Blood on the Bone

Rafferty and Llewellyn Police Procedural Series #9

by Geraldine Evans

Rafferty and Llewellyn are faced with an unholy puzzle of a case Lapsed Catholic DI Joe Rafferty isn't best pleased when he learns their latest case is at the local Roman Catholic Convent, where a body was discovered in a shallow grave in the grounds. The nuns? order is a closed, contemplative one, and access to their house and grounds, with its surrounding eight-foot-high walls, far from easy. Rafferty is inclined to think this was an inside job. Prejudiced by his rigid schooling, he doesn't find it as hard as his DS, Dafyd Llewellyn, to believe that nuns were capable of murder. But then, events meant that the suspects stretched to include the nuns? doctor and the priest ? who turned out to be none other than Father Roberto Kelly, ?the greatest sinner in the parish?. It is, for Rafferty, a difficult case from the start, not helped by the fact that he receives a blackmail letter that very morning. Convinced that one of the nuns had killed the man, Rafferty's question, ?why?,

Genres: Mystery, Crime

316 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2006

About the author

aka Geraldine Hartnett.

I'm a British author and live in Norfolk, England. I write mystery/detective novels and have two series on the go: Rafferty & Llewellyn and Casey & Catt.

Series:

* Rafferty and Llewellyn Mystery
* Casey and Catt Mystery

I also write historical novels, of which my first is Reluctant Queen: The Story of Mary Rose Tudor, the Defiant Little Sister of Infamous English king, Henry VIII.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had used some Audible credit on this one as an impulse purchase. The narration was okay, as was the plot, but I wasn't taken by the drama between Rafferty and his Ma, and his angst over his Catholic upbringing. What made the book a decent read were the personalities of nuns in the closed order where the body is found. At present I'm in the middle of an earlier book ion the series, which is re-enforcing that Evans does well with using secondary characters to differentiate her murders.

[Deasia.glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really want to read this book cause i heard it was a good book and it was very powerful

[Saundra Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

With nine books down, this series is still going strong. The partnership between Rafferty and Llewellyn remains fresh, funny and insightful. The series has tackled many relevant issues. Though other books have alluded to religion and the effect your childhood upbringing has on you as an adult, this one takes the issue head on. No matter your personal beliefs, Ms Evans shows there is room for us all.

Life is good for Rafferty. He and Abra, Llewellyn’s cousin, had been living together for the last six months. Other than the odd nag from his mother to marry the girl, home life was grand. Until he gets a blackmail letter in the mail.

It alludes to the time before he met Abra when he borrowed his cousin’s identity and joined a dating service. Since it was all over before the two met, he never told her about anything that happened then, or about the murder case that ensued. The letter threatens to blab to Rafferty’s superior, something that would have disastrous effects, and would lead to Abra finding out all about it. Oddly the blackmailer makes no demands, just threats.

Of all the worst times, the same morning he recieves the letter, he also gets a new murder case. A nun in an enclosed monastery stumbled over a body buried in a shallow grave on the grounds. As a faithfully lapsed Catholic, Rafferty had as little to do with the church as possible. He thought himself passed his quota of nuns for a lifetime after parochial school.

Investigating a murder among the nuns and being blackmailed has Rafferty’s nerves and conscience in turmoil. Can the detective and his sergeant solve this baffling case while Rafferty tries to outsmart his blackmailer?

I was gifted the boxset containing this novel and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Harriet Farquhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great police procedural. The author seems to have hit her stride with this one. The subplot was a little thin, but still believable. The main story moved along at a good pace. The growing awareness of religion provided a nice rounded ness to the main character. The details of the setting were elegantly crafted to provide appropriate information without becoming didactic, and served to contribute to the depth of the story.

[Veronica-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great crime mystery with two detectives working on the case providing lots of twists and turns with which to focus on. This is the ninth in the Rafferty and Llewellyn Mysteries. As I have not read any others I was not sure if I would be able to follow the series, but it would easily qualify as a standalone novel with no loss of character build up suffering at all. However, having said that, I do look forward to reading more of this series in the future. Highly recommended.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good storyline

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a body is discovered in the grounds of a convent, Rafferty's lack of faith is tested. Entertaining mystery with a pair of likeable detectives.

[Richard Demma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blood on the Bones is the 9th book in British author Geraldine Evans’ Rafferty and Llewellyn cozy mystery series and I found it a very absorbing read. This is a crime novel with depth and substance, which exchanges cheap thrills for some very meditative ruminations on religious faith and doubt, spiced with a bit of wry humor and some wicked plot twists that made me laugh out loud. A body has been discovered buried in the gardens of the Carmelite Monastery of the Immaculate Conception. Detective Inspector Joseph Rafferty, a lapsed Catholic of long repute, is assigned to the case and finds himself confronting the demons of his own harsh Catholic upbringing. As Inspector Rafferty follows the tangled clues in the case, he finds himself confronting his own religious and spiritual yearnings. Is a spiritual awakening on the horizon or even a full re-conversion to his Catholic past? Hardly likely for the astute, acutely rational Rafferty. But then one never knows. This case is bringing to the surface more questions than the simple ‘whodunit’. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and appreciated Geraldine Evans' quiet restraint in avoiding all sensationalism. She has managed to combine some serious reflections on religious themes of doubt and faith and the abuses of a repressive religious system together with a crackling police procedural that is both funny and shocking at the same time. Speaking as a former Trappist monk, I can say that her characterizations of the nuns in this contemplative order are spot on! Philosophical reflections, shocks and laughs all blended smoothly together in one crime novel. That's quite a feat. I've now started the 3rd book in the series, Death Line, about a famous psychic, adviser to the stars, who fails to predict his own grisly murder. The author had me laughing by the second page! Well done!




Read the rest of the review here

[Judith Cranswick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dead body buried in a shallow grave in a monastery full of nuns! A great start to another Rafferty & Llewellyn mystery. I have to say that none of the nuns at the convent school of my youth were anything like these good sisters, but I found it a fascinating read.

[Sharon Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice little mystery, with an intriguing couple of characters.
This was actually the ninth book in the series, but I didn't feel that the story lost anything by my not reading any of the previous books. Yes, there were references to a previous case, which caused Rafferty to receive blackmail letters, but there was enough detail given to enable you to follow the story with no problems.
It was a nice little puzzle - dead naked body found in the grounds of a convent - which didn't tax the brain, but was enough to keep me reading.
I'd probably keep an eye out for others in this series.

[Irene Sauman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series in general, but not so much this title. Not sure if it was just Rafferty, or if the author was having her own discussion with herself about her own ideas, but the lapsed Catholic angst went on far, far too long. And then Abra got whiney because Rafferty hadn't told her about an episode in his recent life before he met her. Actually, not really any of her business, you know. Sometimes author's manipulate their characters a little too much in order to get a story.
I didn't finish this - got to half way - but I will keep it on the kindle and get back to it sometime later. I do want to know 'who did it'. But I will probably skip bits.

[Betsy Georgitis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad mystery but not all that great either. I did guess the identity of the murderer before the end and actually did not find the motivation for the murder all that believable. The characters were not all that interesting either. I am not on a hurry to read more from this author.