It took me a little time to get into this mainly because I hadn’t read the first one. However, it was really good, fast paced and twisty. Another author to look out for.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of Laying Out the Bones, the second novel to feature DI Mike Lockyer of Wiltshire Police.

Lockyer is tasked with investigating the discovery of bones in a remote hollow. They belong to Lee Geary, a giant of a man with learning difficulties, and the first question is what he was doing out in the countryside, far from home. It’s not long before Lockyer discovers that Geary was questioned about the death of Holly Gilbert not long before he disappeared in 2011. The two other people questioned about Holly are also dead, and that begs the question, what was going on?

I enjoyed Laying Out the Bones, which is much more to my taste than the previous novel, Stay Buried as it concentrates mostly on the investigation and takes a deep dive into the circumstances of Holly Gilbert’s death and her family history. There are still some personal events for Lockyer, but it’s not as front and centre and that suits me.

The novel covers a comprehensive investigation. As I said, it goes deep with Holly and her life and produces some real surprises, helped along by some serendipity, but who’s quibbling about a few lucky turns when they move the novel forward? I found it an immersive read, but still too guessable as to the perpetrator. What I found more interesting was the actions and observations of some of the more peripheral characters, who are surprisingly cooperative for people who instinctively mistrust the police. They definitely have a story to tell. I like the even pacing of the novel and the steady drip of reveals as Lockyer and his partner DC Gemma Broad conduct a painstaking investigation.

The novel is told from Mike Lockyer’s point of view, so the reader can follow his reasoning as he goes about hunting the truth. The slight problem with this is that he is a diffident, solitary man who takes his job seriously and tends to overthink his personal life. He’s not exactly a bundle of laughs. Still, I like his methodical approach.

Laying Out the Bones is a good read that I can recommend.

Flash floods have a nasty tendency to unearth bodies which should have stayed buried.

And so it is in Wiltshire.

But what is the body of Lee Geary, a townie with learning disabilities, doing out on the plain, nine years after he disappeared?

Brilliant