A breeze from an open window is riffling through the pages of a guidebook lying on the floor, making a sound like the wings of a trapped bird.

With an empty nest and walking on eggshells around Michelle, Nelson is weighed down by guilt whilst a hurt Ruth attempts to convince herself that she wasn't slightly disappointed by his decision to save his marriage. Ruth is depressed and overweight and she doesn't feel she's a good mother and she loves the depressing saltmarsh where she lives and she likes her job and blah blah. One of the characters that is married gets pregnant and just ends things with her lover and it doesn't cross her mind that it might be his or she is so unethical that wants to bestow the child to her husband even though it might not be his! An Australian theme and the issue of repatriation of aboriginal bones, a link to serpents and a curse. She has found Roman bodies buried under walls, offerings to Janus, the two-faced God, and she has unearthed the bones of soldiers killed only seventy years ago.As DI Harry Nelson and his team descend to investigate the death of museum curator Neil Topham, Ruth finds herself in the unenviable position of being the person who found the body (this is starting to become a habit! We were on holiday in Norfolk, walking across Titchwell Marsh, when Andy mentioned that prehistoric man had thought that marshland was sacred.

The pressures that Ruth is faced with differ in all of the cases which she has been involved with and the new consideration here is one-year-old daughter, Kate. Whilst slowly coming to terms with motherhood and the lack of sleep, Ruth is never less than certain that having a child was what she always wanted but, rest assured, her usual dry humour is in fine fettle throughout.Of course, disturbing the dead is an occupational hazard for archaeologists, but Ruth makes sure that no matter how long-dead the bones are, she always treats them with respect. Lab assistant at the university by day, druid and godparent by night, Cathbad's usual talent for embroiling himself in matters continues, from his friendship with Ruth's Aussie neighbour to his shadowy connections to the Elginists. However I’m well aware that I’m just dipping into this ongoing saga at a random point, and readers who have been invested in it from the beginning may strongly disagree with my wish to murder one of the main characters.