The Grave Tattoo

November 6, 2006
An intriguing, 200-year-old mystery propels this multilayered stand-alone from British author McDermid set in England's Lake District. Scholar Jane Gresham pursues her theory that HMS Bounty
mutineer Fletcher Christian returned secretly from exile to his homeland in the late 18th century. A shriveled body found in a bog seems to bear resemblance to this dashing hero, right down to the South Sea tattoos that blacken his buttocks. Jane searches relentlessly for a lost manuscript by the poet Wordsworth that relates Christian's tale in tantalizing excerpts between chapters. Various subplots complicate her quest, including a fraught friendship with precocious 13-year-old Tenille, a lonely, mixed-race girl who also loves Romantic poetry. With a feminist, socially conscious spin, McDermid (The Distant Echo
) vividly contrasts marginal subsistence in London's dismal Marshpool neighborhood with the Lake District's bucolic lifestyle. Boasting blurbs from such notable authors as Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen and Joseph Finder, this could be McDermid's break-out book. 100,000 printing; author tour.

Starred review from November 15, 2006
Scottish crime novelist McDermid once again proves herself the consummate storyteller in this clever blending of history, mystery, verse, and vice. In the opening pages, readers meet modern-day Wordsworth scholar Jane Gresham, who has found a telling letter from the late poet's wife. Could Wordsworth have penned a heretofore-undiscovered epic about Fletcher Christian, the British sailor responsible for the 1789 mutiny on the HMS" Bounty"? (If so, Wordsworth, whom Jane wryly dubs one of the original literary spin doctors, would have had every reason to stay mum to protect his image.) A tattooed corpse that surfaces in Jane's native Fellhead, England, may very well be Fletcher, despite historical documents insisting that he lived out his days in the South Pacific. Determined to track down more literary clues, Jane leaves behind her cheap London flat and temporary jobs to return to her parent's farm. But she can't escape her past: ex-boyfriend Jake, who has devious reasons for wanting to rekindle their relationship, and Tenille, a bright but troubled mixed-race teen who sees Jane as the sole salvation in her dead-end life. Against the backdrop of England's idyllic Lake District, McDermid (" The Distant Echo," 2003) renders a supremely satisfying tale in which matters of heart and mind are entwined.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2007
Adult/High School-During an English summer of record-breaking rains, a peat bog in the Lake District opens to reveal a 200-year-old body bearing South Pacific island tattoos. The area, home to Romantic poets, is where Jane Gresham, Wordsworth scholar, grew up, and she finds her interest piqued by the news. She has long believed that Fletcher Christian, HMS "Bounty" mutineer, didn't die on Pitcairn Island but returned to England. She has theorized that Christian recounted his adventures to his old schoolmate Wordsworth, who wrote them down, and those documents and a related poem, now worth millions, lay forgotten in a local home. In the race to retrieve the valuable manuscripts, Jane finds herself competing against sinister forces that would stop at nothing, including murder, to reach them first. The suspenseful story and its subplots, which include Jane's friendship with 13-year-old poetry-loving Tenille, who lives in Jane's London public housing project, create an absorbing thriller. McDermid establishes a strong sense of place in the atmospheric and pastoral Lake District that contrasts sharply with the sprawling housing project. Historical and literary references to Wordsworth's life and work and to the South Pacific adventures of the "Bounty" mutineers all help to make this novel come alive. Teens will enjoy the lively characters, brisk pace, and careful unraveling of the centuries-old mystery with its satisfactory conclusion."Susanne Bardelson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2006
McDermid's ("The Torment of Others") latest novel begins with the discovery in a Lake District bog of an old body bearing distinctive Polynesian tattoos from the 1800s. Jane Gresham, a William Wordsworth scholar who was raised near where the body is found, has always been intrigued by the local legend that Fletcher Christian wasn't killed on Pitcairn Island and wonders whether the body could be his. She knows that Christian and Wordsworth were schoolmates and has found a letter pointing to a secret manuscript Wordsworth may have written that she hypothesizes may tell the story of the mutiny on the "Bounty" from Christian's viewpoint. However, Jane is not the only one interested in the existence of the manuscriptand someone may be willing to kill for it. McDermid is the winner of numerous mystery/detective book awards, and her latest effort is sure to please her fans, although new readers may be disappointed that the novel is less about the historical characters than the modern ones. Recommended.Lisa O'Hara, Univ. of Manitoba Libs., Winnepeg

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.