Thanks to Little, Brown and Netgalley for ARC.

Remote island off Devon coast, cut off at high tide, centuries of myths and rumour. Inclement weather, gruesome discovery of skeletal remains. Apparently this is number 28 in the series and so I was a bit late to the party. This seems to be a modern day police procedural series with archaeological subplots. The prose straightforwardly sets out the atmosphere and plants the red herrings, the domestic lives of the police and archaeological protagonists is rendered well enough to make them human. The historical timeline in the form of a discovered priest's diary, and the occult thread are very much not my thing, but if they are yours, I think this will satisfy.
As Ms Ellis prepares for book 29 I'm sure she'll be untroubled by my lukewarm feelings on this one.

Another excellent DI Wesley Peterson thriller. I love the archaeological aspect and the historical depth of the second timeline. A totally absorbing read.

It was rge first kate ellis book i have read - i like the characters and enjoyed this book however it did takw me a while too get into it and i found it a bit slow in places and it took a while for things too start slipping into place - it was interesting and i didnt see the killer coming. The ending made me smile.

A landslide on a remote island uncovers 3 bodies that had been buried just outside the churchyard above. Archaeologists are called in to check out the old bones, and to find out why they were not buried in the churchyard itself. However, it is discovered that one of the bodies has only been there about a year, and so an investigation begins. The best place to hide a body is in a graveyard!
As always with this series, history plays a huge part in the investigation, and events in the past repeat themselves.
I love this series of books, and have never been disappointed with the story. This is another great installment, and is a puzzler for Wesley & Gerry.

Book 28 in the Wesley Peterson series and don’t be worried if you haven’t read the previous twenty-seven titles – I have – this is, as with all of the books, a perfect place to jump on. Wesley and his team don’t have an ongoing saga of trauma that will spoil any earlier titles, just some ups and downs in their lives that knowing the outcome of won’t make any difference to your reading.

I do like that about this series – Wesley and his team have lives that develop, but no one has huge dark skeletons in their past haunting them. Things change in their lives – it’s not Midsomer Murders* – but the story here is, as ever, about a complex mystery and its parallels to the story from the past.

I always think the unknown body story is hard to do, especially when you’re not trapped in a country house with a closed circle of suspects. The police procedural involves checking out all possibilities but the nature of the detective novel requires that when the detectives go in a wrong direction with regards to the corpse, that direction usually needs somehow to tie into the main story – and we have quite a few possible-but-wrong identities for the corpse herein.

It’s one of the signs of Kate’s skills as a plotter that I became more and more intrigued as to where this was going as the first half of the book went on. There are other authors who would have tested my patience and would have just felt like they were padding the page count before the real investigation would take place, but that’s clearly not the case here. I did catch what was going on (mostly) – there was one sentence that I thought gave it away – but as ever, I was caught out by the sting in the tale that usually shows up in Kate’s work.

I probably didn’t need to write this review – as I said, this is the twenty-eighth book in the series, and I’ve read all twenty-eight. Kate’s writing never lets me down and she won’t let you down either.

I always enjoy Kate Ellis books but I do not think it is one of her best. Good storyline but maybe too many unnecessary characters. I will, however, give it 4 stars.

Apparently there have been quite a few in a series featuring DI Wesley Petersen but this was the first one I have read.

A book that was gripping and yet entertaining, starting with human remains found on a small island off the coast of Devon Plenty of digging and a mystery that may have dated back to 1543 ( I enjoyed those 'flashbacks')).

I was trying to engineer a link between Devon fishermen and red herrings as Ms Ellis includes many characters and twists, but wraps up the story really well. She also includes lots of 'gallows humour' which I also enjoyed.

Possibly too many characters would be my only negative comment.

Thanks to Net Galley and Little Brown Book Group UK for the chance to read and review.

Always find Kate Ellis books an enjoyable read and this was no different.. I have to admit fast reading through parts as I found them unnecessary to the actual story line and by doing so certainly didn’t spoil the read.

As always Kate Ellis entertains us with DI Wesley Peterson. Such a clever plot and the history that is intertwined with the discovery of three bodies buried out with a Chruch yard on the tiny island of St Rumons. Two are ancient but one is more recent but seem eerily connected. Couldn't put it down, the characters Neil and Wesley work so well together. So, number 28 in this series has not lost any of the originality that we have come to expect from Kate Ellis.

I really enjoyed this book. Traditions old and new combined in a police thriller. Set in the remote isles of Scotland.

Thank you to NetGalley and Piatkus for my copy of Coffin Island by Kate Ellis.
This is the 28th book in the DI Wesley Peterson series and the first one I have read.
Remains are found on a small island off the coast of Devon and the police need to find some answers. There was a big cast in this book, most of the irrelevant which made it confusing at times. I did finish it but it hasn’t made me want to buy anymore in the series.

First book I have read in this series but it was fine as a stand-alone.. It had plenty of suspense to keep me guessing. Great characters. Enjoyed the style of writing. All round great book. Look forward to the next one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

This book is number 28 in the series. I haven't read them all and those I have read I haven't necessarily read in order. Does it matter? Not a jot. Yes there is more context to the back story of the returning characters but it is completely possible to read this as a stand-alone book and follow the story and enjoy it.

As with the rest of the series this book is well researched and well written. There is the contemporary Police procedural and the historical story based around the archaeology of the area under the auspices of Dr. Neil Watson.

There are a lot of characters and lots of twists and turns and some predictable outcomes and some surprises.
It is a great series with every book having a different story while following the same premise - contemporary and historical crime.

To give too much of the story away would be to spoil a murder tale but this is well worth a read.
It deserves it's 5 stars

I look forward to more in the series - and new books in Kate Ellis' other ones

What did I just read? A supposed police procedural with cut corners, conclusions and unprofessional characters.

This is a disappointing read, with stereotyping of a Scouser in the Liverpudlian DI, Gerry, and of Wesley, a DI with roots in the Caribbean. Of course, George calls people 'love' and makes inappropriate comments. Of course Wesley has experienced racism, but there's no evidence or clarification given.

I tried to ignore the above, but the jumping-to-conclusions/not investigating thoroughly before announcing things to potential bereaved persons/the unprofessional actions of both Wesley and George/the frankly boring characters in this book, made me think I'd wasted my time. The only interesting version were the words of the old clergyman, about the necromancer (rumoured).

On top, the characters were forgettable and why oh why use the same first character for so many names? We had:

Gerry the DI, George the racist, misogynistic old guy, Greg and Ginevra.
Kylie, Karen and Kiara.
Annabel, Amelia, Ashley, Anne and Alison.
Craig, Charlie, Cuthbert, Colin and Carl.
Eddie, Elias and Edith.
Rachel and Rob.
Neil and Nigel.
Meera, Michael, Matt, Maggie, Mark and Moriarty.
Pam and Paloma.
Jack and Julia.
Barbara and Bryan.

The Scott plot involving a power of attorney and selling someone's house using the document? Uh uh. Wouldn't work, because a power of attorney dies when the donor does, and any solicitor worth their salt would check this out or risk reputational damage and being sued. The Swiss bank account plot? Wouldn't work, as you need to be a millionaire in the first instance (it's part of the day job, dealing with this sort of stuff), and Scott wasn't. On top, AML amd KYC checks would've caught him out.

Sooo many characters not relevant to the plot made it into the book. There was so much filler, there's no way it's been edited. The mention of Rachel, a new mother, and Wesley, the DS, once almost having a 'thing' because of some glances, but hey, she had Neil and he had Pam and nothing came of it? Not just urterly irrelevant but insulting to their partners.

Save your time, don't bother with this one. The blurb is written to draw you in, but the book lets you down.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK.

Storm erosion uncovers three bodies at the island church of St Rumon's. But they're buried outside the churchyard. And one is considerably more recent than the others...

DI Wesley Peterson has another murder on his hands. But the island has a very small number of inhabitants - potentially both a small pool of victims, and killers.

Another brilliant addition to this excellent series