Suddenly As a Shadow // Murder in the Cottage — Roy Lewis

An Arnold Landon mystery novel.

It is over a hundred years since workers clearing the way for a new railway through the remote Ravenstone Fell stumbled across an ancient burial site. Now the railway itself is obsolete, serving a ghost community, and developers want to turn the site into a business and leisure complex.

In order to get government approval and funding for their plans, the developers allow a team of archaeologists to dig at the burial site and Arnold Landon, of the Department of Museums and Antiquities, gets involved. Also interested is Cate Nicholas, an expert in an innovative branch of forensic pathology. Nicholas proves to be a controversial figure with a knack for making enemies, not only in the academic community, but also, it seems, amongst the personnel at Ravenstone. And, not content with attacking her colleagues in the media, she now hints at corrupt dealings in the bid to secure the development contract.

Landon is unwillingly drawn into this growing controversy - one that culminates in violent death. Is the answer to the murder to be found at Ravenstone Fell, or does it lie elsewhere?

Another absorbing crime novel from Roy Lewis which cleverly blends archaeological mysteries with a modern-day murder investigation.