The Funeral Boat by Kate Ellis

‘The Funeral Boat’ is the 4^th novel in the Wesley Peterson series by Kate Ellis

DS Wesley Peterson and DI Gerry Heffernan are having a busy summer. There are tourists everywhere and a corresponding increase in crime. One tourist in the area, a Danish lady named Ingeborg Larsen has gone missing and there is evidence to suggest that she has been kidnapped. When her brother arrives from Denmark to help with the search he is murdered. What is the secret that the siblings have been keeping from the police?

The police are also trying to track a group of armed robbers who have been attacking remote farms and stealing cars and valuables. Now one of the local farmers has been shot by the robbers.

Carl Palister has found a skeleton buried on his small family farm. Gerry thinks it might be Carl’s father, a known criminal who went missing three years ago. But Wesley thinks it is much older (about 1000 years) and calls on his archaeologist friend Neil to investigate.

A group of Viking actors are planning to stage a re-enactment of the Viking raids of the 10^th century. Wesley’s wife Pam is taking part in the re-enactment and makes some important discoveries.

With so much going on, it takes a while for the various plots to merge and for the police to move towards a solution. But eventually they find their way.

This was an excellent novel, especially after the disappointment of the previous one. But perhaps there was a bit too much going on for one novel. Each chapter began with an extract from a journal written in 997 – so there was yet another story running through the novel.

With each addition to the series, we get to know the characters a bit better. In this novel, we saw a lot more of both Pam and Rachel and got to meet Gerry’s son Sam who had a very interesting job.

I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series – ‘The Bone Bed’.

Published 2000

See a full list of books by Kate Ellis