68. The Chalk Pit (#9 Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

listened on Audible

2017
374 pgs.
Adult mystery series
Finished 11/22/22
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating:  3.5
Setting: Contemporary King's Lynn, England

My comments: So many characters it was hard to keep them straight, but an interesting story about the possibility of (homeless) people living underground.  Somehow, though, much that happened was at least one step away from believability....and it ended with a huge question mark.  Michelle is pregnant.  Ruth and Nelson just happened to fall into bed together once again.  Very little build up for that.  I think too much was left for the imagination in this one, but my fullest attention wasn't on the story.  I kept listening when I got into bed and falling asleep....over and over again.  So this may have impacted some of my enjoyment.

Goodreads synopsis:  Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of underground tunnels. When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they are recent - the boiling not the medieval curiosity she thought - DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands.

Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the rumours both Ruth and the police have heard of a vast network of old chalk-mining tunnels under King's Lynn, home to a vast community of rough sleepers, the clues point in only one direction. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and their history - but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing possibly be true?

As the weather gets hotter, tensions rise. A local woman goes missing and the police are under attack. Ruth and Nelson must unravel the dark secrets of The Underground and discover just what gruesome secrets lurk at its heart - before it claims another victim.