Blood and Stone

Collett’s uneven sixth Tom Mariner mystery (after 2009’s Stalked by Shadows) takes the troubled Birmingham detective inspector to Wales, where he’s hoping a two-week walking holiday will help him recover from the death of his former lover in a road-rage incident. Unfortunately, Mariner, a credible and sympathetic lead, ends up a suspect in the murder of a man found hacked to death in a remote mountainous area. On the plus side, Mariner begins a hesitant flirtation with a pretty historian he meets in his wanderings. Their relationship is one of the book’s highlights. Some readers, however, may have trouble keeping track of the well-crafted but too-numerous minor characters, including a terminally ill ex-convict bent on revenge and an ex-girlfriend turned innkeeper. As the body count rises, it’s not clear who did what to whom, and questions remain unanswered. That may be what happens in real life, but it’s less than satisfying on the page. (Nov.)