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The Burying Ground
Cumbria, 1967. Grieving the loss of her son, Cordelia Hemlock is in a village graveyard when lightning strikes a tumbledown tomb - and gives her a glimpse of a new corpse that doesn't belong among the crumbling bones. But when the body vanishes, the authorities refuse to believe some hysterical outsider.
Cordelia persuades Felicity Goose, the only other person to have seen the corpse, to join her investigation. But the villagers don't take kindly to their interference. There are those who believe the village's secrets should remain buried. . .whatever the cost.
RUNNING TIME ➜ 10hrs. and 54mins.
©2020 David Mark (P)2020 Canongate Books Ltd
Cordelia persuades Felicity Goose, the only other person to have seen the corpse, to join her investigation. But the villagers don't take kindly to their interference. There are those who believe the village's secrets should remain buried. . .whatever the cost.
RUNNING TIME ➜ 10hrs. and 54mins.
©2020 David Mark (P)2020 Canongate Books Ltd
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First published February 28, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
May 17, 2019
David Mark shifts direction from his crime series, to what is primarily a historical espionage mystery,set in the 1960s in the North of England and the small villages of Upper Denton and Gilisland with a local history that goes as far back as Hadrian's Wall. Whilst I found this a great read, I have to admit I love Mark's crime fiction more. The narrative begins in 2010, and two elderly women, Felicity 'Flick' Goose and Cordelia Hemlock are sitting at the bedside of a dying man, trying to get him to cough up the truth about events that occurred in 1967 when the women first met. Amidst heavy torrential rain and lightning, the Kinsmont Mausoleum splits, when Cordelia and Flick see the recently deceased body of a man in a blue suit with a satchel. The women return to Flick's home to escape the downpour, when local history man, Fairfax, drops in. They tell him about the body in the graveyard, so Fairfax leaves to find out what he can. Fairfax is never to return, killed in a fatal car accident.
Cordelia is a woman with many secrets, married to a senior civil servant in London, laden with a heavy grief at the recent loss of her young baby son, Stefan. She has set herself apart from the locals, and it takes the loss of Stefan for the barriers to slowly come down between Cordelia and them. The initial chinks begin to appear as the friendship between Flick and Cordelia strengthens, driven by the mystery of the dead man in the church graveyard whose body has since disappeared. With Flick initially refusing to be clear about what she had seen, the police in the form of Sergeant Chivers, show absolutely no interest in the affair. However, Cordelia cannot let it go, and the more Flick learns about Fairfax, the more she thinks his death was murder too, he just knew too much. This is a twisted story that goes back to WW2, and the heinous torture and massacres carried out by the French Nazi sympathising group, the Milice, formed with every intention of obliterating the French Resistance. The two women find not everyone is keen for them to uncover past history. A history that connects with the former local POW camp and the machinations of the security services.
David Mark can certainly spin a good historical story with the most colourful of characters, such as Pike, Brian and Heron. Cordelia is a complicated woman for her time, very independent, and not a woman who takes orders lying down. She is determined to get to the truth, irrespective of the obstacles placed in her path. She is the perfect foil for the more tentative and insecure Flick, a woman that Cordelia initially underestimated, much as she did all the locals. It is that implacable strength of character that has Cordelia taking the life path that she later follows, one that brings her great power. This was an engaging and absorbing novel, but in my humble opinion, I feel the author's true strengths lie in crime fiction. Many thanks to Severn House for an ARC.
Cordelia is a woman with many secrets, married to a senior civil servant in London, laden with a heavy grief at the recent loss of her young baby son, Stefan. She has set herself apart from the locals, and it takes the loss of Stefan for the barriers to slowly come down between Cordelia and them. The initial chinks begin to appear as the friendship between Flick and Cordelia strengthens, driven by the mystery of the dead man in the church graveyard whose body has since disappeared. With Flick initially refusing to be clear about what she had seen, the police in the form of Sergeant Chivers, show absolutely no interest in the affair. However, Cordelia cannot let it go, and the more Flick learns about Fairfax, the more she thinks his death was murder too, he just knew too much. This is a twisted story that goes back to WW2, and the heinous torture and massacres carried out by the French Nazi sympathising group, the Milice, formed with every intention of obliterating the French Resistance. The two women find not everyone is keen for them to uncover past history. A history that connects with the former local POW camp and the machinations of the security services.
David Mark can certainly spin a good historical story with the most colourful of characters, such as Pike, Brian and Heron. Cordelia is a complicated woman for her time, very independent, and not a woman who takes orders lying down. She is determined to get to the truth, irrespective of the obstacles placed in her path. She is the perfect foil for the more tentative and insecure Flick, a woman that Cordelia initially underestimated, much as she did all the locals. It is that implacable strength of character that has Cordelia taking the life path that she later follows, one that brings her great power. This was an engaging and absorbing novel, but in my humble opinion, I feel the author's true strengths lie in crime fiction. Many thanks to Severn House for an ARC.
May 17, 2019
I finished this a while ago & have been mulling over how I felt about it. And I realized the longer I thought, the more I appreciated the story & how it was told. If (like me) you’re a fan of the author’s Aector McAvoy series, the first thing you need to know is this is a huge departure. Don’t go in expecting thrills & chills. This is a dense & detailed historical read that takes its time.
It begins in the present as 2 elderly women sit vigil at the bedside of a dying man. We have no idea who the characters are but it’s obvious they have a long & complex history. We then go back to how it all began.
Cordelia (Cordie) is an educated woman whose husband has sent her to live in the country. She’s a fish out of water & initially dismissive of her rural neighbours. Felicity (Flick) is a wife & mother who has lived in the area all her life. They first meet in a graveyard & when lightening strikes an old mausoleum, they’re horrified to see a body come tumbling out. An ancient skeleton perhaps? Nope. There’s flesh on those bones & the snazzy suit suggests the wearer is of a more recent vintage.
What follows is the story of Cordie & Flick’s great adventure. On one level it’s a murder mystery with disturbing undertones & a slow rising tension. But it’s also the story of these 2 women & how their investigation & relationship permanently alters their lives.
Most of the book is set in a rural Scottish village in the 1960’s but it feels at least a decade earlier. The pace, descriptions of village life & frequent allusions to the war all combine to create a story that’s more in keeping with the era of golden age mysteries.
To be honest, it took me a while to settle in with this one. I think I went in with certain expectations based on Mark’s previous books. Setting the stage takes the first half. Not much happens but you become immersed in the lives of the characters & history of the area. It’s heavy on dialogue which the author delivers using local vernacular to great effect. More than anything else, that’s what helped me find the book’s rhythm & just sit back & let Cordie & Flick tell me their story.
The pace picks up for the last 20% as we begin to glimpse the big picture. War atrocities, secrets & lies with startling local connections are exposed. The village is shaken & for Cordie in particular, it’s the beginning of a new life.
After pondering it a bit, I realized what I enjoyed most was the relationship between the 2 women. It gradually evolves as they rub off on each other, both deeply affected by their shared experience. There’s a subtle power shift as they learn to appreciate their differences & the result is a long friendship based on mutual acceptance, trust & affection.
So from an initial rating of 3.5, I’m bumping it up to 4 stars. There’s a beautiful simplicity to the prose that makes the setting & characters come across as completely authentic. Kudos to the author for branching off in a new direction.
It begins in the present as 2 elderly women sit vigil at the bedside of a dying man. We have no idea who the characters are but it’s obvious they have a long & complex history. We then go back to how it all began.
Cordelia (Cordie) is an educated woman whose husband has sent her to live in the country. She’s a fish out of water & initially dismissive of her rural neighbours. Felicity (Flick) is a wife & mother who has lived in the area all her life. They first meet in a graveyard & when lightening strikes an old mausoleum, they’re horrified to see a body come tumbling out. An ancient skeleton perhaps? Nope. There’s flesh on those bones & the snazzy suit suggests the wearer is of a more recent vintage.
What follows is the story of Cordie & Flick’s great adventure. On one level it’s a murder mystery with disturbing undertones & a slow rising tension. But it’s also the story of these 2 women & how their investigation & relationship permanently alters their lives.
Most of the book is set in a rural Scottish village in the 1960’s but it feels at least a decade earlier. The pace, descriptions of village life & frequent allusions to the war all combine to create a story that’s more in keeping with the era of golden age mysteries.
To be honest, it took me a while to settle in with this one. I think I went in with certain expectations based on Mark’s previous books. Setting the stage takes the first half. Not much happens but you become immersed in the lives of the characters & history of the area. It’s heavy on dialogue which the author delivers using local vernacular to great effect. More than anything else, that’s what helped me find the book’s rhythm & just sit back & let Cordie & Flick tell me their story.
The pace picks up for the last 20% as we begin to glimpse the big picture. War atrocities, secrets & lies with startling local connections are exposed. The village is shaken & for Cordie in particular, it’s the beginning of a new life.
After pondering it a bit, I realized what I enjoyed most was the relationship between the 2 women. It gradually evolves as they rub off on each other, both deeply affected by their shared experience. There’s a subtle power shift as they learn to appreciate their differences & the result is a long friendship based on mutual acceptance, trust & affection.
So from an initial rating of 3.5, I’m bumping it up to 4 stars. There’s a beautiful simplicity to the prose that makes the setting & characters come across as completely authentic. Kudos to the author for branching off in a new direction.
January 14, 2020
Another departure from his Aector McAvoy series for David Mark. I mostly enjoyed the book, but I didn’t love it. I liked his other stand alone, A Rush of Blood, much more. 80% of this book is spent developing the characters and the relationships between them, and describing life in a small village in Scotland in 1967. It was interesting, yet sometimes boring. Sometimes I forgot connections between people or events. I knew a death had occurred, but I needed more clues to lead me along. The last 20% was satisfying.
I did appreciate the development of the characters. Felicity and Cordelia complemented each other very well, and I’m in awe of their decades long friendship. I wished I could have known poor Fairfax better. Cordelia’s husband is a genuine keeper, but I worried about their sons.
Mark can certainly write some deep and dark stories, and I will read them, but I also hope for more Aector.
I did appreciate the development of the characters. Felicity and Cordelia complemented each other very well, and I’m in awe of their decades long friendship. I wished I could have known poor Fairfax better. Cordelia’s husband is a genuine keeper, but I worried about their sons.
Mark can certainly write some deep and dark stories, and I will read them, but I also hope for more Aector.
June 1, 2019
I have to admit...this book surprised me. I expected a flash-back style crime\murder mystery novel...but got something richer and much more interesting. This is a mystery novel with a touch of espionage, hidden war-time secrets, cover-ups, Nazis, POWs, traitors....and two old women still determined to learn The Truth. Great story!
It all starts when a storm damages a mausoleum in a cemetery in 1967 and Cordelia Hemlock sees a body that shouldn't be there -- the corpse of a man clad in a brown suit still clutching a satchel. The local Scottish police don't believe her story. They think she is just distraught over the recent death of her young son. Her new friend, Felicity Goose, believes her. And the two spend decades trying to find out the truth.
This is the first book by David Marks that I have read. The story caught my attention from the start and kept my attention clear to the end. Well-written and with a nice depth, The Mausoleum was a very enjoyable read. I will definitely be reading more by this author. The story progresses a bit slowly at first, but once the stage is set, the plot builds suspense and moves a bit more quickly. I wasn't quite sure what the women would find out in the end, but I just let the tale carry me along revealing facts in its own time.
The use of Nazis and World War II hidden secrets can be a bit tropey, but David Marks pulls it off with style. Enjoyable, well-written story!
**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Severn House. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
It all starts when a storm damages a mausoleum in a cemetery in 1967 and Cordelia Hemlock sees a body that shouldn't be there -- the corpse of a man clad in a brown suit still clutching a satchel. The local Scottish police don't believe her story. They think she is just distraught over the recent death of her young son. Her new friend, Felicity Goose, believes her. And the two spend decades trying to find out the truth.
This is the first book by David Marks that I have read. The story caught my attention from the start and kept my attention clear to the end. Well-written and with a nice depth, The Mausoleum was a very enjoyable read. I will definitely be reading more by this author. The story progresses a bit slowly at first, but once the stage is set, the plot builds suspense and moves a bit more quickly. I wasn't quite sure what the women would find out in the end, but I just let the tale carry me along revealing facts in its own time.
The use of Nazis and World War II hidden secrets can be a bit tropey, but David Marks pulls it off with style. Enjoyable, well-written story!
**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Severn House. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
April 21, 2019
I expected far more from the author of the brilliant McAvoy series.An extra star because the writing is great, as usual. As for the story...
December 4, 2022
Starts slow, but builds in intensity as more is revealed and the characters are developed. Favorite elements were the development of the relationship between Cordelia and Felicity and the capturing of village life in the late 1960s. The geographical and historical elements were interesting. I found myself looking up more details about the area such as Hadrian’s Wall, Birdoswald and the Reivers. I have mixed feelings about that - I enjoy looking things up and learning but also believe the author should give a little more detail so I don’t have to.
An unusual book that has caused me to do some pondering. This is not light read but it is compelling. Local dialect is well done. As the book progresses, the content is very dark and disturbing.
An unusual book that has caused me to do some pondering. This is not light read but it is compelling. Local dialect is well done. As the book progresses, the content is very dark and disturbing.
November 3, 2019
Cordelia Hemlock is living in an English village near Hadrian's Wall named Gilsland. A village which once housed a WWII POW camp. She lives alone in a grand house. She married for convenience, she, because she was pregnant with another man's baby, and her husband, because he was of high social standing and a homosexual. He felt the marriage would camouflage his sexual preference from his bigwig friends and colleagues and thus retain his respectability. He lives in London.
Now Cordelia's baby son has died and she is grieving. Alone. The villagers consider her to be a snooty 'outsider'.
One day, as she is reading her book in the graveyard, she meets a local woman. When a sudden storm causes a deluge of rain, the women run for the woman's house and shelter. A bolt of lightning hits a large tree and crashes down - right into the mausoleum of an ancient local family. Only a body falls out of the mausoleum... a fresh corpse.
"Sometimes it's what you see which gets your eyes closed permanently..."
The two women, both in their early thirties, cannot believe their eyes. When they tell their story, they open a can of worms that begins with another death. That of a local man who was a longtime friend of Felicity's.
MY THOUGHTS
How's this for an opening line? "I was lying in a grave the first time I met Felicity."
This is not the first book I've read by this author and I'm reminded now why I picked this novel. His writing style is one which I enjoy. He makes the characters come to life and weaves a story that makes you invested in the outcome. Also, he sets the scene in colourful prose which entertains and makes you SEE the landscapes of his imagination.
"The sky looked like a coalman's bathwater."
The unlikely friendship between the headstrong, educated Cordelia Hemlock and the meek, uneducated Felicity Goose was created masterfully and added greatly to my enjoyment of the novel.
Told in part via witness transcripts, the story set in 2010 relates events that occurred back in 1967. It was a clever way to deliver a dual timeline and it worked well here.
The story related how the French Resistance were overcome by evil in the form of the Milice. It spoke of war crimes, heroes, survivors, loss, betrayals, duplicity, and the part the intelligence service played in the aftermath of WWII.
"There's no time limit on accountability."
Not for the faint of heart, this story described unthinkable wartime atrocities. At the same time it was a village murder mystery. One which I recommend.
Now Cordelia's baby son has died and she is grieving. Alone. The villagers consider her to be a snooty 'outsider'.
One day, as she is reading her book in the graveyard, she meets a local woman. When a sudden storm causes a deluge of rain, the women run for the woman's house and shelter. A bolt of lightning hits a large tree and crashes down - right into the mausoleum of an ancient local family. Only a body falls out of the mausoleum... a fresh corpse.
"Sometimes it's what you see which gets your eyes closed permanently..."
The two women, both in their early thirties, cannot believe their eyes. When they tell their story, they open a can of worms that begins with another death. That of a local man who was a longtime friend of Felicity's.
MY THOUGHTS
How's this for an opening line? "I was lying in a grave the first time I met Felicity."
This is not the first book I've read by this author and I'm reminded now why I picked this novel. His writing style is one which I enjoy. He makes the characters come to life and weaves a story that makes you invested in the outcome. Also, he sets the scene in colourful prose which entertains and makes you SEE the landscapes of his imagination.
"The sky looked like a coalman's bathwater."
The unlikely friendship between the headstrong, educated Cordelia Hemlock and the meek, uneducated Felicity Goose was created masterfully and added greatly to my enjoyment of the novel.
Told in part via witness transcripts, the story set in 2010 relates events that occurred back in 1967. It was a clever way to deliver a dual timeline and it worked well here.
The story related how the French Resistance were overcome by evil in the form of the Milice. It spoke of war crimes, heroes, survivors, loss, betrayals, duplicity, and the part the intelligence service played in the aftermath of WWII.
"There's no time limit on accountability."
Not for the faint of heart, this story described unthinkable wartime atrocities. At the same time it was a village murder mystery. One which I recommend.
February 9, 2019
This is a standalone thriller by David Mark, author of the Aector McAvoy crime series.
This strange tale opens with an elderly man lying in bed wracked with pain as two women watch over him. They seem to be waiting for him to reveal a secret. The story switches back to 1967 when those two women - the marvellously named Cordelia Hemlock and Felicity Goose - met in the graveyard of a small North of England town called Gilsland.
Cordelia is still in grief at the death of her young son, while Felicity is a local woman, a wife and mother of two young sons, who tries to comfort her. Cordelia has a chequered past with secrets she'd rather keep hidden.
As they talk, a storm breaks. Lightning strikes a large tree, sending it crashing into an old mausoleum, throwing up ancient bones in the graveyard. Cordelia swears she saw a fresh corpse among the bones - a man in a blue suit with a satchel.
Soon afterwards a neighbour of Felicity's, Fairfax, comes to visit and Cordelia tells him what she saw. Fairfax says he will go and take a look, but is later found dead, his car having crashed into a tree. It transpires he was planning to write a history of the area and had spent years interviewing scores of locals for their memories of the town - once the site of a large World War 2 prisoner of war camp and later a rocket testing site. Both edifices had a major impact on the lives of the local people. Cordelia is determined to find out more and shortly afterwards speaks to a farmer who talks of a Frenchman who had visited the town recently and spoken with Fairfax. The Frenchman wore a blue suit and carried a satchel.
The two women soon learn there are many, and not just those from the town, who don't want them to dig too deep into the past. The story moves between 1967 and 2010, with some chapters devoted to recorded statements from Cordelia and Felicity as to what happened more than 40 years ago. Throughout the book we are introduced to various colourful characters and learn much of the history of Gilsland, which stretches back to the building of Hadrian's Wall and beyond. Although set in the 1960's, at times this book reads like a Gothic mystery. The plot unfolds slowly but becomes a gripping read as Gilsland slowly gives up its secrets - and some secrets lie farther afield than those of this small North of England town.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Severn House, for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
This strange tale opens with an elderly man lying in bed wracked with pain as two women watch over him. They seem to be waiting for him to reveal a secret. The story switches back to 1967 when those two women - the marvellously named Cordelia Hemlock and Felicity Goose - met in the graveyard of a small North of England town called Gilsland.
Cordelia is still in grief at the death of her young son, while Felicity is a local woman, a wife and mother of two young sons, who tries to comfort her. Cordelia has a chequered past with secrets she'd rather keep hidden.
As they talk, a storm breaks. Lightning strikes a large tree, sending it crashing into an old mausoleum, throwing up ancient bones in the graveyard. Cordelia swears she saw a fresh corpse among the bones - a man in a blue suit with a satchel.
Soon afterwards a neighbour of Felicity's, Fairfax, comes to visit and Cordelia tells him what she saw. Fairfax says he will go and take a look, but is later found dead, his car having crashed into a tree. It transpires he was planning to write a history of the area and had spent years interviewing scores of locals for their memories of the town - once the site of a large World War 2 prisoner of war camp and later a rocket testing site. Both edifices had a major impact on the lives of the local people. Cordelia is determined to find out more and shortly afterwards speaks to a farmer who talks of a Frenchman who had visited the town recently and spoken with Fairfax. The Frenchman wore a blue suit and carried a satchel.
The two women soon learn there are many, and not just those from the town, who don't want them to dig too deep into the past. The story moves between 1967 and 2010, with some chapters devoted to recorded statements from Cordelia and Felicity as to what happened more than 40 years ago. Throughout the book we are introduced to various colourful characters and learn much of the history of Gilsland, which stretches back to the building of Hadrian's Wall and beyond. Although set in the 1960's, at times this book reads like a Gothic mystery. The plot unfolds slowly but becomes a gripping read as Gilsland slowly gives up its secrets - and some secrets lie farther afield than those of this small North of England town.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Severn House, for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.
March 5, 2019
I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishing for a review copy of The Mausoleum, a stand alone novel set in north of England.
When Cordelia and her friend Felicity see a dead body tumble out of a mausoleum they are astonished as the body is recently deceased and the mausoleum is hundreds of years old. When the body subsequently disappears they are determined to investigate, discovering old secrets dating back to the war.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Mausoleum for the plotting and writing, the format not so much. The novel opens in 2010 with two old ladies trying to wake an older dying man to talk to him. It then skips back to 1967 to cover the events of the novel only returning to 2010 at the end of the novel. In between the narrative alternates between Cordelia’s experiences at the time and transcripts of Felicity’s memories of the time. I found all this jumping about distracting and it was difficult to get really immersed in the read - there were too many breaks making the novel easy to put down.
The plotting is excellent and the setting just right, a small village which hasn’t caught up to the Swinging Sixties but which has a long memory and secrets to keep. Cordelia is an outsider and in some ways, one of the swingers, so the ideal character to investigate. The wartime atrocities described in the book are horrific but, I have no doubt, realistic and the actions of Security Services afterwards unsurprising in their callousness. What a great contrast between surroundings and actions.
I know I moaned about the format but I particularly enjoyed the transcripts of Felicity’s memories. Her personality really shines through and they are so authentic sounding with a touch of hindsight and a disarming honesty. Cordelia is an entirely different kettle of fish, tough, uncompromising and slightly vulnerable. It is no wonder she ends up where she does.
The Mausoleum is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
When Cordelia and her friend Felicity see a dead body tumble out of a mausoleum they are astonished as the body is recently deceased and the mausoleum is hundreds of years old. When the body subsequently disappears they are determined to investigate, discovering old secrets dating back to the war.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Mausoleum for the plotting and writing, the format not so much. The novel opens in 2010 with two old ladies trying to wake an older dying man to talk to him. It then skips back to 1967 to cover the events of the novel only returning to 2010 at the end of the novel. In between the narrative alternates between Cordelia’s experiences at the time and transcripts of Felicity’s memories of the time. I found all this jumping about distracting and it was difficult to get really immersed in the read - there were too many breaks making the novel easy to put down.
The plotting is excellent and the setting just right, a small village which hasn’t caught up to the Swinging Sixties but which has a long memory and secrets to keep. Cordelia is an outsider and in some ways, one of the swingers, so the ideal character to investigate. The wartime atrocities described in the book are horrific but, I have no doubt, realistic and the actions of Security Services afterwards unsurprising in their callousness. What a great contrast between surroundings and actions.
I know I moaned about the format but I particularly enjoyed the transcripts of Felicity’s memories. Her personality really shines through and they are so authentic sounding with a touch of hindsight and a disarming honesty. Cordelia is an entirely different kettle of fish, tough, uncompromising and slightly vulnerable. It is no wonder she ends up where she does.
The Mausoleum is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.
March 18, 2019
4 stars
This story is an unusual one.
It is 1967 and Cordelia Hemlock is still grieving the loss of her two-year old son. She is lying in a graveyard when Felicity Goose happens upon her. (Aren't those great character names?) At first Cordelia is distrusting but then the women become fast friends. While they are talking and trying to run from an oncoming storm, a lightning strike hits a mausoleum. The women see a body that does not belong in the graveyard.
The body then disappears. A neighbor and local historian Fairfax says he will investigate, but his car crashes on the way to view the site. He is killed. The women decide to look into the mystery themselves. They are, on the surface, very different women but become close. They share their burdens, Cordelia a little more reluctantly than Felicity. Felicity is patient, while Cordelia is not. Cordelia is educated, but she learns much from Felicity.
What they discover is that the mystery goes back to World War II. Fairfax has written down the words of a man who tells him his story of what occurred to him during WW II. He describes the torture and cruelty of the Nazi Gestapo and the French Milice that went on and was horrendous. He called the man “Abel.” Is this the man whose body the women saw?
This book is told from both Cordelia and Felicty's points of view using the accents the women would have spoken. I appreciated the way Mr. Mark was able to switch back and forth to give the two women their own voices. This is a well written and plotted novel that switches back and forth between 1967 and 2010.
I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House/Severn House Publishers for forwarding to me a copy of this interesting and very good story for me to read, enjoy and review.
This story is an unusual one.
It is 1967 and Cordelia Hemlock is still grieving the loss of her two-year old son. She is lying in a graveyard when Felicity Goose happens upon her. (Aren't those great character names?) At first Cordelia is distrusting but then the women become fast friends. While they are talking and trying to run from an oncoming storm, a lightning strike hits a mausoleum. The women see a body that does not belong in the graveyard.
The body then disappears. A neighbor and local historian Fairfax says he will investigate, but his car crashes on the way to view the site. He is killed. The women decide to look into the mystery themselves. They are, on the surface, very different women but become close. They share their burdens, Cordelia a little more reluctantly than Felicity. Felicity is patient, while Cordelia is not. Cordelia is educated, but she learns much from Felicity.
What they discover is that the mystery goes back to World War II. Fairfax has written down the words of a man who tells him his story of what occurred to him during WW II. He describes the torture and cruelty of the Nazi Gestapo and the French Milice that went on and was horrendous. He called the man “Abel.” Is this the man whose body the women saw?
This book is told from both Cordelia and Felicty's points of view using the accents the women would have spoken. I appreciated the way Mr. Mark was able to switch back and forth to give the two women their own voices. This is a well written and plotted novel that switches back and forth between 1967 and 2010.
I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House/Severn House Publishers for forwarding to me a copy of this interesting and very good story for me to read, enjoy and review.
February 11, 2019
Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
THE MAUSOLEUM is one of my favorite books of the year so far, what a terrific read!
Cordelia Hemlock and Felicity (Flick) Goose are at the bedside of a dying man. The year is 2010 and the women are trying to wake the man to question him.
We then go back to 1967 when the two young women meet at a cemetery under odd circumstances and end up becoming great friends.
When they walk home during a torrential downpour lighting strikes a mausoleum during which they spy a body. A neighbor decides to go check it out, but is killed whole driving through the storm and the body has mysteriously disappeared.
Cordelia, in deep mourning after her 2-year old beloved son's death, finds some solace in trying to ferret out the disappearance of the dead man and both she and Flick start investigating. The secrets they stir up go back to WWII and uncover a hornet's nest of lies, cruelty and betrayal.
I loved both women and the story is told by both of them in alternate chapters. Their characters are very different, but they are a good fit. There are some very graphic passages of the torture by the Nazis and their French helpers, and then there's the shadowy world of espionage that makes one question how much we should condone, pardon and employ perpetrators for the sake of king and country.
This is a terrific book, beautifully written and with a strong sense of place. Highly recommended!
THE MAUSOLEUM is one of my favorite books of the year so far, what a terrific read!
Cordelia Hemlock and Felicity (Flick) Goose are at the bedside of a dying man. The year is 2010 and the women are trying to wake the man to question him.
We then go back to 1967 when the two young women meet at a cemetery under odd circumstances and end up becoming great friends.
When they walk home during a torrential downpour lighting strikes a mausoleum during which they spy a body. A neighbor decides to go check it out, but is killed whole driving through the storm and the body has mysteriously disappeared.
Cordelia, in deep mourning after her 2-year old beloved son's death, finds some solace in trying to ferret out the disappearance of the dead man and both she and Flick start investigating. The secrets they stir up go back to WWII and uncover a hornet's nest of lies, cruelty and betrayal.
I loved both women and the story is told by both of them in alternate chapters. Their characters are very different, but they are a good fit. There are some very graphic passages of the torture by the Nazis and their French helpers, and then there's the shadowy world of espionage that makes one question how much we should condone, pardon and employ perpetrators for the sake of king and country.
This is a terrific book, beautifully written and with a strong sense of place. Highly recommended!
Read
December 20, 2022I didn’t rate it because when I finished it, I hated it. I only liked bits and pieces and I felt cheated by the ending. I think he’s a good writer, this one wasn’t for me.
March 10, 2019
Dark and complex. A rewarding read. Full review at classicmystery.blog
May 6, 2025
This is my 1st book by this author. It really was slow in the middle and just seemed to drag but at the end the story really caught my interest.
I’m glad I hung on to the end because it ended well.
I’m glad I hung on to the end because it ended well.
March 6, 2019
This story did not flow nor did the characters evolve into likable beings. Loved the title and was hoping for a cemetery drama. "A copy of this book was provided by Severn House via Netgalley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion." GREAT COVER ART
October 15, 2020
This is a complex story and cleverly written, however I found it a little hard to read, particularly the chapters written from the Pov of Felicity.
The poor woman Cordelia spent the whole of the story soaking wet!!
It rained continually!
I've not read any works by this author.
Parts of the book towards the middle dragged a bit for me and I thought the novel could have been slightly shorter.
The poor woman Cordelia spent the whole of the story soaking wet!!
It rained continually!
I've not read any works by this author.
Parts of the book towards the middle dragged a bit for me and I thought the novel could have been slightly shorter.
June 11, 2019
This is the second historical novel by David Mark that I have read and I chose to read it because the first, The Zealot’s Bones, was one of my top reads a couple of years ago.
The Mausoleum is predominantly set in the 1960’s but the events that it recounts relate to an earlier period, during the Second World War.
Felicity Goose is on her way to visit her mother’s grave when she finds Cordelia Hemlock lying on a grave in the cemetery. Gilsland is a small village just south of the Scottish Border with a local history is traceable to Hadrian’s Wall . Felicity knows who Cordelia is, though the women have never spoken. Cordelia is the woman who came to live in the big house with her young son, Stefan and stayed to mourn his death, just months old. Her husband is a senior civil servant in London who provides well enough for her, though he is never seen in the village.
Cordelia has never looked to get to know her neighbours and since Stefan’s death has roamed the countryside with no purpose other than to be alone with her grief.
As Felicity begins to talk to Cordelia she warns Cordelia that a storm is coming, almost as the heavens open. As they prepare to leave the graveyard, lightning strikes a tree which falls and cleaves a nearby mausoleum, wide open. Both women are horrified to see the body of a man in a blue suit with a satchel lying in the depths of the mausoleum. They run to Felicity’s nearby farmhouse in the downpour and when the local oral historian, Fairfax comes by, they relate what they have seen. Fairfax rushes off to find out what he can and alert the authorities but is killed in a car accident, presumed on his way to the police.
The situation is mysterious, but as if that were not on its own sufficiently dramatic, the body disappears. The local police, investigating Fairfax’s death are not terribly interested in what the women claim to have seen in the graveyard, and indeed Felicity is much more tentative than Cordelia in relating what they might have seen.
Nonetheless, this is the start of a bond forged between Cordelia and Felicity (who, aptly named, would not say boo to another Goose).
Cordelia can’t stop thinking about the body though and the more Felicity learns about Fairfax, the more it seems that his death could be suspicious, too.
Mark’s story immerses us in rural life in the quiet far North of England where manual work is what keeps the land alive and where outsiders are looked upon with suspicion and friendships are hard won. Gilsland is a village full of secrets; from those of Cordelia to the other inhabitants. The village is near a former POW camp and there are many tales from that time that villagers will talk among themselves about, but would not dream of broadcasting further afield.
Still grieving, Cordelia finds that she is drawn to Felicity’s no nonsense approach; though her superstitions make her seem sometimes a little uneasy and prone to taking a back seat in their enquiries. Nevertheless, she gains strength from Cordelia’s convictions and soon the two women are developing a bond.
Secrets, lies and abominations dominate this book, which is just perfect in a place where everyone is practically taciturn or speaks with an opacity that would grace the Secret Service.
Mark cleverly builds on his burgeoning female friendships to lay down a trail to some of the darkest, most heinous secrets that history has to divulge – going back to the Second World War and specifically the French Resistance.
The shadows of the past are reaching out to the claustrophobically small village of Gilsland and the tragedies that those long, spooky tendrils of smoke point to will devastate more than one family in the village.
I loved his characters; from the villagers who know everything yet say nothing to the acutely drawn sons of Felicity and her husband, through to the neighbours and the civil servants whose nameless shadowy figures are never far from any villager’s door. Mark’s sense of place is superb and his descriptions rich and olfactory.
Verdict: Mark has written a beautifully conceived and well executed historical tale full of exceptionally well-drawn characters, with a tense and claustrophobic setting and a feel for sharp cruelty that pierces the fog and numbs the senses.
The Mausoleum is predominantly set in the 1960’s but the events that it recounts relate to an earlier period, during the Second World War.
Felicity Goose is on her way to visit her mother’s grave when she finds Cordelia Hemlock lying on a grave in the cemetery. Gilsland is a small village just south of the Scottish Border with a local history is traceable to Hadrian’s Wall . Felicity knows who Cordelia is, though the women have never spoken. Cordelia is the woman who came to live in the big house with her young son, Stefan and stayed to mourn his death, just months old. Her husband is a senior civil servant in London who provides well enough for her, though he is never seen in the village.
Cordelia has never looked to get to know her neighbours and since Stefan’s death has roamed the countryside with no purpose other than to be alone with her grief.
As Felicity begins to talk to Cordelia she warns Cordelia that a storm is coming, almost as the heavens open. As they prepare to leave the graveyard, lightning strikes a tree which falls and cleaves a nearby mausoleum, wide open. Both women are horrified to see the body of a man in a blue suit with a satchel lying in the depths of the mausoleum. They run to Felicity’s nearby farmhouse in the downpour and when the local oral historian, Fairfax comes by, they relate what they have seen. Fairfax rushes off to find out what he can and alert the authorities but is killed in a car accident, presumed on his way to the police.
The situation is mysterious, but as if that were not on its own sufficiently dramatic, the body disappears. The local police, investigating Fairfax’s death are not terribly interested in what the women claim to have seen in the graveyard, and indeed Felicity is much more tentative than Cordelia in relating what they might have seen.
Nonetheless, this is the start of a bond forged between Cordelia and Felicity (who, aptly named, would not say boo to another Goose).
Cordelia can’t stop thinking about the body though and the more Felicity learns about Fairfax, the more it seems that his death could be suspicious, too.
Mark’s story immerses us in rural life in the quiet far North of England where manual work is what keeps the land alive and where outsiders are looked upon with suspicion and friendships are hard won. Gilsland is a village full of secrets; from those of Cordelia to the other inhabitants. The village is near a former POW camp and there are many tales from that time that villagers will talk among themselves about, but would not dream of broadcasting further afield.
Still grieving, Cordelia finds that she is drawn to Felicity’s no nonsense approach; though her superstitions make her seem sometimes a little uneasy and prone to taking a back seat in their enquiries. Nevertheless, she gains strength from Cordelia’s convictions and soon the two women are developing a bond.
Secrets, lies and abominations dominate this book, which is just perfect in a place where everyone is practically taciturn or speaks with an opacity that would grace the Secret Service.
Mark cleverly builds on his burgeoning female friendships to lay down a trail to some of the darkest, most heinous secrets that history has to divulge – going back to the Second World War and specifically the French Resistance.
The shadows of the past are reaching out to the claustrophobically small village of Gilsland and the tragedies that those long, spooky tendrils of smoke point to will devastate more than one family in the village.
I loved his characters; from the villagers who know everything yet say nothing to the acutely drawn sons of Felicity and her husband, through to the neighbours and the civil servants whose nameless shadowy figures are never far from any villager’s door. Mark’s sense of place is superb and his descriptions rich and olfactory.
Verdict: Mark has written a beautifully conceived and well executed historical tale full of exceptionally well-drawn characters, with a tense and claustrophobic setting and a feel for sharp cruelty that pierces the fog and numbs the senses.
April 8, 2019
The Mausoleum is a slightly unusual crime novel and quite a change for David Mark, who is best known for his DS McAvoy series of police procedurals.
The book opens in 2010 with two old ladies watching an even older man nearing death in a hospital bed. They harshly wake him so that he can answer their questions. The book then moves back to 1967 when the two ladies first meet over a grave in a small village near the Scottish border. Cordelia Hemlock is trying to pull her life back together after a failed academic career, a marriage of convenience and the death of her young son. She is an outsider in the ‘lost in time’ village of Upper Denton and is initially dismissive of the quiet, submissive, uneducated Felicity Goose. Their first meeting is interrupted by a sudden violent storm and a lightning strike which reveals a recently deceased body in a mausoleum hundreds of years old. When the storm passes, they find that the body has disappeared and that the one person they told about the body has died in a suspicious car accident. Together they decide to investigate and find a web of secrets stretching back to the Second world War.
The story alternates between Cordelia’s experiences at the time and transcripts of Felicity’s recollections of what happened in 1967, along with the occasional account of events back in World War II. The telling takes a little while to get used to and the opening sections of the book move at a leisurely pace. Once underway, however, the pace picks up and the final sections grip your attention as the book moves to its unexpected conclusion.
Mark skilfully gives each of the women their own distinctive voice, and uses the different perspectives of the same events to deepen the mystery and the suspense. The depiction of small village life in the 1960s is convincing and Mark fleshes out the local villagers so that they are more than familiar caricatures. There is also considerable poignancy and subtlety in his descriptions of the personal lives of Felicity and Cordelia and the gradual blossoming of their friendship. The plot is well structured, and the book moves in some very unexpected directions before reaching its conclusion.
It is a very well written and engaging crime novel and I thought that Mark cleverly handled the World War II aspects of the story with a good gritty sense of realism. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad that I persevered through the slow opening section. It is a quiet, unassuming crime novel, but is one of my favourites so far this year.
Full review at murdermayhemandlongdogs.com
The book opens in 2010 with two old ladies watching an even older man nearing death in a hospital bed. They harshly wake him so that he can answer their questions. The book then moves back to 1967 when the two ladies first meet over a grave in a small village near the Scottish border. Cordelia Hemlock is trying to pull her life back together after a failed academic career, a marriage of convenience and the death of her young son. She is an outsider in the ‘lost in time’ village of Upper Denton and is initially dismissive of the quiet, submissive, uneducated Felicity Goose. Their first meeting is interrupted by a sudden violent storm and a lightning strike which reveals a recently deceased body in a mausoleum hundreds of years old. When the storm passes, they find that the body has disappeared and that the one person they told about the body has died in a suspicious car accident. Together they decide to investigate and find a web of secrets stretching back to the Second world War.
The story alternates between Cordelia’s experiences at the time and transcripts of Felicity’s recollections of what happened in 1967, along with the occasional account of events back in World War II. The telling takes a little while to get used to and the opening sections of the book move at a leisurely pace. Once underway, however, the pace picks up and the final sections grip your attention as the book moves to its unexpected conclusion.
Mark skilfully gives each of the women their own distinctive voice, and uses the different perspectives of the same events to deepen the mystery and the suspense. The depiction of small village life in the 1960s is convincing and Mark fleshes out the local villagers so that they are more than familiar caricatures. There is also considerable poignancy and subtlety in his descriptions of the personal lives of Felicity and Cordelia and the gradual blossoming of their friendship. The plot is well structured, and the book moves in some very unexpected directions before reaching its conclusion.
It is a very well written and engaging crime novel and I thought that Mark cleverly handled the World War II aspects of the story with a good gritty sense of realism. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad that I persevered through the slow opening section. It is a quiet, unassuming crime novel, but is one of my favourites so far this year.
Full review at murdermayhemandlongdogs.com
May 20, 2019
This is another of those books which flit about in time a bit. Sometimes this confuses me but, here, the author does a good, if not perfect, job keeping me on track. We start in 2010 where two old women are sat by the bedside of a dying man trying to get his deathbed confession. We then go back in time to the 60s and witness the first meeting of these women; Felicity (Flick) and Cordelia (Cordie), at a graveyard of all places. Then there's a heavy deluge and, as they are running for cover, lightning strikes a mausoleum and, as they turn to look, the body of a man is exposed. A body that appears to be too recent for the setting. They return to Flick's home and are visited by her neighbour, Fairfax,to whom they tell their tale of the body. He leaves them to find out more but is sadly killed in a car accident. And so begins a tale of secrets, lies and deception. Flick and Cordie won't let the body go and also start to believe that there could be more to Fairfax's death than just the accident portrayed. But there is someone very keen to keep the secrets they have held on to for so long. Secrets that involve the village and the POW camp that was sited there in the war. Secrets that must remain hidden at all costs.
I believe from my research that this is a diversion from the author's usual crime fiction. Having never read any of his other books (something I hope to rectify given time) I can't comment on that but, what I can say is that I did enjoy reading this book overall. It held my attention mostly throughout and his characterisation, plotting and delivery was excellent. What didn't quite work for me however was the overall flow of the book. At times simple, others a bit convoluted and a tad confusing as it jumped in time. I am not quite sure that the author got some of the timings of imparting key information quite right for me. It also felt a little slow at times and dragged a bit along the way. And then when we got to the final furlong, I felt that it raced a bit too much and ran away with itself a bit.
All in all, a solid read that did get there in the end for me. It has piqued my interest in the author's crime book so I shall be adding them to my every growing tbr. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
I believe from my research that this is a diversion from the author's usual crime fiction. Having never read any of his other books (something I hope to rectify given time) I can't comment on that but, what I can say is that I did enjoy reading this book overall. It held my attention mostly throughout and his characterisation, plotting and delivery was excellent. What didn't quite work for me however was the overall flow of the book. At times simple, others a bit convoluted and a tad confusing as it jumped in time. I am not quite sure that the author got some of the timings of imparting key information quite right for me. It also felt a little slow at times and dragged a bit along the way. And then when we got to the final furlong, I felt that it raced a bit too much and ran away with itself a bit.
All in all, a solid read that did get there in the end for me. It has piqued my interest in the author's crime book so I shall be adding them to my every growing tbr. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
April 27, 2019
It is not a surprise to find skeletal remains in a mausoleum, but when a tree falls on a mausoleum during a storm the body that is revealed is quite recent. Cordelia Hemlock is still mourning the death of her son when she meets Felicity Goose in the local cemetery. She finds some peace while reading among the graves and Felicity accidentally stumbles on her while carrying flowers for her mother. Caught in the storm that fells the tree, they witness the body among the damage. By the time the storm ends, the body has vanished. With no evidence, Cordelia’s report is ignored by the authorities.
Cordelia knows what she saw and begins to investigate on her own. The death of Felicity’s friend Fairfax provides the first clue. Fairfax had been recording the stories of the people he met with the intention of publishing a history of the village. One of his stories involved a member of the French resistance during WWII. A POW camp had been constructed close to the village and Felicity May have found a connection while going through the papers that Fairfax left behind. However, this is a small village and the residents prefer to keep their secrets and leave the past behind.
The characters of Cordelia and Felicity are as different as night and day. Cordelia is educated and has lost direction in her life since the loss of her child. Her marriage was one of convenience. Once her husband obtained a home near the Scottish border for her, he returned to London to continue with his life. Felicity is married with two older boys. Her education was basic and she is content with her life. Once they connect, their friendship develops and they work well together, ultimately facing danger but determined to find a solution. While the story begins slowly, it steadily builds tension and David Mark hits the reader with a truly surprising twist at the end. I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for providing this book for my review.
Cordelia knows what she saw and begins to investigate on her own. The death of Felicity’s friend Fairfax provides the first clue. Fairfax had been recording the stories of the people he met with the intention of publishing a history of the village. One of his stories involved a member of the French resistance during WWII. A POW camp had been constructed close to the village and Felicity May have found a connection while going through the papers that Fairfax left behind. However, this is a small village and the residents prefer to keep their secrets and leave the past behind.
The characters of Cordelia and Felicity are as different as night and day. Cordelia is educated and has lost direction in her life since the loss of her child. Her marriage was one of convenience. Once her husband obtained a home near the Scottish border for her, he returned to London to continue with his life. Felicity is married with two older boys. Her education was basic and she is content with her life. Once they connect, their friendship develops and they work well together, ultimately facing danger but determined to find a solution. While the story begins slowly, it steadily builds tension and David Mark hits the reader with a truly surprising twist at the end. I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for providing this book for my review.
August 7, 2020
My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canongate - Black Thorn, for the ARC.
This is just such an intriguing book, cleverly constructed with writing which exudes atmosphere and menace, well-drawn, interesting characters, and clandestine undertones all underpin a complex story with unusual twists.
This took me a little while to really get into this book, starting off with elderly Cordelia and Felicity in 2010 at the bedside of an old, dying man, from whom they both wanted an answer to a question. The reader is then taken back to 1967 when Cordy and Flick first met in a churchyard in a small village on the northern borders. A violent storm erupts and a lightening strike splits an ancient yew tree in two, resulting in the destruction of a a crypt. Expecting to see old bones appear, instead they saw the body of a man in a blue suit. Both doubting what they saw Felicity's neighbour and friend Church Warden Fairfax takes off in his incongruous sports car to take a look - but the body disappears.
Told between Felicity's and Cordelia's points of view as they progress their own investigations into the mystery man but this is an almost forgotten part of the world; the villagers are insular and reluctant to help but both women - Cordelia the driving force - are determined to get to the truth.
And the truth is gradually revealed once layers of deceit are peeled away. Through transcripts of recordings Felicity is making in 2010, through extracts of recorded interviews that Fairfax had been compiling from the villagers and Cordelia's investigations, we are taken to activities during and post WW2 where this isolated area was used to house prisoners of war, and where an RAF base was built to test the Blue Streak missile programme..
How much do the villages know about their neighbours? Why would the secret services be involved?
Absolutely engrossing.
This is just such an intriguing book, cleverly constructed with writing which exudes atmosphere and menace, well-drawn, interesting characters, and clandestine undertones all underpin a complex story with unusual twists.
This took me a little while to really get into this book, starting off with elderly Cordelia and Felicity in 2010 at the bedside of an old, dying man, from whom they both wanted an answer to a question. The reader is then taken back to 1967 when Cordy and Flick first met in a churchyard in a small village on the northern borders. A violent storm erupts and a lightening strike splits an ancient yew tree in two, resulting in the destruction of a a crypt. Expecting to see old bones appear, instead they saw the body of a man in a blue suit. Both doubting what they saw Felicity's neighbour and friend Church Warden Fairfax takes off in his incongruous sports car to take a look - but the body disappears.
Told between Felicity's and Cordelia's points of view as they progress their own investigations into the mystery man but this is an almost forgotten part of the world; the villagers are insular and reluctant to help but both women - Cordelia the driving force - are determined to get to the truth.
And the truth is gradually revealed once layers of deceit are peeled away. Through transcripts of recordings Felicity is making in 2010, through extracts of recorded interviews that Fairfax had been compiling from the villagers and Cordelia's investigations, we are taken to activities during and post WW2 where this isolated area was used to house prisoners of war, and where an RAF base was built to test the Blue Streak missile programme..
How much do the villages know about their neighbours? Why would the secret services be involved?
Absolutely engrossing.
March 6, 2019
I received an ARC courtesy of Netgalley and the publishers Severn House, for this standalone thriller. The author, David Mark is a new name for me and I asked for this book on the basis of the intriguing synopsis- I did not regret my request. I thoroughly enjoyed it and read it in huge gobbling chunks. This is a mix of historical mystery and current day thriller, for the past casts long shadows and reaches out with its deadly tentacles to grab the characters in 2010. The two protagonists, both female, one an outsider, Cordelia, with a troubled history and a recent tragedy in her life and the village wife and mother, Felicity, collide with each other in 1967, in a graveyard during a thunderstorm in front of The Mausoleum of the title. I enjoyed the depiction of both the women's differing characters and found their 'voices' touching and true; the narrative alternates between their different perspectives and reveals the layers of their knowledge and discoveries as they investigate the Mystery of the Corpse in the Mausoleum. It did take a while to get used to the alternating chapters and the switch between the 1960's and back to the 1940's where historic and brutal crimes in foreign countries have deadly resonance in the current day then finishing up in 2010 where old men and old ladies have a final death bed confrontation. The depiction of the tiny smothering atmosphere of village life was well drawn and I was in awe of the author's control of his timelines, plot details, reveals, and information leaks. David Mark is a master of the form.
August 7, 2020
This book was published yesterday 6 August 2020 under the title ''The Burying Ground'. I append my review below:
The Burying Ground by David Mark
Absolutely brilliant, I couldn't put this book down, I was hooked from the word go. It starts slowly, two women meet in an old churchyard, one is going to put flowers on her mother's grave, the other is struggling with grief for her little boy who had died a short while before. As the women make each other's acquaintance, a storm which has been threatening, breaks and suddenly there's torrential rain, thunder and lightning! An old tree is struck by lightning and, falling, it destroys an old mausoleum which reveals a very fresh body! Before the police become involved, the body has vanished and there is an accident in which a local man dies.
As the story progresses things get darker and darker, secrets are revealed but are the answers the right ones? I continued totally gripped to the very end and I think anyone who likes a good murder mystery will have the same reaction. David Mark is an exceptional writer, not least because the women he writes about are real, three dimensional characters and totally believable. This is the first book of his that I have read but it definitely won't be the last. Very, very highly recommended.
The Burying Ground by David Mark
Absolutely brilliant, I couldn't put this book down, I was hooked from the word go. It starts slowly, two women meet in an old churchyard, one is going to put flowers on her mother's grave, the other is struggling with grief for her little boy who had died a short while before. As the women make each other's acquaintance, a storm which has been threatening, breaks and suddenly there's torrential rain, thunder and lightning! An old tree is struck by lightning and, falling, it destroys an old mausoleum which reveals a very fresh body! Before the police become involved, the body has vanished and there is an accident in which a local man dies.
As the story progresses things get darker and darker, secrets are revealed but are the answers the right ones? I continued totally gripped to the very end and I think anyone who likes a good murder mystery will have the same reaction. David Mark is an exceptional writer, not least because the women he writes about are real, three dimensional characters and totally believable. This is the first book of his that I have read but it definitely won't be the last. Very, very highly recommended.
February 28, 2019
The Mausoleum by David Mark is a chilling tale for mystery lovers.
The story opens with an elderly Cordelia and Felicity, waiting by the bed of an old man, trying to get him talk about something in 2010. Then the plot unfolds with series of flashbacks in the point of view of both Cordelia and Felicity. In the year 1967, the women meet in a graveyard. A sudden rainstorm and a lightning cause a tree to fall over an ancient crypt. The women are shocked to find a corpse that looks fresh as it has been buried, instead of bones and skull. That night, Fairfox, who heads to investigate the scene dies.
The women set off to the scene only to find the corpse is no longer there. Cordelia is hell bent on what she saw and she's determined to figure out the secret beneath it. The rest of the story revolves around the women on how they uncovers the mystery.
The Mausoleum was so different from my usual reads, but I found it quiet interesting and I was intrigued the entire time. Various scenarios popped into my mind, playing the guessing game. I liked the writing style and the mystery surrounding the plot. I thought it was built very well. The Mausoleum is definitely worth a read.
**I received an ARC for this book in exchange of an honest review**
The story opens with an elderly Cordelia and Felicity, waiting by the bed of an old man, trying to get him talk about something in 2010. Then the plot unfolds with series of flashbacks in the point of view of both Cordelia and Felicity. In the year 1967, the women meet in a graveyard. A sudden rainstorm and a lightning cause a tree to fall over an ancient crypt. The women are shocked to find a corpse that looks fresh as it has been buried, instead of bones and skull. That night, Fairfox, who heads to investigate the scene dies.
The women set off to the scene only to find the corpse is no longer there. Cordelia is hell bent on what she saw and she's determined to figure out the secret beneath it. The rest of the story revolves around the women on how they uncovers the mystery.
The Mausoleum was so different from my usual reads, but I found it quiet interesting and I was intrigued the entire time. Various scenarios popped into my mind, playing the guessing game. I liked the writing style and the mystery surrounding the plot. I thought it was built very well. The Mausoleum is definitely worth a read.
**I received an ARC for this book in exchange of an honest review**
May 29, 2019
Cordelia and Felicity's story starts in 1967 located in Gilsland, a village in Northern England full of historical castles, a spa and a wall constructed by the Roman army.
"Stefan had been dead seven months. I don’t think I’d exchanged more than a handful of words with another soul in that time. I wrote letters to family but couldn’t bring myself to read their replies. I gorged myself on food and drink or starved myself as my mood dictated. My face had begun to look unhealthy, like meat left out in warm weather. When I did take the trouble to brush my hair I would find whole clumps of it wrapped around the brush."
Cordelia's story is tragic and lonely. An intriguing young woman who has lost her son and lives alone in a large house in a small village in a marriage of convenience.
"She was one of them. A local girl. One of the tribe. A girl from the borderlands, the place between pages; tucked into the margins between two northern counties and a stone’s throw from the Scottish border. A Gilsland girl. As much a part of the landscape as the cow shit and tumbledown stone walls."
Felicity is kind and high strung. A housewife with a loving husband and two sons who have strange hobbies. Her days are routine, until the body.
Cordelia and Felicity become unlikely friends uncovering a mystery going back to WWII and an evil man named Jean Favre, known as Le Tanneur due to his ability to skin a man without killing him.
Though the story is slow in the beginning, the closer the women get to the truth, the quicker you want to read to find out what happens. An unusual story with a staggering and unpredictable twist. If you like great character-development with suspense and surprises, this is the book for you.
Thank you to Mr. Mark, Severn House, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectations of a positive review given.
More book reviews at The Eclectic Review
"Stefan had been dead seven months. I don’t think I’d exchanged more than a handful of words with another soul in that time. I wrote letters to family but couldn’t bring myself to read their replies. I gorged myself on food and drink or starved myself as my mood dictated. My face had begun to look unhealthy, like meat left out in warm weather. When I did take the trouble to brush my hair I would find whole clumps of it wrapped around the brush."
Cordelia's story is tragic and lonely. An intriguing young woman who has lost her son and lives alone in a large house in a small village in a marriage of convenience.
"She was one of them. A local girl. One of the tribe. A girl from the borderlands, the place between pages; tucked into the margins between two northern counties and a stone’s throw from the Scottish border. A Gilsland girl. As much a part of the landscape as the cow shit and tumbledown stone walls."
Felicity is kind and high strung. A housewife with a loving husband and two sons who have strange hobbies. Her days are routine, until the body.
Cordelia and Felicity become unlikely friends uncovering a mystery going back to WWII and an evil man named Jean Favre, known as Le Tanneur due to his ability to skin a man without killing him.
Though the story is slow in the beginning, the closer the women get to the truth, the quicker you want to read to find out what happens. An unusual story with a staggering and unpredictable twist. If you like great character-development with suspense and surprises, this is the book for you.
Thank you to Mr. Mark, Severn House, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book with no expectations of a positive review given.
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August 10, 2020
The Burying Ground by David Mark
5 Stars published December 20
I enjoyed the story - eventually. A fan of this author for some time, it was not in any way what I expected.... and that was my problem.
Starting in one time frame then harking back to earlier time frames, it was somewhat confusing. In many respects the story is a social commentary on life in a small village in post-war England.
Having been a young adult in the earlier period, it read like decades before the era I remembered. However, once I recognised the differences of my urban life and village life, the social attitudes had resonance.
For those who enjoy an insight into that period and the impact WW2 continued to have decades after it ended, this is a must read. I’m not sorry I have read this book but my preference is for the author’s contemporary offerings.
5 Stars published December 20
I enjoyed the story - eventually. A fan of this author for some time, it was not in any way what I expected.... and that was my problem.
Starting in one time frame then harking back to earlier time frames, it was somewhat confusing. In many respects the story is a social commentary on life in a small village in post-war England.
Having been a young adult in the earlier period, it read like decades before the era I remembered. However, once I recognised the differences of my urban life and village life, the social attitudes had resonance.
For those who enjoy an insight into that period and the impact WW2 continued to have decades after it ended, this is a must read. I’m not sorry I have read this book but my preference is for the author’s contemporary offerings.
August 15, 2020
This is an intriguing mixture of horror, cruelty, kindness and empathy between the myriad of characters who people the complex story. The beginning and ending of the story concerns a dying elderly man and his two visitors. In between, is a tale written from the twin perspectives of those two women. The interwoven strands concern both local people from a northern village as well as mysterious southern British and foreign visitors. A body is revealed by a storm and the story moves from there to wartorn France and the second world war. The links are eventually revealed as the two women make friends and investigate the occurrence and other events. The squeamish need not read the story as it tells of atrocities and spies. A brilliant read!
May 18, 2019
This is an unusual mystery that veers between 1967 and the present, with a few detours to WWII. Told in the alternating voices of two friends- Flick and Cordelia- it starts with a body in a graveyard. Or was there? There are lots of secrets in the village of Gilsland and there are lots of people who don't want them to come out. Flick and Cordelia come from very different backgrounds but they are best friends. The rural Scottish setting is wonderfully atmospheric. The WWII history (the POW camp) etc was new to me. One recommendation- you might find yourself sounding out some of the dialogue. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.
August 30, 2020
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for a copy of this book to review.
The Burying Ground
by David Mark
Mysterious and atmospheric novel set in post-war England. During a visit to the cemetery a flash storm sends two women running for shelter. However, before they make it to safety, lightening strikes causing a mausoleum to break open revealing a freshly dead body that shouldn't be there. As they set about sending for the police, the body has mysteriously disappeared and a neighbor has died. Each woman goes about investigating who is the mystery man and what has happened to him. Multiple layers to the story that keep you on your toes.
Slow start but a good mystery !
The Burying Ground
by David Mark
Mysterious and atmospheric novel set in post-war England. During a visit to the cemetery a flash storm sends two women running for shelter. However, before they make it to safety, lightening strikes causing a mausoleum to break open revealing a freshly dead body that shouldn't be there. As they set about sending for the police, the body has mysteriously disappeared and a neighbor has died. Each woman goes about investigating who is the mystery man and what has happened to him. Multiple layers to the story that keep you on your toes.
Slow start but a good mystery !
November 18, 2020
I came across this book by accident on the ebook library site when looking for some light-ish fiction to waste an evening during lockdown # 2. The story is extremely well researched and written, the author spends a fair bit of time developing the characters and telling us about life in a village in this time period - he really got the details correct too! I'm really pleased that this time period/type of fiction, specifically with this focus (I won't give the game away!), making a resurgence with the aim of attracting younger readers who couldn't have been there to experience the horror of this time.
Lest we forget.
Lest we forget.
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