Silence of the Grave

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated from Icelandic by Bernard Scudder 293 pp.

This is the second book in the Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson mystery series. A skeleton is discovered at a construction site in a remote area outside Reykjavik, where there was once a WWII military base. Because nothing is known about the body it is being treated as both a crime scene and a possible archaeological find. As the body is slowly unearthed by the archaeology crew, Erlendur and his staff begin investigating the possible crime. The story flashes back to the past with the stories of an abused wife and the missing fiancé of a local resident. The investigation is hampered by the slowness of digging out the skeleton which prevents them from knowing if it is of a man or woman. Meanwhile Erlendur's once estranged, drug addicted daughter is in a coma after losing the baby she was carrying. He splits his time between the investigation and hours sitting at the hospital. This is one of those stories where you think you have solved it, then you don't, then you think you were right previously, but then you change your mind . . . . I've read one other in this series and plan to read more.