)
Rating:4/5
Following the recent death of her husband, Clare Hills is listless and unsure of her place in the world. When her former university friend Dr David Barbrook asks her to help him sift through the effects of deceased archaeologist Gerald Hart, she sees this as a useful distraction from her grief. During her search, Clare stumbles across the unpublished journals detailing Gerald's most glittering dig. Hidden from view for decades and supposedly destroyed in an arson attack, she cannot believe her luck. Finding the Hungerbourne Barrows archive is every archaeologist's dream. Determined to document Gerald's career-defining find for the public, Clare and David delve into his meticulously kept records of the excavation. But the dream suddenly becomes a nightmare as the pair unearth a disturbing discovery, putting them at the centre of a murder inquiry and in the path of a dangerous killer determined to bury the truth forever.
What I Was Expecting: With it being like the crime books in Shetland I expected a lot of culture in it. I wasn't sure how that the woman was going to bridge two different forms of looking or looking for the truth. I have grown up in a world where Viking sites were the primary focus in my old community so I wondered if that would be apart of it.
What I Got: Such a great well thought out a book that managed to balance the archaeology and crime-fighting well. It felt like a fresh breath of air. She didn't lose me in the more technical parts of Clare's job.
My Thoughts: I'm not sure how they are going to continue this on as a series. I am sure praying that they will allow me to review the arc for the rest of the series. I found I loved some of the different fonts that were used.
Review: We meet Clare and Gerald right away as it drops us into the storyline. We learn about Hungerbourne and its surrounding moors history. We meet David Barbrook. Clare thinks a lot about him. She goes up into the loft to help clear out Gerald's manor. She finds the Hungerbourne digs achieve. The papers linked to it. Papers that were meant to have burned down in the garage fire.
Peter suggests Arason for the garage fire. That the silent calls to kill Gerald might have driven the man insane. Clare feels an instant connection to Gerald.
Muir and David are introduced even though Muir doesn't play a part in this book that much. There is much more on the history of David's struggles. We learn that people think of Muir as a runt. He's from Glasgow and people hate his customs. David is able to tell Muir that he got 15,000 pounds in funding for Hungerbourne. Muir is furious at David's success. When David floats doesn't help. The pair has a long history together.
Muir leaves David with a threat.
David lets Clare work on the project as a paid worker. Clare's grateful for the opportunity. Surprised by how much she's allowed to do. Keeps her mind of her husband's death, the mess he left behind that she must clean up.
Clare suggests bringing in a bone expert for the Urn. They speculate why Gerald stopped the dig and kept the finds from the British Heritage Association. The warning keeps coming back to them about the woe waters. They examine the finds together, they find an article in the times that have them questioning Gerald again. They travel to the British Museum.
David reveals his hopes to dig at Hungerbourne which leads to Clare questing one of the origins of the pieces. Embarrassing the Mesuem and David at the same time. The sundial isn't what is described in the notes or what is achieved. There is confusion in the museum has David questioning Clare. After a fashion and a long drawn out fight, David makes up with Clare. She's made no mistakes.
They decide to run down Mr Jevon who owned the field that the dig took place in. Clare and David find Mr Jevon's son who revels that his father found the dial. David stops in it with Clare again leaving her angry, really hurt by him.
After getting the names of the dig crew they set up a meeting with Margret Bockwell. Gerald's brother Jim had money issues that were often helped by Gerald. Clare finds out how to find Jim. She has dinner with Peter as she strikes out on her own. Her husband affairs torment her int he background of the story. SHe fears to deal with his mess alone.
Clare meets with Joyce Clifford who runs a BnB that she stays in for the night. Joyce still wears her wedding band. She's divorced from Jim Hard, Gerald's brother. Clarie reveals that she is also a widower. She's shocked to discover that Joyce was expecting her. Joyce pours them a drink and gets to the point. She fears that she is going to lose her BnB. Joyce reveals that she suffered domestic abuse at the hands of Jim Hart. Jim did not leave with Joyce. Jim owed someone big from what she knows.
She heard George and Jim arguing. Jim tries to calm George down. Gerald had been paying her for her silence. He feared another scandal.
David has breakfast with Sally Treen the woman who is meant to find the missing sundial. He has had a passionate night with her and enjoys her company. Clare remembers telling David she was getting married to Stephan and how he reacted in that memory. Clare has dinner with Peter again as they have a heart to heart conversation. They discuss whether or not David and Clare have a history. They are friends and that is all.
Peter wants to help them with the missing sundial. George pushes Peters buttons as they make inquiries into it. They learn that the gold was fenced to pay Jim's debt off. He suggests they talk to Ed Jevons about the missing sundial. Peter's angry at how it all goes. He's learning things about his father he didn't want to learn. He didn't want to know anything about his father.
Inspector Sally tells David there is very little hope of finding the disc after so many years. They continue their intimate relationship nether the less.
The American bone expert arrives catching Clare off guard. They excavate the urn. They find a filling in the midst of the soil. Clare starts to understand why Gerald closed the dig and hid the findings. Jo and Clare believe they have found evidence to support Gerald killing Jim, then stashing in him the Urn.
David is livid about Jo and Clare's findings, he takes his anger out on Clare. Joe loses her contract and appears to be US-bound. She is still around long enough to learn that the corner rules an unlawful killing of Jim Hart.
Inspector Sally Troon has to take over the case and is given a hard time. Things are growing to a peek when Clare kisses Peters cheek outside the courthouse. David's longing after Clare even though he's sleeping with Sally. It doesn't stop them from starting the dig.
Margret Brookford joins them at the dig. Margaret gets drunk and falls down where she cuts her hand. She implies that she knows where the sundial is. Accuses her of watching Jim's cremation. She had. She tells them everything she saw. Reveals that there was someone else at the dig other than Gerald and Joyce. The dig suffers from bad weather and storms comes in. The money issues that are growing.
Another letter from her husband's lawyers pummels her. Clare is determined to keep going and her fear of heights isn't going to stop her. She takes to talking photos of the dig site. Margaret inquiries about Clare future plans. Clare says that the business dealings that Stephen made were complicated and put her in a bad situation. Margaret comforts Clare, as she tells her that his accident was classed as suspicious. Clare wonders if this is her fault somehow. She wonders if it was suicide, she shares the letter with Margaret.
Clares heart breaks coming to the truth that Stephen was penniless at the time of his death. Margaret and Clare make a plan of action. They go through her assets. She learns he's remortgaged the house. Cashed in his life insurances. She hears that the police rule it as suicide. Margaret asks her why she got involved in the dig. Clare tells her its a way to get away from the pain of her loss.
Through Margaret's hotel room window, she sees someone up on the dig site. Margaret tells her she's an archaeologist all along. That is what she is to hang onto.
In the morning David and Clare clean off the paint from the tea hut that the intruder from last night left behind. Clare tries to get him to take the threat seriously. She tells him that she is selling her the Mazda. He's horrified, she is embarrassed over what Stephen has done. She finds that she can't confide in David about Stephen. All attempts to escape her pain fails.
David calls Jo and asks her to look up an article in the times called "Woe Waters". He tells her not to tell that Clare has asked her to do this.
The platform that Clare's using to take pictures gives way under Clare. She scolds herself for peeing herself but it turns out to be blood. Clare gets wedged in the platform, Ed Jevons takes risks to get Clare out. After a fashion, he manages it, but there is something off about him. Ed compares Clare to a cow. Clare is taken to the hospital and held overnight. She suffered cuts and a dislocated shoulder.
David blames himself for Clare's accident. Ed tells David to burn the wood. He wants to check it out for himself.
Geroge Clifford has a neat garden when David pays him a visit as Clare rests with Margaret. It turns out that most of the village detests him. They notice huge differences between his wives. George dismisses his wife. George has to contact DI Treen. He asks repeatedly if he sees his first wife. H doesn't. Peggy changed her name, at the time of the first dig was mixed with both brothers. Jim told George about the affair when he had been drunk.
George remembers seeing Ed Jevons running from the pyre at the time it was burning. He saw the smoke, then guesses the whole town could see it.
Jo finds proof the dig has been targetted before and is being now. Clare doesn't think it was an accident that she went through the wooden planks. Margaret takes charge of Clare, sets up a room for her. She tends to keep an eye on her and check out the photograph tower for herself. Clare slowly recovers. She confesses her beliefs someone tried to kill her. She believes it's the same person who killed Jim, she doesn't think it was Gerald.
She thinks Peter doesn't believe her and Peter discovers Gerald had the archive moved. Paid extra for a moving team to move the archive than to stay quiet. He made sure it was done at night so there were no questions asked. Gerald's dig is being investigated by Peter who wants to know what happened. He started to look into it because the fire didn't make sense. Peter thinks that he had the fire to cremate Jim further.
Clare shares a drink with Ed who reveals that he was close to Gerald for years. He had been in on Jim and Clifford's scheme to steal the sundial. Assumes Jim gave it to Gerald before being murdered.
Jo starts work at the dig on full project pay. She tells Clare about her concerns after everything she has learned. Jo thinks David hired her to watch over Clare. H's worried about her and so is Jo. They settle on having a cup of tea.
A bowie knife turns up in the old Hart trench. It's bagged and ordered to b on Clare's desk. She realises Jenny's having a rough time of it. The girls goes out of her way to not help herself. She thinks there is nothing that can be done. The students seem fed up. The students getting a day off.
Clare an Jo pay George Clifford a visit instead of busing the students around. Gerald informs her that he has spoken to DI Sally Treen. This baffles the pair. Gerald tells her it's not the damaged one they stole. They both find Gerald creepy. Jo suggests DI Sally Treen might be right. The wonder if Jim had help.
Jenny remembers the last few weeks. She shares a drink with a stranger. Jenny turns up dead in the canal. When she is found the police says she smelt heavily of booze. Di Sally Treen can't understand people refusing to see that Gerald killed Jim.
Jenny's death makes the national papers much to the dread of David. Clare and David are aware that they are running out of time at the dig.
Ed Jevon gets DI Sally Treen up to speed on what they know so far.
Clare goes to get the site plans so they will be able to make the most of their time.
David goes with Jo. She rips her jacket. David gives her Clare's old waterproof. Joe loses the keys. David has to leave her at the dig. Jo plans to walk back to the pub. She secures the camp and leaves the site. Jo's ran over by diesel 4x4. Ed and Margaret share a drink. Clare joins them. She worries about too. Margaret and Ed reassure her.
Clare and the group go to see Jo at the hospital. She has a broken leg, ribs and skull fracture.
They suspect a drunk driver. Clare and David pay Estelle a visit Clare lays out how the Killers are after her. Because she is taking to find the missive gold. The story points out Jim was abusive, he beat, abused verbally abused her. He started to threaten Peter. Estelle confesses to killing Jim in self-defence. Clare presses for where the sundial is now. She states the sundial was missing before the fight. They were a pair.
Estelle worries Peter needed a dad figure. David reassures Clare.
There is a large discussion about the dig.
Gerald faked the fire after David's letter showed up. He feels guilty. They decide it's not Estelle trying to kill Clare or the others. So they keep her secret.
David feels bound to Clare through the secret. Clare brings the bowie knife to David not the knife that she was told was used by Estelle. David tells her to stick with the plan they have made.
Clare takes the dig reports to the site. David tells her that it wasn't an accident what happened to her. She tells him about how Jo told her that the bowie knife is not the murder weapon. That Jo had tested the theories show that the bread knife was not the knife that killed Jim.
She is tormented by the desire to want a family.
Clare confronts Peter with her suspicions. This is after Peter tells her all that she remembers. He's not her attempted murderer. David turns up with the police and Clare asks Peter to tell the police what he knows. DI Sally Treen is smug when she makes the arrest. Clare hands over the murder weapon. Clare has a flashback about Stephen.
Margaret talks sense into Clare about Peter. They are deep into this conversation when Ed Jevon's turns up drunk. Ed confronts Clare and Margaret. Ed is arrested after he goes to attack Clare by DI Sally Treen.
Peter is interviewed by DI Sally Treen who implicates Ed as a witness to his father's murder. He denies the attempts on Clare. He shows worry and concern for Clare.
Clare tries to take her mind off by examining flint findings in the area. She discovers that Ed uses to collect for the Reverand in his old age. Clare thinks she has found something. The sundial name after the son, not the father. Clare heads to the dig to meet David. Ed pays David a visit as David finds the missing sundial. Ed demands he hands it over. David refuses leading Ed knocking David out with the barrel of his shotgun.
Clare goes to the site seeking David. Clare leaves believing Ed is lying to her. Clare calls DI Sally Treen and ends up leaving a message. Clare returns to the dig where she sees Ed dragging David's limp body. Ed helps Clare after she falls in the supplies shed. He attacks Clare leaving her unconscious.
Clare comes around where Ed makes her assemble a Molotov cocktail. David comes around in time and wrestles Ed for the shotgun. It goes off. Margaret gives aid to Ed who was injured in the blast. He has serious injuries to his face and arm. Ed's charged with murder and attempted murder. Peter's released.
Peter donates his time and money to research, calling it the Hart Foundation.
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON US
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON UK
CLICK HERE FOR GOODREADS
Come back to see what other reviews I have coming out.
Kristal
Peter suggests Arason for the garage fire. That the silent calls to kill Gerald might have driven the man insane. Clare feels an instant connection to Gerald.
Muir and David are introduced even though Muir doesn't play a part in this book that much. There is much more on the history of David's struggles. We learn that people think of Muir as a runt. He's from Glasgow and people hate his customs. David is able to tell Muir that he got 15,000 pounds in funding for Hungerbourne. Muir is furious at David's success. When David floats doesn't help. The pair has a long history together.
Muir leaves David with a threat.
David lets Clare work on the project as a paid worker. Clare's grateful for the opportunity. Surprised by how much she's allowed to do. Keeps her mind of her husband's death, the mess he left behind that she must clean up.
Clare suggests bringing in a bone expert for the Urn. They speculate why Gerald stopped the dig and kept the finds from the British Heritage Association. The warning keeps coming back to them about the woe waters. They examine the finds together, they find an article in the times that have them questioning Gerald again. They travel to the British Museum.
David reveals his hopes to dig at Hungerbourne which leads to Clare questing one of the origins of the pieces. Embarrassing the Mesuem and David at the same time. The sundial isn't what is described in the notes or what is achieved. There is confusion in the museum has David questioning Clare. After a fashion and a long drawn out fight, David makes up with Clare. She's made no mistakes.
They decide to run down Mr Jevon who owned the field that the dig took place in. Clare and David find Mr Jevon's son who revels that his father found the dial. David stops in it with Clare again leaving her angry, really hurt by him.
After getting the names of the dig crew they set up a meeting with Margret Bockwell. Gerald's brother Jim had money issues that were often helped by Gerald. Clare finds out how to find Jim. She has dinner with Peter as she strikes out on her own. Her husband affairs torment her int he background of the story. SHe fears to deal with his mess alone.
Clare meets with Joyce Clifford who runs a BnB that she stays in for the night. Joyce still wears her wedding band. She's divorced from Jim Hard, Gerald's brother. Clarie reveals that she is also a widower. She's shocked to discover that Joyce was expecting her. Joyce pours them a drink and gets to the point. She fears that she is going to lose her BnB. Joyce reveals that she suffered domestic abuse at the hands of Jim Hart. Jim did not leave with Joyce. Jim owed someone big from what she knows.
She heard George and Jim arguing. Jim tries to calm George down. Gerald had been paying her for her silence. He feared another scandal.
David has breakfast with Sally Treen the woman who is meant to find the missing sundial. He has had a passionate night with her and enjoys her company. Clare remembers telling David she was getting married to Stephan and how he reacted in that memory. Clare has dinner with Peter again as they have a heart to heart conversation. They discuss whether or not David and Clare have a history. They are friends and that is all.
Peter wants to help them with the missing sundial. George pushes Peters buttons as they make inquiries into it. They learn that the gold was fenced to pay Jim's debt off. He suggests they talk to Ed Jevons about the missing sundial. Peter's angry at how it all goes. He's learning things about his father he didn't want to learn. He didn't want to know anything about his father.
Inspector Sally tells David there is very little hope of finding the disc after so many years. They continue their intimate relationship nether the less.
The American bone expert arrives catching Clare off guard. They excavate the urn. They find a filling in the midst of the soil. Clare starts to understand why Gerald closed the dig and hid the findings. Jo and Clare believe they have found evidence to support Gerald killing Jim, then stashing in him the Urn.
David is livid about Jo and Clare's findings, he takes his anger out on Clare. Joe loses her contract and appears to be US-bound. She is still around long enough to learn that the corner rules an unlawful killing of Jim Hart.
Inspector Sally Troon has to take over the case and is given a hard time. Things are growing to a peek when Clare kisses Peters cheek outside the courthouse. David's longing after Clare even though he's sleeping with Sally. It doesn't stop them from starting the dig.
Margret Brookford joins them at the dig. Margaret gets drunk and falls down where she cuts her hand. She implies that she knows where the sundial is. Accuses her of watching Jim's cremation. She had. She tells them everything she saw. Reveals that there was someone else at the dig other than Gerald and Joyce. The dig suffers from bad weather and storms comes in. The money issues that are growing.
Another letter from her husband's lawyers pummels her. Clare is determined to keep going and her fear of heights isn't going to stop her. She takes to talking photos of the dig site. Margaret inquiries about Clare future plans. Clare says that the business dealings that Stephen made were complicated and put her in a bad situation. Margaret comforts Clare, as she tells her that his accident was classed as suspicious. Clare wonders if this is her fault somehow. She wonders if it was suicide, she shares the letter with Margaret.
Clares heart breaks coming to the truth that Stephen was penniless at the time of his death. Margaret and Clare make a plan of action. They go through her assets. She learns he's remortgaged the house. Cashed in his life insurances. She hears that the police rule it as suicide. Margaret asks her why she got involved in the dig. Clare tells her its a way to get away from the pain of her loss.
Through Margaret's hotel room window, she sees someone up on the dig site. Margaret tells her she's an archaeologist all along. That is what she is to hang onto.
In the morning David and Clare clean off the paint from the tea hut that the intruder from last night left behind. Clare tries to get him to take the threat seriously. She tells him that she is selling her the Mazda. He's horrified, she is embarrassed over what Stephen has done. She finds that she can't confide in David about Stephen. All attempts to escape her pain fails.
David calls Jo and asks her to look up an article in the times called "Woe Waters". He tells her not to tell that Clare has asked her to do this.
The platform that Clare's using to take pictures gives way under Clare. She scolds herself for peeing herself but it turns out to be blood. Clare gets wedged in the platform, Ed Jevons takes risks to get Clare out. After a fashion, he manages it, but there is something off about him. Ed compares Clare to a cow. Clare is taken to the hospital and held overnight. She suffered cuts and a dislocated shoulder.
David blames himself for Clare's accident. Ed tells David to burn the wood. He wants to check it out for himself.
Geroge Clifford has a neat garden when David pays him a visit as Clare rests with Margaret. It turns out that most of the village detests him. They notice huge differences between his wives. George dismisses his wife. George has to contact DI Treen. He asks repeatedly if he sees his first wife. H doesn't. Peggy changed her name, at the time of the first dig was mixed with both brothers. Jim told George about the affair when he had been drunk.
George remembers seeing Ed Jevons running from the pyre at the time it was burning. He saw the smoke, then guesses the whole town could see it.
Jo finds proof the dig has been targetted before and is being now. Clare doesn't think it was an accident that she went through the wooden planks. Margaret takes charge of Clare, sets up a room for her. She tends to keep an eye on her and check out the photograph tower for herself. Clare slowly recovers. She confesses her beliefs someone tried to kill her. She believes it's the same person who killed Jim, she doesn't think it was Gerald.
She thinks Peter doesn't believe her and Peter discovers Gerald had the archive moved. Paid extra for a moving team to move the archive than to stay quiet. He made sure it was done at night so there were no questions asked. Gerald's dig is being investigated by Peter who wants to know what happened. He started to look into it because the fire didn't make sense. Peter thinks that he had the fire to cremate Jim further.
Clare shares a drink with Ed who reveals that he was close to Gerald for years. He had been in on Jim and Clifford's scheme to steal the sundial. Assumes Jim gave it to Gerald before being murdered.
Jo starts work at the dig on full project pay. She tells Clare about her concerns after everything she has learned. Jo thinks David hired her to watch over Clare. H's worried about her and so is Jo. They settle on having a cup of tea.
A bowie knife turns up in the old Hart trench. It's bagged and ordered to b on Clare's desk. She realises Jenny's having a rough time of it. The girls goes out of her way to not help herself. She thinks there is nothing that can be done. The students seem fed up. The students getting a day off.
Clare an Jo pay George Clifford a visit instead of busing the students around. Gerald informs her that he has spoken to DI Sally Treen. This baffles the pair. Gerald tells her it's not the damaged one they stole. They both find Gerald creepy. Jo suggests DI Sally Treen might be right. The wonder if Jim had help.
Jenny remembers the last few weeks. She shares a drink with a stranger. Jenny turns up dead in the canal. When she is found the police says she smelt heavily of booze. Di Sally Treen can't understand people refusing to see that Gerald killed Jim.
Jenny's death makes the national papers much to the dread of David. Clare and David are aware that they are running out of time at the dig.
Ed Jevon gets DI Sally Treen up to speed on what they know so far.
Clare goes to get the site plans so they will be able to make the most of their time.
David goes with Jo. She rips her jacket. David gives her Clare's old waterproof. Joe loses the keys. David has to leave her at the dig. Jo plans to walk back to the pub. She secures the camp and leaves the site. Jo's ran over by diesel 4x4. Ed and Margaret share a drink. Clare joins them. She worries about too. Margaret and Ed reassure her.
Clare and the group go to see Jo at the hospital. She has a broken leg, ribs and skull fracture.
They suspect a drunk driver. Clare and David pay Estelle a visit Clare lays out how the Killers are after her. Because she is taking to find the missive gold. The story points out Jim was abusive, he beat, abused verbally abused her. He started to threaten Peter. Estelle confesses to killing Jim in self-defence. Clare presses for where the sundial is now. She states the sundial was missing before the fight. They were a pair.
Estelle worries Peter needed a dad figure. David reassures Clare.
There is a large discussion about the dig.
Gerald faked the fire after David's letter showed up. He feels guilty. They decide it's not Estelle trying to kill Clare or the others. So they keep her secret.
David feels bound to Clare through the secret. Clare brings the bowie knife to David not the knife that she was told was used by Estelle. David tells her to stick with the plan they have made.
Clare takes the dig reports to the site. David tells her that it wasn't an accident what happened to her. She tells him about how Jo told her that the bowie knife is not the murder weapon. That Jo had tested the theories show that the bread knife was not the knife that killed Jim.
She is tormented by the desire to want a family.
Clare confronts Peter with her suspicions. This is after Peter tells her all that she remembers. He's not her attempted murderer. David turns up with the police and Clare asks Peter to tell the police what he knows. DI Sally Treen is smug when she makes the arrest. Clare hands over the murder weapon. Clare has a flashback about Stephen.
Margaret talks sense into Clare about Peter. They are deep into this conversation when Ed Jevon's turns up drunk. Ed confronts Clare and Margaret. Ed is arrested after he goes to attack Clare by DI Sally Treen.
Peter is interviewed by DI Sally Treen who implicates Ed as a witness to his father's murder. He denies the attempts on Clare. He shows worry and concern for Clare.
Clare tries to take her mind off by examining flint findings in the area. She discovers that Ed uses to collect for the Reverand in his old age. Clare thinks she has found something. The sundial name after the son, not the father. Clare heads to the dig to meet David. Ed pays David a visit as David finds the missing sundial. Ed demands he hands it over. David refuses leading Ed knocking David out with the barrel of his shotgun.
Clare goes to the site seeking David. Clare leaves believing Ed is lying to her. Clare calls DI Sally Treen and ends up leaving a message. Clare returns to the dig where she sees Ed dragging David's limp body. Ed helps Clare after she falls in the supplies shed. He attacks Clare leaving her unconscious.
Clare comes around where Ed makes her assemble a Molotov cocktail. David comes around in time and wrestles Ed for the shotgun. It goes off. Margaret gives aid to Ed who was injured in the blast. He has serious injuries to his face and arm. Ed's charged with murder and attempted murder. Peter's released.
Peter donates his time and money to research, calling it the Hart Foundation.
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON US
CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON UK
CLICK HERE FOR GOODREADS
Come back to see what other reviews I have coming out.
Kristal
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