Ever since DC Connie Childs, Sarah Ward has been one of my favourite authors in the crime writing genre, and I always look forward to new books by her. I couldn’t wait to get stuck in to ‘Death Rites’ but I’m sad, and very surprised, to say that it just didn’t work for me.

To begin with, I had a hard time getting into this story. It never really hooked me, despite the witchy angle, which I normally always enjoy. The pace was too slow for me, and while I totally understand the need to set the scene at the start of a series, it just all seemed to drag on far too long.

I found the characters extremely unlikeable, some of them toxic even. It puzzled me enormously that the local police force seemed to care so little about solving murders in their small and tight-knit community. They came across as entirely incompetent and uninterested.

Call me silly, but when someone mentions an archeologist, I think of digging up remains or tools, and fascinating historical stories like from Pompeii. Not the kind of thing our main character gets involved in. I failed to see why she was invited to cast an eye on the investigation to begin with, since her first array is a very recent murder. Not a single brush required. It left me feeling utterly disappointed and slightly cheated.

As for the mystery surrounding the killer, I felt their identity was rather obvious. Pretty much the only reason I kept reading was to see if my theory proved to be correct, but I admit there was a lot of skimming.

Not the book for me then, I’m afraid. I will probably not continue this series, but that doesn’t mean I will not be looking forward to other stories from Ward.

This was a strong start to the Carla James Crime Thrillers series, it had that suspenseful atmosphere that I was looking for and enjoyed how everything flowed together. It had that killer element perfectly and had me guessing what was happening with the pattern.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sarah Ward for the ARC copy of this book. The opinions stated here are my own.

I liked the storyline and enjoyed the idea behind the book. I really wanted to like it, like really really wanted to like it but the pacing made it so slow that it was not enjoyable. I had such a hard time trudging through this book to get to the good part, which the last 60 or so pages.

All in all it is a great concept but it just needs something. More lore behind the hexafoils or maybe even different witchy stuff added in addition to it. The witch bottle parts had me intrigued but then was just thrown away and forgotten.

I have read all of Sarah Ward’s books, except the ones she has written under a pseudonym. I was a fan of the DC Childs books and was delighted when Ward returned with the Mallory Dawson series after a five-year break. I have to say though that this book was a disappointment. It moved at such a glacial pace that by the end I no longer cared about the resolution, just about the book ending. I’ve been splitting my time between Boston and London for the last three years, and a specialist needs to fix some of the Britishisms of this book. For example: US hotels don’t have orangeries; some of the American characters used inappropriate words and phasings like dog walkers (meaning owners walking their dogs in the UK and persons hired to walk dogs in the US), footpaths, “That suit?,” et cetera. If I can pick them out despite being a non-native English speaker (albeit one highly trained in writing), an author can do the research or at least hire someone. Last of all, Ward needs to get an education and read some Hazel Carby, an actual British academic transplant to New England. What kind of person wants to move to New England for the settler vibes?!??!?! Might as well tell me that you love genocide and colonialism. 3/5 stars, but that’s me being really fair. I’ll be giving this series a miss from now on.

Moving to a new town following the death of her husband, Professor Carla James is thrown in at the deep end when on the first day in her new job at Jericho College she is asked to consult on a murder which looks ritulistic as small objects are placed around the body. what starts is a search for a serial killer and a race to convince the local police that they need to be investigating.

First in what looks to be a good series

In this mystery, an archeologist who has recently moved from the UK to New England to teach and recover from the death of her husband after a debilitating illness is asked to assist the police when a murder victim is found with artifacts encircling the body that might (or might not) have meaning. This request sets off a variety of tensions - with an academic colleague who is jealous and wanted to be consulted, with the police who think the victim is a sex worker, so not worthy of much attention, and with Carla herself, who is trying to find her place in a new setting, realizes the police will probably do a superficial job, and becomes curious about other murders of women (and the death of the academic she is replacing, found to be a suicide). She's aided and sometimes challenged by a colleague who is also the medical examiner. Eventually, a pattern emerges, centered on the placement of the bodies, and the buildup to the conclusion is suitably tense and spooky. A good Halloween tie=in.

Ward has written another atmospheric mystery with a protagonist and cast that has possibilities for a series. I did have some quibbles. Quite often, American characters say things that are British usage ("car park" instead of "parking lot", for instance, or asking if another character "fancies" doing something, which only an anglophile American would likely say. Another issue which is probably down to my inability to suspend disbelief is the unlikelihood that a small city or town in New England would have so many murders and suspicious deaths, the old Cabot Cove dilemma. There's enough grittiness in the author's style that this is far from a cozy, but it's hard for the setting to support so much complex work for a small police force and medical examiner. Arnaldur Indridason solved this problem by making half of Erlendur's crime investigations focus on cold cases. Admittedly, America is a much more violent place than Iceland, but I had trouble wrapping my head around quite so much violence being met with so much indifference by authorities. Is it silly to want mysteries to be realistic? Yes - but straying too far from what readers experience in real life requires building sturdy disbelief suspension bridges....

Or maybe it's just me! It's probably just me.

I really enjoyed this book it was well written, the story line was compelling and the characters were well developed and I adored Carla. Gripping and had me on the edge of my seat

Carla, trying to move away from her past, moved to the new city, Jericho, as a professor in the archeology department. She has been asked to help in a recently convicted murder. Will she be able to solve the case or become the next victim?

I have been hooked on the story from the start, as the first sentence gave me goosebumps.

The story has been told from 3 POVs. Carla, the main protagonist, really gets obsessed with all the murders happening in the town and tries to find the link between them.

Despite her insecurities and town politics, Erin from the forensic department proved to be a great mentor and friend to Carla.
3Pov is a killer.

This is a unique psychological mystery where an archeologist is helping to solve the murder. It's full of red herring witchcraft activity ( which keeps me hooked to the book ). All characters are suspicious.

Sarah Ward connected all the links so well and at a proper pace. It gets a bit slow in between, but it don't take away the excitement of the mystery.

The author left the end open or on a cliffhanger, and I'm excited to read the second book in the series. I will eagerly wait for it

This was a mystery thriller which was gripping from the very first page. At its centre is Professor Carla James, an archaeologist from England, who moves to Jericho, a small New England town. Looking for a fresh start after losing her husband, Carla hopes that Jericho College will be the place where she finds it.
However, on her first day she is asked to consult on a murder where ritual objects are placed around the victim and this leads to Carla investigating the case herself when the police take little interest in her subsequent theories. Erin, the local pathologist and her college mentor realises that Carla is not going to give up and helps her as much as she can. As Carla identifies the possibility of a serial killer in the town, the reader is treated to chapters from their point of view. Is it really someone Carla knows?
This compelling crime novel was reminiscent of Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway novels in that the main protagonist is an archaeologist and Carla is every bit as intelligent as Ruth!! I really liked reading about her theories of how the crimes were connected which related to witchcraft and magic symbolism , a theme. particularly relevant to Jericho’s New England setting. The town’s residents are obviously hiding a multitude of secrets but is one of them really a murderer? Carla stirs up a lot of trouble with her investigation and many people including her own colleagues and the police department are not too happy with her.
Carla is a plucky and intelligent heroine and I can see her featuring in further books. She is definitely looking for love after being on her own for three years. I’m really looking forward to a further novel set in Jericho as I’m keen to read more about Carla James and her new life!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Dr Carla James, an archaeology professor has moved from Oxford, England to a new job in a college town called Jericho, New England following the death of her husband, Dan! On her first day, her new Head of Department, Albert Kantz assigns a task of going to a crime scene to observe any peculiarities along with her new mentor Dr Erin Collins, M.E.. She is introduced to Detectives Baros and Perez, who have been assigned the latest mystery to solve. To begin with, Carla sees nothing concrete but she figures out there are similarities with other cases. Carla blithely follows where the leads take her without a thought for her safety. I loved how the characters developed through the story and how Carla and Erin became good friends. All the sub plots are woven together to form a dramatic conclusion. I hope there will be a second book.

There were lots of possible perps, the rituals around the killings were random and skilfully deciphered by Professor Carla....but....somehow the story fizzled out. After a long build up, I got a tinge of anticipation on Halloween as the story neared its conclusion. But the tension disappeared and suddenly we had a perpetrator and it was all wrapped up. That is, until we had an annoying hint right at the end that perhaps it wasn't.
Maybe Ward is paving the way for a follow-up. I liked Carla: she was feisty and deermined. However, her naivety was shocking at times. She explained her theory to several of the possible murderers. I think she really needs to leave Jericho and go somewhere where her talents would be used and appreciated.
I wanted to love it but archaeology seemed to have more prominence than building tension and keeping us on the edge of our seats.

I struggled into this one. So I set it aside and then came back and I struggled into it again.
For me it’s too wordy. Every single action is described in great detail down to sipping the orange juice and its colour and texture etc etc. and for me that takes away from the story. I need to be allowed to use my imagination in a story and I was having my hand held every step of the way and it ruined it for me.

I didn’t like any of the characters and the college professors were stuffy or wankers which probably tracks but still for me it was just either boring or too much details.

I only got so far but I could go no further. So one star because we have to and one star because I didn’t make it to the end.

After the death of her husband, Carla moves to a new country and tries to start again..

With her job in Archeology she is asked to consult on a murder scene, and she soon finds that she has a knack to seeing what others miss.

Carla sees patterns in several killings, and soon finds her new town is hiding secrets.

This is well developed plot and one that I really enjoyed reading. I love characters who are given the task of discovery outside of their field and as a reader I find I am discovering with them. It is a really interesting read.

A fun mix of archeology, cop procedurals and home town mysteries.
Carla is new to town and instantly brought to an odd crime scene…what begins as a “do you notice anything” turns into Carla finding out this town has a lot of secrets.
I enjoyed every minute!

Archeology Professor Carla James moves from England to the New England town of Jericho searching a new start. On day one she is asked to consult on a murder scene. Not her area of expertise, but there is something ritualistic that catches her trained eye.

Carla sees patterns in several killings, but local police are skeptical. And, the more she investigates, the more she learns about the secrets of her new home town.

Death Rites is a different take on murder, mixing ritual and history with more modern motivations. The characters are interesting and, while the pace is slow in places, it is a good read with a well developed story arc.

A calculated killer. A town under threat. An unfinished pattern... Archaeology professor Carla James is reeling following the death of her husband. Desperate for a change of scene, she takes a job at an elite New England college. On her first day, Carla is asked to represent the department at a murder site. She initially believes there is nothing notable about the scattered debris that surrounds the body, but there is more to the case than meets the eye! Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, murder, mystery, and a few twists and turns. The story was interesting! I would recommend reading this book, it wasn’t one of my top favorites but still worth reading! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!