It is hard to believe that this novel is Erin Hart's first, because the writing is so good and the characters so well developed. Not so much a typical murder-mystery, with body, motive and capture, the novel is much more elegant than that. Based around an old body that is found in a peat bog in Ireland, the story interweaves history and current day affairs and Irish culture so seamlessly. It was a pleasure to read and I can't wait to read her next novel.

Enjoyed reading this book very much, in particular because I recognized many of the places appearing in the novel.

I was expecting more of a good Irish ghost story. Instead it turned out to be an ancient mystery and a modern day missing person mystery. I thought the story was well paced and wasn't boring - just not as thrilling as a great ghost story would've been!

I still think it was worth reading and would recommend it for all mystery lovers.

Haunted Ground has a great plot device - a dual Irish mystery, one ancient, one modern. When the head of a young woman is discovered in a peat bog, Cormac Maguire, an archaeologist, and Nora Gavin, a pathologist, determine that she is centuries old and set out to investigate her death. As they search for answers, they become involved in a contemporary mystery - the disappearance of a local landowner's wife and child. In due time, they find themselves staying at the landowner's rundown mansion, where they conduct an archaeological survey, poke into the wife and child's disappearance, and search out answers about the girl in the bog.

Throughout, the author works in details about Irish history and music, archaeology, bog bodies, forensics, etc. and for me, these are the most interesting things in the book. I would even have liked more. Less interesting is the mystery of the missing wife and child - it's fairly slow paced and obvious. The mystery of the bog girl is better, but gets wrapped up hurriedly at the end. In between, there is rather too much time spent on the interpersonal relationships of Cormac, Nora, and assorted local characters.

All in all, I enjoyed the book but found the ending a letdown. I guessed the killer early on, and kept hoping to be surprised at the end, but was not. However, it's not bad for an author's first outing.

I was delighted with this book. Frankly I found it on the "remainder" table at Barnes and Noble. Our family has a history in Cromwellian Ireland, so after reading the book, I purchased another copy from Amazon to send to my first cousin. What happened to the Irish people under Cromwell was unspeakable and yet on an individual basis the people intermarried as they did in "Haunted Ground".There is an additional modern mystery of the disappearance of a wife and child, as there was in the ancient mystery. The book makes for good reading and gives a little window into history and perhaps helps explain the "toubles" that have plagued modern Ireland. Recommended for supence/mystery readers and those who enjoy historical novels.