Lost Graves

by S.A. Dunphy

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Lost Graves is the second book by S.A. Dunphy featuring criminal behaviourist Jessie Boyle and her partner Detective Seamus Keneally in an ensemble procedural. Released 24th Jan 2022, it's 362 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This book combined quite a number of disparate themes: the travellers, shadowy military operations, and a series of historical murders and disappearances. This book, as well as the first in the series, has a tie in to local paranormal folklore and legends which interfere with clear headed fact gathering and investigation by Boyle and her team. I really like the interplay between the main characters and the author does a very good job of portraying them as living breathing people, with their own quirks and foibles. They're likeable and I found myself engaged in the story throughout. It's a modern (Irish) procedural, so there's a fair bit of rough language and some of the imagery is graphic.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 8 hours and 51 minutes and is capably narrated by Shelley Atkinson. She manages the read very well. There are both male and female characters of a range of ages and accents, and she keeps them distinct and perfectly understandable. I couldn't really hear distinct differences between regional accents for some of the characters, but it didn't affect my enjoyment overall. Sound production and quality are high throughout.

Four and a half stars for both the print and audio versions. Definitely for fans of Irish crime, but also for more general readers of procedurals. This is a good addition to the start of what is turning out to be a strong series.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.