Haunted Ground by Erin Hart

In this intriguing mystery set in present day Ireland, there are two mysteries to solve; one from the present, and one from the 1600s.  The tale is set in motion when an Irish farmer unearths the head of a red-headed woman buried in the peat bog.  An archaeologist and a pathologist are called in to determine the origins of the woman.  Peat bogs prevent decay, so when the head is uncovered, it is unknown when it may have been buried - two years ago, or two hundred?  The farmer and the neighbors are at first wondering if the woman might be the missing wife of a local estate owner, who is suspected of murdering his wife and young child.  Cormac Maguire, the archaeologist, and Nora Gavin, an American pathologist, set out to investigate the buried head, but their work gets them more and more entwined with the locals and the present day mystery. The Irish setting is strongly portrayed, and provides an eerie mood to the piece.  326 pages