The Arsenic Labyrinth

Third installment in Martin Edwards' "Lake District" mystery series, this one is set in the former mining district of Coniston. See earlier posts of The Coffin Trail and The Cipher Garden for a more detailed cast of regular characters and previous cases. This time the re-opening of a case by Hannah Scarlett's team is prompted by a story in the local papers about the 10th anniversary of a disappearance. No one has seen or heard from Emma Bestwick for 10 years and journalist Tony DiVenuto is playing the story for all it's worth. Apparently, he has struck a chord because he receives an anonymous call saying that Emma won't ever be heard from again. The call came from con man GuyKoenig, who has returned to the Lake District after a 10 year absence--an absence which coincided with the disappearance of Emma. He in fact didn't mean to kill Emma, but ultimately did. Why Emma agreed to meet him in an out-of-the-way spot on the fells near the ruins of an arsenic mine drives this mystery. Daniel gets involved because he is researching for a possible new book on John Ruskin, who lived out his final years in Coniston, and was known for his antagonism toward industrial development. Once again, a complex plot with lots of twists and turns. Several side stories are developed as well as the main plot lines. Not too surprisingly, Miranda decides to move back to London, and Hannah and Marc's relationship continues to be full of discontents on both sides. Frankly the possible relationship between Hannah and Daniel just fails to arouse my interest. There are several more books in this series, but I don't feel compelled to read any more of them at this point...maybe after we have returned from our trip there.