Jane Gresham, the leading character in this novel, is a Wordsworth scholar of some note and a dedicated young woman whose goal it is to become the leading authority in her field by discovering if there was a connection between the mutiny, Fletcher Christian's disappearance, and some writings by William Wordsworth that may have been the basis for an epic poem by him. Various clues present themselves, such as partial letters, a diary, some seemingly coincidental connections between Wordsworth and Christian which may or may not be significant evidence, and so on. This is a plot, perhaps, that is becoming just a wee bit shopworn since the proliferation of "DaVinci" type novels after the success of the first one, but it still has the power to hold the reader's attention and challenge his skills of detection. Ms. McDermid doesn't quite succeed in concealing the identity of the snake in the woodpile, I'm sorry to say, but she makes a valiant attempt to do so. My belief is that an avid reader of mysteries will catch on to the "snake" early on in the story, which is a little disappointing since it is otherwise and exceptionally well-written and developed plot, complications and all.

So, here it is. If you love to read poetry and mysteries, and if you, as I, have a penchant for The Lake Poets, you will find much to enjoy and little to fault in this latest McDermid novel. I particularly enjoyed reading the "quotes from Wordsworth's letters" that precede each chapter, which Ms. McDermid does not authenticate. If they are her words rather than his, she has a delicate instinct indeed for how a poet would think about this subject, and how he would write about it.

This is another very interesting and enlightening book by this prolific author, and I recommend it highly, notwithstanding the rather transparent "snake".
Review by Litera Scripta