None But the Dead

British author Anderson’s busy 11th Rhona MacLeod novel (after The Special Dead) takes the Glasgow forensic expert to the remote Orkney island of Sanday, where a digger has unearthed the bones of a child on the grounds of an old schoolhouse that an incomer to the island is fixing up. Rhona excavates the grave, while Det. Sgt. Michael McNab and other members of the police team interview Sanday’s residents. Predictably, the locals all have secrets—some recent, some long hidden—that they’re reluctant to share with outsiders. A series of disturbing incidents raises the stakes: the skull found at the dig site disappears, someone attacks McNab, a young girl goes missing. A murder in Glasgow has an unusual link to Sanday. The weather on the island, wild and unpredictable, plays a big role, as does the dangerous and deceptive topography. Anderson keeps the reader guessing in a stew of motives and suspects as the search for answers builds to an exciting conclusion. (Sept.)