Slacks for Ella Funt

In general, I am much more a fan of McDermid’s stand alone books than her Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series. A Place of Execution is one of the most riveting mysteries I’ve ever read. And The Distant Echo is also a very strong mystery. The series is pretty generic serial killer stuff, with particularly disturbing torture scenes. So I was interested in The Grave Tattoo, since it’s a stand alone.
In this book, Jane Gresham, a Wordsworth scholar, is searching for a lost Wordsworth poem. Unfortunately, McDermid gets caught up in the historical story, as well as numerous side stories. While the plot line about Tenille, Jane’s teenage neighbor in the projects, kept my attention, some of the other subplots weren’t that interesting. And the mystery plot-line was almost nonexistent. It just wasn’t a page turner.