Laying Out the Bones

Kate Webb

AFTER a long hot summer in Wiltshire, flash floods from a sudden downpour unearth a skeleton in a remote corner of vast Salisbury Plain and set cold case police officer, DI Matt Lockyer, on the trail of a brutal crime.

Laying Out the Bones is the second gripping and wonderfully atmospheric mystery in a brilliant new contemporary crime series from Kate Webb (pictured below), perhaps better known as Katherine Webb, acclaimed author of historical novels, and noted for her richly detailed, sophisticated and descriptive storytelling.

This DI Lockyer series – packed with deft plotting and some terrific twists and turns – began with Stay Buried and features complex, multi-faceted stories set against the lush backdrop of the Wiltshire countryside. At the helm is Detective Inspector Matt Lockyer, a farmer’s son and a conscientious cop who was sidelined to working cold cases after becoming too personally involved in an investigation involving a friend. Far from being disappointed, Lockyer regarded the move as a chance to review some of the cases that keep him up at night, not least his own brother Christopher’s senseless killing.

When Lockyer and DC Gemma Broad, the two-person team who work in the Major Crime Review section, visit the scene where a male skeleton was found after recent flooding, they know that forensic testing has matched the bones to a man named Lee Geary who was aged 27 when he was reported missing nine years ago.

Geary – a giant of a man at six feet nine inches – was a known drug user so his death could be a simple case of misadventure. But Lockyer isn’t so sure. Geary was a townie, a vulnerable man who was easily led and had learning disabilities, so what was he doing out on Salisbury Plain all alone?

But what has really caused a stir within the force is that, before he disappeared, Geary was questioned in relation to the notorious murder of a young woman named Holly Gilbert. It was a

crime that received a lot of emotion-packed publicity but still remains unsolved. With the help of Gemma, Lockyer begins to dig deeper, and discovers that two other people who were arrested and questioned over the Holly Gilbert case also either died or disappeared within a few months of the murder. Are these three deaths just a coincidence... or are they investigating a string of murders that has gone undetected for nearly a decade?

Steeping yourself in a Webb novel – whether that be history or mystery – always offers so much more than an intriguing mystery. This is an accomplished author who has the gift of making each of her characters come alive through the most vivid detail and powerful insight. And these classy, elegantly written crime mysteries, starring the top team of the emotionally insecure but likeable Lockyer, and his younger, more upfront sidekick Gemma, also reveal Webb’s acute eye for the human condition, and an impressive understanding of contemporary social issues. 

Evocative and haunting in its exploration of dark secrets, family bonds, lies and old truths, and with a plot and pace that never flags, Laying Out the Bones is an impressive addition to what is proving to be a series perfect for mystery fans and book club readers.
(Quercus, hardback, £22)