Burying the Past

In Cutler’s engaging fourth mystery featuring Det. Chief Supt. Fran Harman of the Kent CID (after 2008’s Still Waters), Fran’s upcoming wedding to Asst. Chief Constable Mark Turner is nerve-racking enough without the discovery of skeletal remains buried in the garden of her future home, a former rectory undergoing renovation. The victim, identified as repeat offender Frank Grange, may have been put there by the rectory’s mysterious previous owner, Marion Lovage, the headmistress of a junior school. Meanwhile, Mark’s two grown children—son David, a financial adviser, and daughter Sammie, now squatting at Mark’s house in the village of Loose—take a sudden interest in their father’s love life, if only to try to preserve their inheritance. Making a welcome appearance is antique dealer Lina Townend, the lead of one of Cutler’s other series (Guilt Trip, etc.), who lends her expertise in a search for clues in a cabinet found among Lovage’s stored items. (Feb.)