The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths

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 Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

It is the middle of September 2019 as The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths begins and locals are on a spit of land jutting out into the North Sea. It is dangerous to be out on the spit of land as the tide is coming in, but the group is out there using metal detectors as they are on a quest.  Recently some Iron Age coins were found in the area and the group, known as “The Night Hawks,” are in the spirit of the hunt. They did not expect to find a body.

But that is what they did find, and clearly it is a person that has been deceased for only a short period of time. That means cops and ultimately DCI Nelson and his team.

Ruth Galloway is back at the University Of North Norfolk and is the new Head of Archeology. Phil Trent has accepted early retirement, so Ruth is back and adjusting to her new position. For now, she is resisting the urge to force the staff to call her supreme leader. Though it would be fun.

Soon after the body is found, DCI Nelson, who is being pushed by his boss to retire, calls Ruth to the scene to examine the body. The first of several interesting cases in The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery that keeps Ruth and the police working hard in the days to come.

The latest in the long running series is another good one. Complex and well-established characters and their various relationships serve as the backdrop to the mysteries at foot. There are a number of mysteries at different levels of complexity at work in the read. The result is a complicated book that leaves open the possibility of significant change in the series.

The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths is strongly recommended. As is the series that is best read in order.

 

The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery

Elly Griffiths

https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/book/the-night-hawks/

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Night-Hawks/9780358237051

June 2021

ISBN# 978-0-358-23705-1

Hardback (also available in paperback, audio, and e-book formats

368 Pages

 

My reading copy came from the Hampton-Illinois Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021

 

The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

Once again, it is our pleasure to welcome guest reviewer Kevin Tipple the the BPL Bookblog.  For more reviews, news about books, and information for authors, check out Kevin's Corner.

 

Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

 

It is the middle of May 2018 as The Lantern Men: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths begins and a lot has changed in recent months. Kate is now nine. Dr. Ruth Galloway now teaches at Cambridge and lives with Frank. She is no longer the North Norfolk police’s resident forensic archeologist and is far from her beloved cottage on the Saltmarsh. While she will always have a connection to DCI Henry Nelson because of Kate, she is trying her best to close that door of her life and move forward with Frank and her new job duties.

 

That is until convicted murderer Ivor March offers a deal that Nelson cannot refuse. Finally convicted of two murders, Ivor Martin, remains a suspect as far as DCI Nelson is concerned for the cases of Nicole Ferris and Jenny McGuire. They are the same body type as the other victims, both lived in the Norfolk area at the time as did his confirmed victims, and both had contact with March by way of his classes as did the confirmed victims. Nelson is sure, without a shred of doubt, March did it.  He knows March did it. Proving it is the problem as there has been no sign of the bodies or any evidence in either case.

 

That is until Ivor March decides to cooperate and will do so for a price. Not only does he want a meeting with Nelson and Dr. Ruth Galloway, he will only tell them where the bodies are if she handles the dig herself. Clearly March is working an unknown agenda, but if it means promising to do the excavations will bring the deceased home to their loved ones, Dr. Galloway is willing to agree to the meeting and to supervise the recovery of the bodies.

  

She does and in addition to the bodies unearths a tangled web of lies and deceit, motives, and strange relationships going back decades. Local legends and modern-day murders make The Lantern Men: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths a compelling read.

 

Multiple storylines in addition to the one noted above are at work in this complicated read. This is a series that should be read in order and that is especially true here with numerous references to earlier events in the series, the changing nature of relationships, and the passage of time. There are frequent references to the fact that is has been 10 years since the first book, The Crossing Places, and how things have changed for Dr. Galloway, DCI Nelson, and many of the secondary characters who have overtime, had major roles in the series. The reader is left with the sense this is a turning point book where things will reset going forward in the series.

 

A complicated and engrossing book, The Lantern Men: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths is strongly recommended, as is the series.

 

 

 

The Lantern Men: A Ruth Galloway Mystery

Elly Griffiths

http://www.ellygriffiths.co.uk/

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

http://www.hmhbooks.com

2020

ISBN# 978-0-358-23704-4

Hardback (also available in paperback, audio, and e-book formats

368 Pages (includes several pages of the next book in the series)

 

My reading copy came from the Skyline Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020    

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

Reviewed by Jeanne

British archaeologist Ruth Galloway receives a call from an Italian colleague, asking if she will come to Italy to help him with an excavation near a small mountain village where he has uncovered some interesting remains.  Angelo Morelli has been working with a film company (who is helping to finance the dig) but they are losing interest.  He thinks that if Ruth comes, that as a “foreign expert” she might re-ignite some enthusiasm—and funds.  He offers Ruth the use of an apartment and encourages her to bring her young daughter, Kate, as well as another friend and her son. It will be a holiday of sorts, expenses paid.

Intrigued by both the promise of a holiday and by Angelo’s talk of “anomalies” with the skeleton he has found, Ruth sets out.  She soon discovers that her presence isn’t welcomed by all and that even Angelo is claiming to have received threats.  Is it about the Roman archaeological site—or more recent history?

But as fans know, the Ruth Galloway books are much more than mysteries; they’re a chance to find out what is going on in the complicated lives of a fascinating group of characters.  The core relationship is that between Ruth and DCI Nelson, the married police detective who first brought her into the realm of murder investigations when he called her in to consult after bones were found near Ruth’s home in the saltmarsh, but all the characters introduced since then have gone on to live very interesting lives. Sometimes I have to remind myself that there’s a murder to solve, but I’d rather find out what is going on with Cathbad, Clough, Judy, et al. 

Griffiths does an excellent job of creating characters we care about, even the ones who may seem unlikable at first.  They may still be people we don’t love, but we at least understand—like in real life. Ruth is a wonderful creation; she’s intelligent, independent, thirty something who is extremely competent at her job, but somewhat less organized in her personal life.  She’s also unfashionable, overweight, and sometimes socially awkward. 

The books also have a streak of understated humor.  I particularly enjoyed this exchange in Dark Angel when Ruth reluctantly refuses a second helping of delicious pasta, the village priest encourages her by saying, “You young women are too thin.”  Griffith writes, “It is almost enough to make Ruth become a Catholic.”

Given the strong part that character plays in these books, I highly recommend that they be read in order.  

The Crossing Places

The Janus Stone

The House at Sea’s End

A Room Full of Bones

A Dying Fall

The Outcast Dead

The Ghost Fields

The Woman in Blue

The Chalk Pit

The Dark Angel

The Stone Circle (due in May, 2019)