English Wartime Crime Fiction Offers A Hint Of The Occult

In “Mystery Guest,” Michele Ross reviews British writer Stephen Kelly's debut novel.

As “The Language of the Dead” unfolds, a quiet coastal English village in 1940 is rattled by the discovery of a ritualistically murdered elderly man.

Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lamb, a British veteran of The Great War, searches for clues against the backdrop of German bombings in World War II.

In this week’s “Mystery Guest” segment, crime fiction critic Michele Ross explains how debut novelist Stephen Kelly makes his story “both reassuring and fresh” even with familiar plotlines.