Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey

Page 24:

"We'll do this in our own good time," Duckett said. "In all probability it's been here for hundreds of years. An hour or two more isn't going to make much difference."

Almost as if it was done to provoke the police, the excavating slowed. Brushes, rather than trowels, were being used. At regular intervals photos were taken.

Skeleton Hill by Peter Lovesey

Opening lines:

Two men lay dead on the battlefield and one said, 'Hey!"

The other stayed silent.

'I'm talking to you.'

There was no response.

'You with the head wound.'

Now the other one stirred. 'I'm dead,' he said through his teeth like a ventriloquist.

'Me too. So?'

The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey

Page 33:

"You bastards! You've smashed my bloody window and the paint on the door is chipped," Ms Claudia Cameron protested. She was wearing a white wrap made of towelling and candy-striped sandals. Her spiky blond hair looked like the result of poking a wet finger into a live socket.