Wednesday, March 23, 2022

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths

First Line from Prologue: At first, she thinks that he'll be coming back.

Clearing out her mother's belongings in London raises questions for Ruth Galloway. Why did her mother keep a photograph of Ruth's cottage that was taken long before Ruth lived there? She always hated the place, so it doesn't make sense. Although Ruth's determined to find answers to her questions, all that is put aside when Covid rears its ugly head. Ruth and her young daughter Kate are in lockdown in the cottage, Ruth trying to teach her university courses online while home-schooling Kate. Fortunately, their new next-door neighbor Zoe is quite nice, and they become friendly.

Meanwhile, Nelson is investigating the deaths of women that may or may not be suicides. When he links the deaths to an archaeological discovery, he breaks curfew to visit Ruth-- where he finds Ruth chatting to her neighbor. A neighbor whom he recognizes as someone who was once tried for murder...

~

The only bad thing about turning the last page on a Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery by Elly Griffiths is knowing that you have an interminable wait for the next one, and The Locked Room is no exception. 

While some readers wish to avoid books that deal with the pandemic, I like seeing how different parts of the world cope. For instance, I wasn't aware that during lockdown the British would stand on their doorsteps at a certain day and time each week to clap and show their support for carers. And that's not the only thing I learned, which is par for the course in an Elly Griffith mystery. I learned the background of the "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" nursery rhyme and was reminded once again that I really want to read more about the historical figure, Julian of Norwich.

There are some serious things happening to the cast members that fans of this series have come to know and love, and the mystery itself is a humdinger, filled with such excellent misdirection that I was led straight down the garden path. (I love it when that happens.) Nelson is investigating a series of deaths that, although initially thought to be suicides, just don't add up. For instance, why was one woman's room locked from the outside? And why would someone kill themselves right after putting dinner in the microwave to heat?

For me, the most chilling aspect of The Locked Room was something that I'd never considered-- how poisons within relationships can rise to the surface during something like lockdown. How fortunate I am to be highly compatible with-- and happily married to-- my husband!

Even if you're new to this series, don't be surprised if you read The Locked Room and have a tear in your eye at the overuse of exclamation points at the end. Among her fans, Elly Griffiths is well known for working her very special kind of magic.

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
ISBN: 9781529409659
Quercus © 2022
Hardcover, 384 pages
 
Police Procedural, #14 Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Amazon UK.

26 comments:

  1. Yes, we all clapped for the NHS during lockdown, every Thursday I think it was. It was quite a thing really. Must catch up with Ruth, I think I have a couple to read before this, or maybe just one. Must check but this series is an automatic 'must read' for me. Must also get to The Postscript Murders.

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    1. The Postscript Murders is a good'un, too. (No surprise there.)

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  2. Well, it's hard to go wrong with an Elly Griffiths novel, Cathy, so I figured you'd love this one. And I have to say, I like the way she's woven Covid into the story. My guess is, a lot of authors will be doing that as time goes by, and it's interesting to see how it's done.

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    1. Yes, I think we'll be seeing it more and more, and I'm finding that I like seeing each writer's "take" on it.

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  3. Oh, I am so happy to hear your thoughts on this new Ruth book. I'll wait until summer to read it after publication here, but...again, thanks for the review. Something so wonderful to look forward to. And, yes, I've been one who has not been completely happy with some of the ways COVID has popped up in books. That being said, seems like this one is done well. Kind of depends on the author and the treatment of the last couple of years. I was fine with how Michael Connelly included it in his latest book. One more thing - I am so happy to hear that the medical community and care people were clapped for each week. They certainly deserve it.

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    1. Yes, they do deserve that, and much more besides.

      I agree with you about the way Michael Connelly handles Covid in his latest Ballard mystery. Very well done.

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  4. I should definitely read these books since I actually knew a Dr. Ruth Galloway!

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    1. Now it's going to be scary if you tell me she was an archaeologist, too!

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  5. I also love learning about the details of people's lives in different parts of the world or just in a different place than I live. Learning how people coped with lockdown is very interesting. Sounds like Elly Griffiths did this well. Locked room mysteries are some of my favorites. Overall, sounds like a great read!

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  6. Just curious...do you find yourself now disregarding the first scenario that sets up the potential criminal because it seems that it's almost always not that person who actually did it? I love the side plots but it seems like most crime novelists don't disclose anything leading to the real criminal that early on...or maybe it's just the ones I read most that write that way.

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    1. I think a lot of writers don't disclose much about the real criminal early on, but that doesn't mean I discount that first scenario. In Griffiths' case, she introduced the criminal rather early on, but she was so sneaky about it that the clues flew right under my radar.

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  7. I really need to catch up with this series. I think I'm four, maybe five books behind now!

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    1. You could probably hear me gasp from there. Yikes! This is one of the few series I make sure I'm completely caught up on.

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  8. Great review but it didn't make your top books of 2022.
    So the plot thickens on the personal front. Hmmm.

    Still haven't purchased it from Amazon UK as I'm a bit intimidated by a few things, including not knowing the cost for shipping and conversion to dollars. And also thinking I have well over the number of books I can read until the library has this one.

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    1. I would offer to send you my copy but I have no clue how soon I'd be able to get it to you. Things are a bit fraught here at the moment.

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    2. As the oldie song says, "I will survive!" Lots to read here, even some nonmysteries. I am reading a novel entitled "Zorrie," about a woman farmer in Indiana, beginning in the Depression. For a time, she worked at a radium factory, and she and the other women used radium as make-up, decorations, etc., because it glowed. No idea of its dangers. I thought of your book review of Kate Moore's book about the "radium girls."

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    3. You should because Zorrie fits right in with them.

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  9. Yes. Those poor women thought since the radium glowed, they used it as make-up, even drank it. It's so maddening that they didn't know of its dangers in real life as Kate Moore explains, but also as depicted in this very lovely novel.

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    1. What is infuriating is that the women who worked at the radium dial factories were told over and over and over again that there was nothing wrong with radium.

      As I said in my review, I can cut these companies some slack when no one knew how dangerous radium was, but once they knew, they didn't want to lose those lovely profits, and when the lies and coverups began, I turned into a figurative hanging judge.

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  10. Absolutely. Agree with your every word.

    When profits are involved, the health of the workers and, in many cases, communities, is ignored.

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    1. I see a few shades of red when I hear the term "stock portfolio." How much evil has been done in order to keep stock portfolios nice and fat? And do I really want to know?

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  11. True, true.
    And look at how much the CEOs are earning who deny raises to the employees.

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    1. I love what the former Mrs. Bezos is doing with her divorce settlement.

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  12. Me, too. Love it. And he is not a philanthropist, prefers to buy companies, newspapers and travel to outer space.

    And Mackenzie Scott just gave $232 million to Planned Parenthood, on top of her many other excellent donations.


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