Kindle Price: $5.99

Save $3.00 (33%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Jim Kelly
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Moon Tunnel: The past is not buried deep in Cambridgeshire (Dryden Mysteries Book 3) Kindle Edition

by Jim Kelly (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 151 ratings
See all formats and editions

From beneath a wartime POW camp near Ely, deep in the Cambridgeshire Fens, a man crawls through an escape tunnel. But he won't emerge until fifty years of peace have passed.
When he does, unearthed by archaeologists seeking a Saxon burial tomb, local journalist Philip Dryden knows he has a mystery to solve. First the man appears to have been shot in the head - and second, he was breaking into the camp not out.
The police treat the body as an historical curiosity, but Dryden digs deeper - and soon unearths a corpse of much more recent origin.

Previous page
  1. Book 3 of 7
    Philip Dryden Mysteries
  2. Print length
    343 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Allison & Busby
  6. Publication date
    November 21, 2019
  7. File size
    1689 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card
Next 5 for you in this series See full series
Total Price: $33.78
By clicking on the above button, you agree to Amazon's Kindle Store Terms of Use
More like The Moon Tunnel: The past is not buried deep in Cambridgeshire (Dryden Mysteries Book 3)
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  5. The Hunter: A Novel
    Kindle Edition
    Just released
    $13.99
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. At the start of Kelly's superb third mystery to feature Cambridgeshire journalist Philip Dryden (after 2004's The Fire Baby), an archeological team discovers human remains in the remnants of what appears to have been an escape tunnel from a WWII-era POW camp in England's fen country. That the victim was shot heading toward the camp piques Philip's interest. When forensic evidence dates the victim's death to well after the war, Philip sets out to find the corpse's identity. His search leads to the local Italian community, academics at Cambridge University, the proprietress of a nearby landfill—and to his intellectual and emotional reawakening after a period of feeling half alive. Kelly excels at depicting landscapes (his descriptions of the marsh-like fens rival those of Dorothy L. Sayers) and also rendering eccentric and troubled characters. But what could easily have been a depressing story instead shows the underlying good to be found in most people, that compassion and generosity can motivate as much as lust or anger. Kelly has produced another story rich in plot and character, with a bit of history as well.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Kelly's hero, journalist Philip Dryden, is so beautifully drawn, so credibly complex, that he makes most other contemporary mystery heroes and heroines look like fumblings on an Etch-A-Sketch. Five years before this series opens (this is the third installment), Dryden was a rising Fleet Street star married to a successful actress. A car crash plunged his wife into and out of a coma in what is termed locked-in syndrome. Dryden moved to the Black Fens of England, to be near his wife's perpetual-care residence, and now works for the Crow, a paper with a tiny circulation. Dryden's restlessness, isolation, and professional pride drive him to seek out stories and pursue them long past police interest. Here, he checks in at an archaeological dig. As the buildings from an old POW camp for Italian soldiers captured during World War II are cleared, some Anglo-Saxon treasures are unearthed. And a skeleton is found in the tunnel, a bullet hole in the forehead. The man is identified as an Italian POW. Why was he was crawling into the tunnel rather than out? Dryden picks up the story where police interest drops off. What makes the Dryden novels especially intriguing is Kelly's take on his deeply depressed hero. Rather than portraying a man just going through the motions, Kelly shows Dryden to be much more human and noble: the scenes with his wife are both tragic and loving; his love for journalism is intact, even in reduced circumstances; he's searching but never self-pitying. Dryden is a man to watch. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07TK5ZNPB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison & Busby (November 21, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 21, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1689 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 343 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0749025409
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 151 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
151 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Janet Gotkin
5.0 out of 5 stars Best in the series yet
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is the best book by Jim Kelly in this series and I started with the first book. Wonderful, nuanced characterizations, intricate, mind-popping plot, and the ever changing Fens as a background. Looking forward to reading the next in this unusual series.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ms. Picky
4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2020
Verified Purchase
Jim Kelly's protagonist, Philip Dryden, is compelling. I love the descriptions of the East Anglian countryside. The locale is almost another character in these Philip Dryden books.
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous mystery
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2005
In England's Fen region, the archeological team led by Cambridge's Professor Valmgimigli was digging for Anglo-Saxon artifacts at a World War II POW camp when they found the underground tunnel that apparently was an escape route. Inside the tunnel is a skeleton in which the deceased seemingly heading back to the camp was shot in the head.

Local law enforcement already overworked treats the homicide as a five decade old cold case. The Crow reporter Philip Dryden finds the murder mystery quite fascinating especially since he previously reported on the "Ely Dig" so he begins making inquiries. As he discovers clues to the identity of the dead man that take him to a landfill owner, the enigmatic legendary powerhouse Ma Trunch and a nearby Italian community the clues to the homicide seem to always dead end.

The third Dryden journalist investigation is a fabulous mystery due to the hero and other caring eccentric protagonists helping him as he makes his inquiries. Interestingly Dryden is a bit of a coward, but does not allow his fears for example of dogs to stop his investigation as he rides his motivations of curiosity and compassion to learn the truth. Throwing in a touch of 1940s history, Jim Kelly provides a super tale.

Harriet Klausner
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ohioan
3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Quite Work for Me
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2012
Verified Purchase
This novel received several starred reviews at the time it was published, and I like stories in which a mystery from the past is solved in the present, so I thought I would like this one. As it turns out, I didn't actually dislike this book, but I never warmed up to either the story or the way in which it was told. Somehow the past just wasn't made compelling enough for me, nor was the present. Neither the story nor the characters grabbed me.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
L. J. Roberts
4.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite but still a very good book in the series
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2009
First Sentence: The man in the moon tunnel stops and listens to the night above, shivering despite the sweat which trickles into his ears, making the drums flutter like the beat of pigeons' wings.

Journalist Philip Dryden is doing a story on an archeological dig at the site of a WWII PoW camp. More is found than artifacts when a tunnel is uncovered containing the skeleton of a man who had been shot in the forehead. What makes it more unusual it that he had been traveling toward the camp rather than escaping from it. This embarks Dryden on a story of murder, artifacts and family secrets, including this own and his wife's, a woman in a Locked-In Syndrome for the past five years.

There was a harder edge to this book than the previous in the series. Kelly does a wonderful job of conveying the emotion of his characters which gives this book great impact. For Dryden, it is the frustration and fatigue of caring for this wife, along with the guilt and love that still exists. There is also his antagonistic friendship with Humph, his driver and all the fears and nightmares with which Dryden lives.

I love learning from books. It was interesting to be at Dryden's shoulder as he wrote and filed his news stories. Not only did I learn about the PoW camps in England but about Seahenge, the artist Richard Dadd and chariot burials. All fascinating stuff and I am so grateful for the existence of the internet. More importantly, these things added strength and veracity to the story.

It's not the easiest book in the series to read. The story is a complicated one, aided by narrative from the past (unfortunately written in long passages of italics). Where it begins down one path it ultimately turns and goes down another path entirely. I was never able to anticipate when the story was going but allowed it to take me with it to a very satisfying end.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Damaskcat
5.0 out of 5 stars The Moon Tunnel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
Journalist Philip Dryden is interested by the discovery of a skeleton in a tunnel which led from a former prisoner of war camp . The body seems to have been using the tunnel to get into the camp rather than escape from it and it seems to have met its death by shooting.

The archaeologists excavating the area seem uninterested in the body and the police are even less interested. But Philip believes there is more to it than appears and his hunch is proved right when a much more modern body is discovered in the same trench.

I found this a totally absorbing story and I was interested in all the background information about prisoners of war in England. I love the setting of this novel, and the series - in and around Ely - and the author writes evocatively about it. I like the characters - the enigmatic Dryden himself with his tragic private life; Humph - the taxi driver who loves junk food and language tapes and Dryden's fellow staff members at The Crow - the local newspaper for which he writes.

If you like crime stories with interesting backgrounds and believable characters then try the Philp Dryden series.
3 people found this helpful
 Report
farmyard
4.0 out of 5 stars The Moon Tunnel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2013
Verified Purchase
I found the book a good read, however, sometimes I feel that the author depicts a depressing view of life in Norfolk/cambridge. It would be nice to be a bit uplifted sometimes.
Report
P Attree
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
So much going on - but not so much that the plot is ever lost. Kelly is a master of interweaving peoples lives and problems and making each character believable. I had a picture in my head for each one from his descriptions. Also the sense of place is written from a deep knowledge and love of the area. Captivating. Can't wait to read the next!
Report
Y. K. Autie
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating plot. Beautifully written.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2014
Verified Purchase
I couldn't put this book down unless it was in the early hours of the morning when I was shattered. A super plot that is full of surprises & pithy prose. Absolutely up the usual Jim Kelly standard.
One person found this helpful
 Report
saxonwwolf
5.0 out of 5 stars great stuff
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
Jim Kelly just go's on delivering , plot after plot. great stuff.
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report