Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart

Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart

Genre: Mystery
Series: #2 in the Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire series
Publication Date: 2004
Pages: 328
Challenges: Support Your Local Library #20,  What’s In a Name 3 #5 (Body of Water)
Source: Library


The Short Version:
Another ancient preserved body is found in an Irish peat bog but when a second contemporary body is found with similar evidence of ritual killing, forensic pathologist Nora Gavin and archaeologist Cormac Maguire end up not only investigating these deaths, but are also under suspicion themselves for present day crimes.

Why I Read It:
I read the first book in this series last year and enjoyed it so when I realized that it would qualify for the What’s in a Name challenge it seemed like a good time to continue the series.


The Book
The peat bogs of Ireland have proven to preserve both inanimate objects and sometimes human remains. Nora Gavin is a forensic pathologist who has made a study of these bog bodies part of her ongoing research. When she is called to the site of a new discovery at the Loughnabrone (Lake of Sorrows) bog it also provides an opportunity to spend some time with Cormac Maguire who she’d met a year earlier. He’d arranged for them to stay at a nearby cottage while she worked and he finished an article he was writing.

In the process of excavating and researching the site of the newly discovered body, a second body is found. Initially it is thought to be as old as the first due to evidence of a similar ritual killing, but the presence of a modern day wristwatch on the body turns the archaeological research site into a possible crime scene.

The investigation soon involves not only Nora, Cormac and the local police, but also Ursula Downes the onsite archeologist who has prior connections to  Cormac as well as an antagonistic relationship with the manager of the peat harvesting operation. There are also many local residents who are possibly enmeshed in the crimes (both past and present). The multiple storylines play out slowly and become gradually more intertwined and complex. The stakes get more and more dangerous for everyone before the truth comes out.

My Thoughts:
As with Haunted Ground, this second book in the series is densely packed with characters and places that play important roles in the final story. There are several intertwining story lines and many past connections that come to play a role in the present day. The continuing story of Nora and Cormac begun in Haunted Ground is not any less complicated a year later. She’s torn between the potential relationship with him and her inner desire to return home to see her sister’s killer brought to justice.

Once again I was fascinated with not only the mystery, but the characters. There are too many complex people all interconnected and entangled in the story to even begin to touch on them in this post. The complexities of small town life mixed up with scholarly research and modern day criminal investigation is hard to describe. That it all takes place in a very Irish setting makes it that much more interesting to me.

I don’t find Erin Hart's books to be fast paced thrillers, but I do recommend them if you’re interested in thoughtful, atmospheric, interesting and well written stories that can be complicated, yet come down to basics of human nature and interaction as the motivating forces behind the action.


Rating 4/5