The Skeleton Room

DCI Gerry Heffernan and DI Wesley Peterson have been called out to an old girls’ boarding school, now under renovation, where a skeleton has been discovered in a room sealed off long ago.  Just as they were preparing to return to the station, Peterson received a call about a body being found in the sea not far away.

It turns out that the skeleton was likely walled up in the sixties, so would have to be investigated.  The body found in the sea is quickly identified and appears that she had been killed under suspicious circumstances.

Heffernan and Peterson are able to the former headmistress of the girls’ school and she is able to provide information that links to the new owner of the building.

DC Steve Carstairs has been researching some similar deaths to the one in the sea that had happened in the past.  He discovers some similarities.  Could they all have been perpetrated by the same person?  Could they have a serial killer on their hands?  It appears that they have their suspect, too.

However, Peterson isn’t sure that the suspect that they have is the right one.  Carstairs’ research leads to an insurance scam.  Now to find out who is behind it.  Author Kate Ellis has a surprising conclusion to this mystery.  This is a good quick read, and thoroughly enjoyable.  I also recommend reading the author’s historical note after the conclusion of the novel.