Dry Bones: A Jennie Redhead Mystery

When Jennie Redhead's best friend Sir Charles Swift, bursar of St. Luke's College at Oxford, asks her to investigate the two bodies found interred in the cellar, she suspects he knows more than he's telling. After all, he hired a private investigator before he notified the police. And, Charles requests the names of the dead men. He doesn't ask her to find the killer. How does the new murder in 1974 tie to the past? The flashbacks to the war years of 1914 and 1939 introduce the victims and acquaintances, tragic stories Jennie uncovers as she questions the head porters, silent witnesses to student activities at the college. There's a strong sense of time and place evoking the college atmosphere during wartime. However, with the alternating time periods and shifts in points of view, this second Jennie Redhead mystery (following The Shivering Turn) is sometimes difficult to follow. The perpetrators are the only characters who are sympathetic.