Dead Man's Lane: Book 23 in the DI Wesley Peterson crime series

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There is another reason that the lane in Rye has earned its ominous name, as it was also the lane going up the hill to where people where hung. Even from here, beyond the daisies scattered along the hillside, and hidden in amongst the trees of the valley, I could see Netherbury.

An Ordnance Survey map, surveyed in 1850 and 1851, shows Deadman's Hole Lane, except it's markedly longer than it is on present-day maps. So there is the old case against which the new occurs, with the venue of Strangefields, where Temples had killed multiple girls, and the method of killing, as well as numerous individuals who had a connection to him, including his half sister. And when a local florist is found murdered in an echo of Temples’ crimes, DI Wesley Peterson fears that a copycat killer is at large. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. Now, decades later, Strangefields is being transformed into a holiday village but the developer’s hopes that its dark reputation will be forgotten are soon dashed when a skull is found on the site.The unique and potent mix of police procedural and historical crime fiction makes this addictive and compulsively readable, and the plentiful twists, surprises and misdirection are executed adeptly.

Fear of evil and ill fortune was constant and people would do everything in their power to keep it at bay. I'm an archivist, so I find the idea that the characters can pick up a hundreds of years old hand-written diary and just read it quite amusing. It is not essential to have read the previous books in this series but I feel you would definitely get more out of this story if you have. Perhaps she would have felt as I do, reaching the end of that awkward, narrow lane, the low trees and bramble hedges opening up onto the grassy top of that hill, nothing in sight but the vast scenes of fields and woods. Police suspect it belongs to one of Temples' victims and, when a local florist is found murdered in an echo of Temples' crimes, DI Wesley Peterson fears a copy-cat killer could be at large.Notoriously renowned for it's sinister haunted history, Strangefields Farm was used by a Jackson Temples, who lured young women there to model for disturbing works of art. I'm not sure if this is the reason for the Greenham one, but many years back, a right of way could be established by taking a coffin along a track to the local church for a funeral. It's wonderful to pick back up with the characters again as it feels like meeting up with old friends.