Mystery a Month Discussion: Erin Hart's Haunted Ground

Haunted Ground is the story of a perfectly preserved woman's head that rises to the top of a peat bog in Ireland. The mystery of her identity after several centuries brings an archealogical team to the area. Complicating matters is the search for a local woman and her son who have disappeared, and who are feared to be in the bog as well.

Our mystery group said they wouldn't mind if I put a short bit here on our book discussion.

One question we always ask at some point in the discussion is "did you enjoy this book and would you read more by this author?" Unanimously everyone enjoyed the book and would read more.

The next book is Lake of Sorrows (which a couple of people had gone on to read on their own). In the works, according to Hart's web site is False Mermaid.

Also on her site are book discussion questions for book groups for both Haunted Ground and Lake of Sorrows. I usually make up my own questions but decided to try these.

We made it to about question nine before time ran out. Our discussion of bogs and "secrets" was quite lively. The concept of forensics meaning more than just examining crime scenes was fascinating. We spent time talking about the experience of immigrants and how culture can be lost for their children over time as they are assimilated into our own culture.

One of our members who couldn't attend emailed her comments about the book. This is a great idea for those who love a book but can't make the event.

I forgot to mention to our group that Erin Hart will "attend" your book group via phone, according to her site:

Monday through Friday, from 7 to 11 p.m. CST, I’ll be available to join your book club by phone anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. (Book clubs should have at least 10 members and a speaker phone.)

Next month we read "any book by Walter Mosley". When we do this, we have each person talk a little about the particular book they read, then I'll fill in a little background about the author and we discuss more broadly character, writing style, themes, how the book fits or not into its particular genre.