The Grave Tattoo (Paperback, First)

"From bestselling author Val McDermid comes a modern thriller about an ancient murder set on the high seas..."

"Exciting...wildly beautiful" --"The New York Times Book Review"

After summer rains uncover a corpse bearing tattoos like those of eighteenth-century seafarers, many residents of the English Lake District can't help but wonder whether it's the body of one of the town's most legendary fugitives.

"An old-fashioned detective yarn with enough modern touches to keep a reader on her toes."--Salon.com

Scholar and native Lakelander Jane Gresham feels compelled to finally discover the truth about the myths and buried secrets rooted in her hometown. What she never expected was to find herself at the heart of a 200-year-old mystery that still has the power to put lives on the line. And with each new lead she pursues, death follows hard on her heels....

"Extraordinary."--"The Boston Globe"