The Grave Tattoo - Hardcover

McDermid, Val

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312339216 ISBN 13: 9780312339210

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2007

Synopsis

The discovery of a strangely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside gives rise to two-hundred-year-old rumors regarding William Wordsworth's ties to the infamous Fletcher Christian and the mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty, as Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham searches for a long-lost manuscript that could hold the key to the historical mystery. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

It's a time-honoured tradition that the best crime writers begin to chafe at the constraints of their area of the genre and feel a need to stretch their literary muscles. With The Grave Tattoo, the estimable Val McDermid demonstrates that she, too, has felt the need of a change from her contemporary novels of crime and detection, and here takes on a truly ambitious panoply. Not that McDermid has been afraid to tackle unconventional subjects before--it's just that the scale of this novel is even more impressive. A corpse is discovered on a hill in the Lake District, adorned with bizarre tattoos. Wordsworth expert Jane Gresham finds herself distracted from her studies of the great Lakeland poet when another mystery surfaces, involving the Pitcairn Massacre and the events of the mutiny on the Bounty. Is it possible that Fletcher Christian, who led the rebellion against Captain Bligh, faked his own death and clandestinely returned to England? Jane makes a connection between the tattooed body and the tattoos on sailors who served in the South Seas--is this the body of Fletcher Christian? And Jane has another problem on her hands--a young girl who she has tried to help finds herself a murder suspect, and tracks her down to the Lakes. And as Jane closes in on a Wordsworth manuscript that may be a direct transcription of Fletcher Christian s confession, she finds herself with someone else on her trail--an ex-lover with similar designs on the precious document.

As all this might suggest, McDermid has set herself a truly daunting task here, with a canvas so crammed with incident, colour and character. And when the reader learns that the central narrative is counterpointed with sections from the Fletcher Christian document, it's clear that we are a long way away from the medical and criminological puzzles of Wire in the Blood. It is to McDermid's credit that she draws so many strands together with such assurance.
--Barry Forshaw

Review:

‘An irresistible combination of contemporary psychological thriller and historical mystery' Tess Gerritsen

‘Cunning and gripping... A substantially entertaining novel which grips the reader’s interest from the first page until the final deeply satisfying sentence’ Express

‘Trying to solve a 200-year-old mystery becomes increasingly lethal and readable' Mirror

‘One of the world’s leading mystery writers...Thomas Harris crossed with Agatha Christie, if you will... A great read. England’s heritage history has never been so chilling’ Observer

‘Safe for the squeamish... one of her best’ Literary Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0312339216
• ISBN 13: 9780312339210
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400