Susanna Kearsley's THE SHADOWY HORSES has all the right
elements for a great story: paranormal, history, mystery
Scotland, and none of them overpowers the other. Budding
archaeologist Verity Grey had no idea of the mystery that
awaited her when she agreed to interview for a job on
Peter
Quinnell's dig in Eyemouth, a small Scottish village. But
she takes a liking to Peter even though the archaeology
world sees him as a joke and decides to help him find the
missing ninth Roman Legion to which he has dedicated his
life.
While Peter doesn't have any real evidence that his field
holds a roman campsite, he has founded his belief on
Robbie, a boy with "the sight", who sees a Roman sentinel
on watch over Peter's land.
Kearsley has a talent for prose, making one feel at home
in
her worlds, and she also introduces an array of
interesting
characters. There is Fabia, Peter's grand-daughter who
serves as the dig's photographer; Adrian Sutton-Clark, a
jealous ex-boyfriend of Verity's; Brian, Robbie's father;
and David Fortune, Verity's love interest. They all have
their roles to play, and the question is who has a role in
some of the weird things that start happening on the site.
Computers act up, things go missing, and late at night,
Verity heard hundreds of hoofbeats with no visible sign of
horses in the morning.
Kearsley puts together a decent plot. Neither quite a
romance or a suspense novel, THE SHADOWY HORSES is more a
combination, so the fact that you have an idea of who did
what before it happens, doesn't really take away from the
joy of a good story. She left some questions unanswered
and
some strings dangling, but the characters she explored and
her poetic style make it worthwhile for an afternoon of
relaxation. I look forward to reading more of Kearsley's
books.
THE INVINCIBLE NINTH ROMAN LEGION MARCHES FROM YORK TO
FIGHT
THE NORTHERN TRIBES. AND THEN VANISHES FROM THE PAGES OF
HISTORY.
Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark
legends
of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried
in
a rocky field by the sea.
Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for
the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is
convinced he's finally found it—not because of any
scientific evidence, but because a local boy has
"seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a
ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead
comrades.
Here on the windswept shores, Verity may find the answer
to
one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Or she
may
uncover secrets someone buried for a reason.
As she becomes entangled in a subtle web of treachery and
danger, Verity begins to believe that there is a Roman
sentinel haunting the site. And he's there to do more than
guard the bodies of his fallen comrades...
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