Another classic Slider. Old bones are discovered in a garden and appear to fit the timeline of a missing schoolgirl who lived in that house. Slider and his team struggle to make headway as many of the contemporary characters have died or moved away. Eventually Slider pieces together the small fragments he uncovers to discover the truth. ( )

DCI Bill Slider due to his previous case is now out of favour with his superiors so when some bones are discovered by a garden contractor under a shed, the case is given to him and his team. The bones are determined to have been buried about twenty years previously and belong to a young female.
This is the 19th book in the series and unfortunately there were a lot of references to the previous case. This story would have been much better without those as I believe that it slowed the pace of this story. I also didn't find any of the characters appealing.
A NetGalley Book


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I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. While waiting to see if my request would be approved, I borrowed the earliest instalment available (#3) from my local library and enjoyed it so much that I have torn through all the intervening instalments to get up to this one. This series is one of the best police procedural series I have ever read and I highly recommend them.

Some are, of course, better than others. This one was not my favourite. It concerns the discovery of the skeletal remains of a teenage girl behind a garden shed, and that part of the novel was pretty good, despite the fact that I worked out the twist fairly early on. However, there are also large sections which follow on from instalment #18, to the extent that I would not recommend reading this book as a stand alone. This latter strand is depressing and frustrating.

Still, this is worth a read - just read all the others first - you won't regret it. ( )

It was an interesting story with a plot that was fairly difficult to figure out. The book was nearly at the end before I finally figured out what was happening. The main problem I had with this one was the attitude of the police. They were all an obnoxious lot that seemed to be fed up with their jobs, their supervisors and even the men that had put in their time and were long retired. The found fault with everything. I have read this author before and found the characters to be much more likable so I'm going to assume she was just having a bad week...or month...or year. ( )

I love Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' Bill Slider character. He's such an everyday guy and such a great boss to his CID team in Shepherd's Bush, London. Ms. Harrod-Eagles' sly sense of humour, and dry wit beams out on almost every page of every book in this series starting with the puns that are used in all chapter titles. In this case, Bill and his team are dealing with a set of "old bones", that have been buried for over 20 years. His hilarious boss. Porson thinks that Bill needs a cooling off period after the explosive last case that he was working, so he thinks old bones are just the ticket to keep his DI out of trouble, and most importantly, out of the eye of the higher-ups in the police department. But in typical Slider fashion, the bones open up a rather explosive line of enquiry, and the twists and turns in this case keep Bill and his team on their toes at all times. The final denouement was totally unexpected by me. I honestly didn't see it coming, But that is what a Bill Slider book is like. i love this light-hearted series. And the dark side, which is always there as well, brings everything into perspective and makes the books even more realistic. I highly recommend this series for those who love police procedurals with realistic characters and a cracking plot. And this book wouldn't even be a bad place to start with this series. If you do read it, it will make you want to read the whole backlist. ( )