[Lakeland Murders 05] • Pale Horse, Dark Horse

In the fifth of the best-selling Lakeland Murders series DCI Andy Hall and the team are faced with their most complex case yet. A body is found buried at the feet of Long Meg, an ancient Cumbrian stone circle, but the grave was dug months, not millennia, before.

Establishing the dead man's identity is the first hurdle for the detectives to cross, and Hall's investigation soon takes him to the annual Appleby Horse Fair, one of the UK's oldest traditional horse fairs, where suspicion falls squarely on the Traveller community. But there's an alternative explanation, which would implicate one of Cumbria's oldest families in a complex web of deceit - and death.

Set, as usual, in some of Britain's most historic and lovely landscapes this new novel is witty, topical, atmospheric and intriguing. And so the latest case for Kendal CID's finest is sure to draw really positive reader and critical reviews, as the first four have done:

Critic Mat Coward said of the first installment in the Lakeland Murders series: ‘Separated At Death is a solidly plotted, well-peopled and a very enjoyable start to what looks like a most promising series.’

And readers of the later books have been equally positive in their responses:

'Have just read all four in the series and this last one is as good as the rest. DI Hall is a great lead character and the team that work with him have grown throughout the series and are believable. A quick pace, good insight into modern policing and a good story, where the outcome is not always positive on behalf of the law. Can't wait for the next in the series.'