A review by teenytinylibrary
The Book of Killowen by Erin Hart

4.0

When a body is found in a car boot in a bog, Cormac Maguire and Nora Gavin are called down to the scene to investigate. Maguire is an archaeologist, and Gavin a forensic pathologist. Maguire's expertise is needed because the body is from the ninth-century, preternaturally preserved in the bog. Unfortunately, underneath the bog man is another body, this one much more recent.

I really enjoyed this - a cross between the historical fiction of Susanna Kearsley and the contemporary mysteries of Tana French. The story took some twists that I didn't anticipate (

Spoiler

and some I had a bit of a hard time believing - e.g. the ring

). I did like the sense of place here. I had a good feel for Killowen, but not as much its inhabitants. I think Hart did a good job setting up each character with motives and as a suspect, but I think that she could've spent more time developing characters a bit more. That being said, I'll happily pick up the other three in the series.