The Ones Who Are Buried by Kerry Wilkinson

The story opens on a bleak and spooky moorland. A journalist and his companion join police and professional diggers as a prisoner leads them to a spot where it is thought he deposited the bodies of two boys decades before. The question is: what will they find there? As in real life, often these types of criminals don't always deliver.

This is the third book of a series about a hobby journalist and his assistant (who is actually a dog groomer and has no journalistic nor detective skills). The journalist knows everyone in the small fictional seaside town of Whitecliff and they trust him, as in this case where the convicted murderer will only speak to him. Sometimes this is information about the crime and sometimes simple messages to pass to his estranged son.

The sleuthing duo is a quirky one. Their working relationship is told through the perspective of the younger woman so her personal life plays a part in the story. She is divorced with a young son, whom she does not have custody, and there is some manipulation from her ex-husband. Running alongside this is a story about a former pop star who has had something stolen from her home and asks for help in finding the missing item while keeping it all on the quiet.

The story is witty at times, slow with domesticity at others and sometimes tense and atmospheric with a focus on "bitter winds," digging in the "mossy earth". But the three strands keep on turning up clues and share themes of what it is to be a parent that surreptitiously build suspense. The book should have ended with the penultimate chapter, which is a powerful conclusion. However, there is a sequel and so a link to the next book is needed in that respect, which is a bit of a shame as it means the ending is disappointing. Lots to think about in this unusual mystery.

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Published by Bookouture on 17 April 2023.
​Advance review copy supplied by the publisher.

Collect the series

Wild and Windswept: Moors and Peaks