The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

First Line: "And we ask your abundant blessing, Lord, on these, the outcast dead..."

Forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway likes the Service for the Outcast Dead-- prayers said for plague victims, paupers, and prostitutes who were buried in mass graves-- but this time she has another reason for attending the service at Norwich Castle. She's almost positive that she's uncovered the remains of the infamous child murderer known as Mother Hook. Her boss is thrilled, and before she can blink she finds herself in front of the cameras for a television series called "Women Who Kill." It's not all bad, since she gets to work with the handsome and intriguing American historian, Dr. Frank Barker. 

In the meantime, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson is working the type of case he dreads. A woman's third-- and last-- child has died, and Harry believes she's killed all three of her children. Before he can find definitive proof, children begin to go missing, and notes are left behind by someone self-styled "The Childminder." It's just the sort of case that strikes terror into the hearts of every parent.

This series is one of my favorites, and The Outcast Dead is the best so far. Griffiths continues her theme of parenthood with two storylines. Mother Hook is an infamous Victorian child murderer who is alleged to have killed at least twenty children in her care and sold their bodies to the resurrection men (grave robbers who sold corpses to medical schools). Against everything, Ruth believes the woman to be innocent, and the reader gets to follow along as she finds information and pieces things together. The second storyline with a mother accused of killing her three children as well as the child abductor is DCI Harry Nelson's bailiwick, and suspense builds as his team tries to find the truth before any more children disappear.

As good as the storylines are, I have to say that Griffiths' cast of characters is superb. Ruth is intelligent and strong, but she's also a single mother who's been living in a sort of limbo. Her house is out in the marshes-- neither land nor sea. She's neither married nor single, really, since she has a very young daughter. She's written a book, but it's yet to be published. It was good to see that there may be changes afoot for one of my favorite characters.

Although Ruth is the star of the series, this is very much an ensemble cast. The father of Ruth's daughter, DCI Harry Nelson, is very much married, and we get to see how these people deal with their mistakes because they certainly haven't been swept under the rug. As Nelson works his cases, readers get to know the team of police officers who work with him, and their lives begin to figure more strongly into each book. This small group of characters have formed a very modern sort of family-- dysfunctional at times, but capable of working together with energy, intelligence, and compassion.

In the mood for a little history, two good mysteries, and a cast of characters so real that they feel like family members? I highly recommend Elly Griffiths' Dr. Ruth Galloway series. I can't get enough!

The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

ISBN: 9780547792774

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2014

Hardcover, 384 pages

Police Procedural, #6 Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery

Rating: A+

Source: publicist 

A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

First Line: At first he isn't even scared.

Dr. Ruth Galloway's old university friend Dan Golding has died in a house fire. Still reeling from that news, Dan's death is put in an entirely different light when she receives a letter he wrote and posted to her just before he died. In the letter, Dan tells Ruth that he's made a great archaeological discovery, and that he's scared for his life.

When the department head at the university asks Ruth to come up to examine the bones Dan found, she packs up her eighteen-month-old daughter, Kate, and they (along with family friend Cathbad) make the journey to Blackpool, Lancashire-- home of Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson.

Once on campus, Ruth ignores the information about right-wing groups spouting hatred and racial slurs and focuses on the bones. Dan mentioned only one clue in his letter-- the Raven King. Ruth knows that this is an ancient name for King Arthur. Quick examination reveals a surprising fact about King Arthur, but when she returns a second time to examine them thoroughly, the bones have disappeared.

Nelson just happens to be in Blackpool visiting his mother. Naturally he gets drawn into the investigation, especially when it appears that Ruth and Kate may be in danger. Someone seems to be willing to kill to keep those bones a secret.

This is the fifth strong entry in the series about forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway. She's a rather plain, plump woman in her early forties who's a single working mother. She's the furthest thing from glamorous, but she's got a mind like a steel trap... especially now that she's devised a routine for Kate that means she can get some badly needed sleep, too. Yes, this is a series that is character rich: Ruth, Kate, Cathbad the Druid, DCI Harry Nelson, Nelson's gorgeous wife, and more. These are even characters that you can take sides over. You can tsk tsk over Ruth's indiscretion with Harry, or you can decide not to like Harry because, as a married man, he should've known better than to sleep with Ruth. You can take sides with the wronged wife, or you can decide that Mrs. Nelson is at fault for what Harry did. Or... you can just enjoy them all as adults who can and do make mistakes. These are people I'd want to meet in the evening down at the local pub. Share a pint, share the news, share our lives.

But there's a good mystery contained in these pages along with all the latest doings of those fully-fleshed characters, and some heart-in-your-throat high octane action. If you need anything else, just add in some fascinating information about King Arthur. Dr. Ruth Galloway knows her anthropology and archaeology, and I always appreciate learning from her.

Action, danger, history, a puzzling whodunit, and a fascinating cast of characters. Haven't read any of Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway mysteries? What's stopping you?

A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

ISBN: 9780547798165

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt © 2013

Hardcover, 400 pages

Forensic Archaeology, #5 Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery

Rating: A

Source: NetGalley

A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths

First Line: The coffin is definitely a health and safety hazard.

The coffin in question belongs to a medieval bishop named Augustine who is dug up when the site of his burial is scheduled to be turned into a huge grocery store. Despite all the warnings Augustine gave about leaving his remains alone, a small "unveiling" is scheduled in the Smith Museum, presently owned by one of Augustine's descendants. Forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway has been asked to preside over the opening of the coffin, but when she shows up at the museum a little early, she finds the curator dead on the floor by the bishop's remains.

Ruth's daughter Kate has just turned one, and Ruth feels as though she's slowly getting the hang of being a mother, even if Kate lets her get very little sleep. She'd like to be more interested in the curator's death, but the coroner labels it natural causes, and Ruth moves on to the next items in her busy agenda.

Bishop Augustine's unveiling is done very quietly, which is a good thing because something totally unexpected occurs. Augustine's descendant, Lord Smith, shows Ruth a room full of Aboriginal bones another ancestor harvested and brought back to England from Australia. A group called the Elginists is demanding that the bones be repatriated to their homeland, but Lord Smith views them as his rightful possessions and refuses. Shortly thereafter Lord Smith dies-- also of natural causes?-- and Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson is brought in to investigate.

Having been searching for drug smugglers, Nelson isn't convinced that these deaths are natural, especially when threatening letters to both victims turn up, but when he's hospitalized with a mysterious and deadly fever, his team have to take up the slack and try to find out how a medieval bishop, Aboriginal bones and drug smuggling all tie in together.

Although part of a series, this book can easily be read as a standalone because Griffiths fills in many details from the previous books (sometimes to the detriment of earlier plot points). The story here is a good one, with several elements that I didn't deduce before the author showed me how they fit together.

If you're the type of reader who demands that favorite characters remain front and center in each book of a series, you're going to be a bit disappointed in this one. Although there is much about Ruth and Harry's ever-evolving relationship, they are often at the periphery of the investigation. Although I did miss them, this allows Griffiths to let her secondary characters stretch their wings a bit and provide many exciting scenes.

Two things really excited me about this book. One was the plot. I love stories with strong elements of superstition and legend in them that can be explained by something concrete and almost commonplace. Not only does it give my brain a workout, this sort of plot does the same for the characters in showing how they react to it and investigate it. Griffiths' plot moved like a well-oiled machine, and I found myself reading faster and faster in an attempt to gather it all in and find a solution before the characters did.

The second thing that excited me was Griffiths' cast of characters. The cast is growing and developing strong new faces, which bodes well for the future of the series. The relationship between Ruth and Harry with its awkwardness and misunderstandings, the way Ruth is adapting to motherhood and the appearance of another man in her life, the way Harry and his wife are trying to hold things together... all these elements are constantly evolving as they would in the real world. In this book I was reminded time and again of my favorite "relationship" series written by Deborah Crombie. To have this series join the ranks of those in which the characters attain such a level of verisimilitude is very exciting stuff indeed.

A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths

ISBN: 9780547271200

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  ©2012

Hardcover, 352 pages

#4 Ruth Galloway mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Amazon Vine

The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

Title: The House at Sea's End
Author: Elly Griffiths
ISBN: 9780547506142
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012
Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, Police Procedural, #3 Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery
Rating: A
Source: Amazon Vine

First Line: The tide is out.

Forensic archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway has just returned from maternity leave and is discovering how very difficult it is to juggle a newborn baby and the career that she loves. She is called in when a team surveying the effects of erosion on the Norfolk coast find bones in a ravine along the shoreline.

The bones date to World War II, and when Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson and his men begin asking questions, a Home Guard veteran reveals the existence of a secret that he and some other old soldiers have vowed to keep "to the death." It would appear that someone doesn't trust the old man because he is killed... and then a German journalist shows up and begins asking his own questions. Someone is insisting that these secrets be kept. With Ruth's help, Harry intends to find that person before anyone else can die.

Although this third book in the series stands on its own well, I would suggest beginning at the beginning because the relationships between the characters grow and develop throughout the books. In some ways this series bears a superficial resemblance to Julia Spencer-Fleming's which features the Reverend Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne, and Griffiths' series is every bit as strong.

Griffiths uses the setting of the crumbling cliffs and shoreline of Norfolk, England, as well as the ages of those who are hiding secrets to add tension and a sense of urgency to the book. In fact, I was so focused on the secretive old men that I completely forgot about trying to deduce the identity of the person who wanted the secrets kept the most.

Although the plot line involving World War II is absorbing, the ever-evolving relationship between Ruth and Harry is just as important. I really enjoyed watching Ruth trying to adapt to being a mother and Harry becoming more and more focused on a fascinating woman whom, not so very long ago, he never would've looked at twice.

Emotions will be coming to a boil. Lines will be drawn. Sides will be taken. And DCI Harry Nelson will continue to need Dr. Ruth Galloway's expertise with bones. This series just keeps on getting better. I've barely finished this book, and I'm already craving the next!

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The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

Title: The Janus Stone
Author: Elly Griffiths
ISBN: 9781849162364
Publisher: Quercus Publishing, 2010
Paperback, 320 pages
Genre: equal parts Amateur Sleuth and Police Procedural, #2 Ruth Galloway mystery
Rating: A-
Source: Purchased from The Book Depository.

First Line: A light breeze runs through the long grass at the top of the hill.

An old house is being torn down in Norwich to make way for a housing development. When the bones of a child are uncovered beneath a doorway, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson knows whom to call: Dr. Ruth Galloway, head of Forensic Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk.

Nelson wants answers, and he wants them fast-- the house used to be a children's home. In contacting the priest who ran the home at the time, he learns that two children did go missing forty years ago, but carbon dating proves the child's bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned. For reasons of her own, Ruth is drawn deeper and deeper into the case, but someone is attempting to put her off by trying to scare her to death.

Nothing makes a serial reader like me happier than when the second book in a series fulfills the promise made by the first. The gruff DCI Harry Nelson and the slightly awkward Ruth Galloway are very appealing main characters, but it's Ruth who really worms her way into my heart:

Ruth is dreadful at shopping. It is a female ritual that she has never mastered. Other women can disappear into a shop for half an hour and come out with piles of tasteful clothes in the right size, artfully matching accessories, and the perfect pair of shoes. Ruth can shop all day and still only have a T-shirt two sizes too small to show for it.

Plot, pacing and the Norfolk setting match Griffiths' skill in characterization, as well as her dryly humorous writing style. I also enjoy the archaeology angle, learning about pagan and Roman Britain as I turn the pages.

For any of you coming late to the Ruth Galloway party, you'll be happy to note that you don't have to start reading the series from the beginning (although it's much better if you do). The author provides enough backstory to keep you from being confused.

I've barely finished reading The Janus Stone, and I already can't wait to read the next, The House at Sea's End!

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