Mills, Jenni - CROW STONE

[LJ Roberts]

CROW STONE (Suspense-Kit Perry-UK-Cont) – G+
Mills, Jenni – 1^st book
HarperPress, 2007, UK Hardcover – ISBN: 9780007247127

First Sentence: Look at this.

Kit Perry, a mining engineer, has returned to Bath, where she was raised but she would rather people there not recognize her. At fourteen, known as Katie and after a difficult childhood with a mother who left and a strict, unpredictable father, she left Bath in a large black car. Now she is back working with a team to shore up the Roman quarries which are putting at risk parts of historic Bath. But the past is never far from the present; especially when her best friend wants her to help him possibly find a lost temple of Mithras and the man leading the investigation is one on whom she and her friends had a crush.

Jenni Mills has a wonderful voice. From the very beginning, I was caught up in Katie/Kit’s live and fascinated by the way Mills masterfully intertwined the past (1970s) and the present resulting in a very good, and at times quite suspenseful, story. The relationships are complex and very real; from her insecurity as a child to her frustration of working with male miners who don’t want a female engineer underground with them. Yes, the story could have used editing and tightening up but, overall, it is quite an impressive debut.