Jane searches relentlessly for a lost manuscript by the poet Wordsworth that relates Christian's tale in tantalizing excerpts between chapters. A shriveled body found in a bog seems to bear resemblance to this dashing hero, right down to the South Sea tattoos that blacken his buttocks. Scholar Jane Gresham pursues her theory that HMS Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian returned secretly from exile to his homeland in the late 18th century. Suddenly Jane is at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line.Īgainst the dramatic backdrop of England's Lake District a drama of life and death plays out, its ultimate prize a bounty worth millions.Īn intriguing, 200-year-old mystery propels this multilayered stand-alone from British author McDermid set in England's Lake District.

But as she pursues each new lead, death follows hard on her heels. Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District, feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed-and whether it still exists today. And there, he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem-a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harboring a fugitive. For centuries, Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home. Bounty.Īfter torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, long discarded old wives' tales takes on a chilling new plausibility.

Against the dramatic backdrop of England’s Lake District a drama of life and death plays out, its ultimate prize a bounty worth millions.In The Grave Tattoo, suspense master Val McDermid spins a psychological thriller in which a present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the H.M.S. Suddenly Jane is at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line. Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham, herself a native of the Lake District, feels compelled to discover once and for all whether the manuscript ever existed – and whether it still exists today.

And there he told his story to an old friend and schoolmate, William Wordsworth, who turned it into a long narrative poem – a poem that remained hidden lest it expose Wordsworth to the gallows for harbouring a fugitive. When torrential summer rains uncover a bizarrely tattooed body on a Lake District hillside, old wives’ tales also come swirling to the surface.įor centuries Lakelanders have whispered that Fletcher Christian staged the massacre on Pitcairn so that he could return home.

A superb psychological thriller in which present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the Bounty.

The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid