cover image Six Foot Under

Six Foot Under

Katherine John. St. Martin's Press, $23.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-14416-6

Introduced in Without Trace (1995), British police sergeant Trevor Joseph is recovering from depression in Compton Castle Psychiatric Hospital, where another patient insists that she saw someone bury a body on the grounds. After the body is found, Joseph's colleagues try to involve him in the investigation. Although he refuses, old habits die hard, and little by little he is pulled into the action. The victim, a former inmate at the hospital, had been buried alive, drugged and with her mouth glued shut. Two more victims, also buried alive, are discovered and official suspicion settles on the personnel and inmates of the Gothic hospital. Becoming more involved, Joseph must successfully navigate his way out of the Castle, with its surreal passages and abandoned wings, and discover its secrets in order to solve the case and emerge with a new life. John's focus on atmosphere and images of suffocation make the most of an essentially routine mystery. (May)