Privileged communications Book

This was a really solid installment in the Merry Folger series. We see Merry developing more as a character, both on her own and as her relationship with Peter Mason deepens. And the mystery in this book was thrilling.

Things get started when 2 young children playing on a Nantucket beach dig up part of a human skeleton. The central mystery is a cold case and these can be tough to make exciting, as the typical cold case investigation involves going back over lots of old paperwork. First, the police must identify the victim (and there are several possibilities at first) and from there, figure out who killed this person, when was the skeleton actually left on the beach, etc... It's a puzzle that takes Merry into a close-knit and eccentric circle of artists on the island, and the case parades readers through many twists and turns.

The author does one thing with this mystery that I really appreciated as well. In many books I've read, solutions seem to come out of nowhere and the detective is the only one privy to the operative facts. In this book, the reader gets a fair shot at figuring things out, too. As the solution comes together, one of the first things I realized is that the important clues were all laid out in the story, so as a reader, I had just as much to work with as Merry did. In a way, that makes me appreciate her character (and the author's skill) even more.