Bad Terms by Alex Walters

Skeletons very seldom stay buried. At sometime they get unearthed by accident invariably. In this small village when during a routine building excavation a skeleton is unearthed and DNA indicates that it is a school girl who went missing decades ago, the search starts for not just the murderer but the facts of the case and for the people who were integral to the investigation at the time. Not easy considering that neighbours, even the parents of the girl have moved away and have to be tracked down. At the same time an accident at an elite school in the vicinity also becomes suspicious on further investigation and the Detectives on the case are being pushed to solve the present case rather than the older one. There are big names involved and finally one name comes up in both cases. Added to this is that there is always a reference to Detective Annie's mother who was herself a Chief Detective on the Force. Annie knows her mother's dealings were not always straight and she is worried what the investigations are going to throw up. This was a bit complicated to unravel. The stories were different and you needed to be on the ball to follow it. It was nevertheless an interesting detective story. Sent by Canelo for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.