The Plague Maiden

Finished March 29

The Plague Maiden by Kate Ellis

This is the eighth novel is the Wesley Peterson mystery series set in Devon, England. As is typical, there are two storylines, a historical event brought to light through archeology and a modern-day crime that parallels the historical story. 

When a letter arrives addressed to a past police leader about a crime committed more than a decade earlier, one that someone is already in prison for, clearing him, the police have to face questions about their work in the past, and need to look at the crime again to see who else could have done it. The crime in question is the murder of a local pastor, one that seems to be a burglary gone wrong. The man in prison references a statement he made at the time about a youth he saw hanging about the area, that seems to have never been followed up on. 

An archeology dig in a nearby field, known as Pest Field, is happening, looking for a leper church that is rumoured to be located there. The field is the site for a new branch of a supermarket chain, and there is pressure to do the work within a certain time frame. When the archeologists, led by Wesley's old friend Neil, begin to dig up human remains, the police and coroner become involved. While most of the remains seem centuries old, perhaps those of plague victims buried in a common pit, one found closer to the surface is more recent and may relate to the newly opened case. 

I enjoy the puzzle of the two parallel events, with the historical ones loosely based in real history, and the more recent ones in which Wesley, with a background in archeology uses that and his police skills to connect them. 

I also like that the series includes both the police officers relationships with each other and attitudes, as well as some family life that varies in focus from book to book. Here we see many of the officers in action, and we see Wesley's wife in the later stages of pregnancy and the couple's interactions. I admit that with this and the previous book, I'm starting to rethink my impressions of one of the police officers in their personal life.