A Baby’s Bones

Set on the Isle of Wight, this suspenseful mystery from British author Alexander (The Secrets of Blood and Bone) fuses the secrets of Renaissance-era alchemy and the knowledge wielded by modern archeology. When Sage Westfield, an archeologist hired to conduct a survey of a property adjoining a historic house, discovers the skeletons of a woman and an infant in a 16th-century well, she suspects that they were murdered. Alternating chapters, set in 1580 and narrated by Vincent Garland, the illegitimate steward of Lord Banstock, describe the events leading up to the deaths, which involve Banstock’s beloved niece, Viola; Viola’s fiancé, an aristocrat with a taste for necromancy; and a beautiful French-born seamstress. Meanwhile, a brutal murder shocks the modern-day community, and the dangers of insanity and sexual obsession become frighteningly real in both timelines. Alexander fully develops Westfield and Garland’s characters and keeps the stakes high throughout. Readers will hope this is the start of a series. (May)