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Dead and Buried

kdk November 7, 2006
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Read Time:2 Minute, 54 Second

For Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, now might not be the best time to head down to London for some top-secret business. After all, he’s in the process of going through a divorce and preparing to be a single dad once again. There’s also a lot of shuffling going on in his department, which he’s trying to manage from a distance. And his daughter, Alex, has been getting some disturbing phone calls that may or may not be related to the business he’s working on.



But Bob Skinner’s story is just a small part of the plot of Dead and Buried. While Bob heads for London, the Chief Constable, Sir James Proud, decides to do a little detective work of his own. He’s contacted by Trudi Friend, a woman who’s searching for her mother, a woman named Annabelle Gentle. Mrs. Friend has never met her mother, who had her put up for adoption not long after she was born. But Trudi now has reason to look into her family history—and she’s discovered that her mother has been missing for 40 years. The man she was supposedly about to marry, Claude Bothwell, had been a teacher at the school that Sir James had attended, so she figures Sir James can somehow help.



Meanwhile, detectives are investigating the attempted robbery of bookmaker Gary Starr, who admits to chopping off the finger of the man who tried to rob him. But the robbery investigation becomes a homicide investigation when detectives find Starr brutally murdered in his home. And when they go looking for clues to his murder, they find that Starr may have been involved in something a lot bigger than just taking bets.



To begin (and to be fair), I need to explain that this is Jardine’s 16th Bob Skinner novel—and it’s the first that I’ve read. And that’s most likely where my problems with this book lie. Since I haven’t read the previous 15, I didn’t come in knowing the characters—or their stories—and I found it incredibly difficult to keep up. I couldn’t tell the characters apart, and I didn’t known any of the background information—which especially comes into play in the case of Skinner’s top-secret mission, which closely relates to plotlines from previous novels.



Perhaps, if I’d understood the characters and their stories, Dead and Buried would have been less of a slow, clunky read. But I also found that the build-up was especially sluggish. Skinner, for instance, doesn’t actually arrive in London until page 128. While regular readers may be interested from the start, it took a long time for this one to catch my interest—and even when it did, it didn’t always manage to hold my interest. Some of the plotlines are interesting—but not all of them. Others just don’t seem to fit. And the way the story jumps around, it’s difficult to keep them all straight.



Some authors write series that still basically work as standalone reads. This isn’t one of them. While it’s clear that several books’ worth of build-up comes to a climax in this novel, first-time readers won’t appreciate it as much as regulars will. So if you’re thinking about checking out Jardine’s Skinner series, you’d be wise to start at the beginning.

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About Post Author

kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it. Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course. As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com). Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
kdk@nightsandweekends.com
http://www.NightsAndWeekends.com
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kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.

Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.

As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).

Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.

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