This is the latest in what I have only just realised is a series of six. I've read the other five and enjoyed them enormously so I was pleased to be able to get hold of this one courtesy of the kind publisher. But it's the first one I have read as an e-book, on my iPad. And this brings me to the reason why I mention the cover -- because the version I was sent didn't have any kind of cover at all, though probably that's because it came from NetGalley. But this way of reading -- very far from my preferred choice -- really brought it home to me why I so much love real books. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it -- the plot, combining as all the novels in the series do, a cold case with a present day murder, is intriguing, and the relationship between Hannah, the cop, and Daniel, the academic historian, as always tantalisingly near consummation -- but I wanted to be able to hold a book in my hand, to muse over the cover, to flick back through the pages and check on things I might have missed. Oh yes I know you can flick away in Kindle too, but somehow it's just not the same.
Sorry -- just a hobby horse of mine, and perhaps one I should dismount pretty sharpish. Anyway, the novel is atmospheric, the beautiful, though here often gloomy and threatening locations well evoked, the story of a series of very similar and somewhat gothic murders stretching over almost a century properly puzzling, and the characters, as always, attractive and believeable. If you haven't read this series, do give it a go -- though I'd advise starting at the beginning with The Coffin Trail, the first of the series, to get a real understanding of the history of the characters and their somewhat complicated relationship. A quick and enjoyable read, ideal for curling up with on a rainy day.