Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Graveyard Bell by Andrew James Greig

The Graveyard Bell by Andrew James Greig (Storm Publishing, 2025) is the third book in Greig’s series about private investigator Teàrlach Paterson. When former classmate Lucy Jameson asks Paterson to look into the death of her husband, Paterson privately agrees with the police that it was an accident. Lucy insists that photographs published in a wildlife magazine weeks after her husband’s death and attributed to a stranger are her husband’s. Paterson turns his digital whiz colleague Dee loose on locating the original photos and the metadata that would show when they were taken.

Returning to Mull where Jameson fell from a cliff raises all sorts of uncomfortable memories in Paterson. He grew up there with his aunt who took him in after his family fell apart. His aunt died two years earlier as he was leaving the military. He did not know she was ill, was not prepared to lose her, and realizes he had never dealt with any part of the loss. The cottage had been closed since the funeral and his aunt’s possessions remained as she left them, only now they were covered with dust. Paterson knew his life was in Glasgow and decided he could no longer put off the hard work of clearing the home and making it available to someone else who needed it.

While Paterson is on the island, Fraser Donald contacts Paterson’s office to ask for help in locating his missing son Callum, working as a fisherman on Mull, giving Paterson another job. When a second death occurs in the seaside vicinity of the first, Paterson begins to wonder about potential connections among the two dead men and the missing fisherman.

A complicated plot involving three victims, their families, friends, and back stories as well as Paterson’s difficult childhood and Dee’s search for her biological parents. Sorting his aunt’s papers uncovers information new to Paterson and suggests where the next book in the series might lead. Despite the complexity of multiple threads, the narrative blends all of them seamlessly while the action propels the story forward without the occasional lull that so often occurs in long books.

I enjoyed reading this new investigation; any missing context provided by the first two in the series was not noticeable. An unusual setting adds to its appeal. Readers who like private investigator scenarios or small town mysteries or who are looking for another series should consider this one.

The trade paperback was released in January 2025 and the ebook will be released in late February.

 

·                     Publisher: ‎Storm Publishing (January 30, 2025)

·                     Language: ‎English

·                     Paperback: ‎352 pages

·                     ISBN-10: ‎1805084844

·                     ISBN-13: ‎978-1805084846 

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3EDzR7f

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.