Much less spooky ghost story than Old Bones, much more open thriller. I did end up wondering how small the area it takes place in is, given all the near-daily travelling back and forth was going on. Some threads wrapped up a bit too neatly in the end and I think I am going to have to accept a bit of serendipity along the way if I keep reading these. But I am accustomed to going along with that in other detective stories.

Perhaps more surprisingly, a couple of threads in each of Old Bones and The Scorpion's Tail were not wrapped up, with the ambiguous matter of ghosts in the former and the provenance of Nora's knife in this volume. Although I certainly assumed when it came up that it was a gift from Pendergast for the times when adventure continued to find her, I did expect it to get addressed explicitly at some point. Perhaps that's a longer-term mystery, although I don't think so. Am also curious whether the sheriff Watts will prove to be a recurring member of the team, or even a romantic interest for Corrie, or if he is a one-off guest character.

Onto the next!