47. The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths

#7 Ruth Galloway

read on Kindle
2015

370 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished 7/5/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England

My comments: Kate is now five years old.  The mystery is interesting, a three generation family, the Blackstocks, that live in a huge old manor, finds one of the first generation's sons shot in the head and buried in an airplane in a place where he did not die.  Outside of the mystery, Michelle spends a good part of the year cheating on Nelson...and Ruth and Frank get together, though Ruth admits she's in love with someone else (Nelson of course)  A good one, though lots of bleakness.

Goodreads synopsis:  The chilling discovery of a downed World War II plane with a body inside leads Ruth and DCI Nelson to uncover a wealthy family’s secrets in the seventh Ruth Galloway mystery.

Norfolk is suffering from record summer heat when a construction crew unearths a macabre discovery—a downed World War II plane with the pilot still inside. Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway quickly realizes that the skeleton couldn’t possibly be the pilot, and DNA tests identify the man as Fred Blackstock, a local aristocrat who had been reported dead at sea. When the remaining members of the Blackstock family learn about the discovery, they seem strangely frightened by the news.

Events are further complicated by a TV company that wants to make a film about Norfolk’s deserted air force bases, the so-called Ghost Fields, which have been partially converted into a pig farm run by one of the younger Blackstocks. As production begins, Ruth notices a mysterious man lurking on the outskirts of Fred Blackstock’s memorial service. Then human bones are found on the family’s pig farm. Can the team outrace a looming flood to find a killer?

Laced with dry humor and anchored by perennial fan favorite Ruth, The Ghost Fields will delight fans new and old.

1. The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

#6 Ruth Galloway (Forensic Anthropologist)

listened on Audible

2014
374 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Series
Finished 1/1/2022
Goodreads rating: 4.13
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England

My comments: I continue to enjoy Ruth Galloway, a feisty, believable archeological anthropologist who lives in Norfolk, England. In this episode, two major plots intertwine to tell the story, much of it set in Norwich (where I visited for a day, on foot, and have many pleasant memories, so I could picture it a bit...). Notorious Jemima Green's 150 year-old bones have been excavated, and an American TV company has come to film it. Ruth unwillingly becomes involved -she doesn't like any limelight - because she's the expert on the case. At the same time, the police are pursuing the possibility that a mother has killed her babies ... and then there are two kidnappings of one-year-olds nearby. This keeps the familiar police team of Nelson, Clough, Judy and Tim harried and busy. Good storytelling, fun going back and forth between points of view. Great narration with enough of a British accent to keep it very British, but not so much that you cannot understand it.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of what might be a notorious Victorian child murderess and a baby snatcher known as "The Childminder" threatens modern-day Norfolk in the latest irresistible mystery from Elly Griffiths.

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway uncovers the bones of a Victorian murderess while a baby snatcher threatens modern-day Norfolk in this exciting new entry in a beloved series.
Every year a ceremony is held in Norwich for the bodies in the paupers' graves: the Service for the Outcast Dead. Ruth has a particular interest in this year's proceedings. Her recent dig at Norwich Castle turned up the body of the notorious Mother Hook, who was hanged in 1867 for the murder of five children. Now Ruth is the reluctant star of the TV series Women Who Kill, working alongside the program's alluring history expert, Professor Frank Barker.

DCI Harry Nelson is immersed in the case of three children found dead in their home. He is sure that the mother is responsible. Then another child is abducted and a kidnapper dubbed the Childminder claims responsibility. Are there two murderers afoot, or is the Childminder behind all the deaths? The team must race to find out-and the stakes couldn't be any higher when another child goes missing. 

112. A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths

#4 Ruth Galloway  - British Forensic Archeologist
listened to audio on Audible
narrated by Jane McDowell
Unabridged audio (9:44)
2012
352 pgs.
Adult Mystery - Police Procedural
Finished 8/2/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.91 - 14,325 ratings
My rating: 4

First line/s:  "The coffin is definitely a health and safety hazard."

What I posted on Goodreads:  Another interesting mystery including a family museum, a horse farm, a 14th century bishop that turns out to be a female (!) and all sorts of ups and downs with parenting...including by Kate's father and Kate's father's wife, Michelle.....

My comments:  The mystery is about the Smith family, their horse farm, drug dealing, aboriginal bones. and a 14th century bishop(who turns out to be female) in the Smith Museum.  It's also about Harry Nelson getting sick and his wife, Michelle, coming to terms witht he fact that he is Kate's father and needs to be involved in her life (very good of Michelle, i think).  At the end of the book, Ruth and Max are becoming a couple.  Upcoming things to contemplate:  Nelson's sidekick is pregnatn, and although she is married, she has had a fling with Casbad.  A good story, though I wish Griffiths didn't use quite as many poinst-ov fivew as she did.  It all come together well, and was quite interesting to listen to.

Goodreads synopsis:  Combine a splash of Alan Bradley with a pinch of Kathy Reichs and you have a gripping new Ruth Galloway Mystery -- a good-hearted mystery series with a dark edge.
           Set in Norfolk, England, A Room Full of Bones embroils, once again, our brainy heroine in a crime tinged by occult forces. On Halloween night, the Smith Museum in King's Lynn is preparing for an unusual event -- the opening of a coffin containing the bones of a medieval bishop. But when forensic archaelogist Ruth Galloway arrives to supervise, she finds the curator, Neil Topham, dead beside the coffin. Topham's death seems to be related to other uncanny incidents, including the arcane and suspect methods of a group called the Elginists, which aims to repatriate the museum's extensive collection of Aborigine skulls; the untimely demise of the museum's owner, Lord Smith; and the sudden illness of DCI Harry Nelson, who Ruth's friend Cathbad believes is lost in The Dreaming -- a hallucinogenic state central to some Indigenous Australian beliefs. Tensions build as Nelson's life hangs in the balance. Something must be done to set matters right and lift Nelson out of the clutches of death, but will Ruth be able to muster herself out of a state of guilt and foreboding in order to do what she does best?

8. House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

listened to the Audio Book (bought Audible)
narrated by Jane McDowell
Unabridged audio (10:45)
2011 Quercus Publishing
352 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 1/13/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.93 - 14,424
My rating: 4
Setting: Norwich area, England

First line/s:  "Two people, a man and a woman, are walking along a hospital corridor."

My comments:  I like Ruth Galloway a lot.  I like that she's not gorgeous, a tiny bit overweight and out of shape, and very, very smart.  I like that she is an atheist but goes along wither her Druid friend and her Catholic friends,  rolling her eyes at her "born again" parents constantly.  And I like that we follow, step-by-step, what happens with people's realization of who Kate's father a might be, nd and what happens between Ruth and Nelson, who is happily married to Michelle.  I do believe that you can love two people at the same time, and that's what's happening to Nelson.  Ruth's learning to live with it quite well, and I really respect her living in her cottage and isolation with her cat and baby, teaching at the local university and being pulled into local police activities when her expertise as a forensic archaeologist/anthropologist is needed.  Interesting series, quirky , well developed characters, and fascinating setting.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ruth Galloway has just returned from maternity leave and is struggling to juggle work and motherhood. When a team from the University of North Norfolk, investigating coastal erosion, finds six bodies at the foot of the cliff, she is immediately put on the case.

From Amazon:  A team of archaeologists, investigating coastal erosion on the north Norfolk coast, unearth six bodies buried at the foot of a cliff. How long have they been there? What could have happened to them? Forensics expert Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson are drawn together again to unravel the past. Tests reveal that the bodies have lain, preserved in the sand, for sixty years. The mystery of their deaths stretches back to the Second World War, a time when Great Britain was threatened by invasion. But someone wants the truth of the past to stay buried, and will go to any lengths to keep it that way... even murder.

6. The Janus Stone - Elly Griffiths

#2 Ruth Galloway
2010 Quercus Pub
read on my iPhone
327 pgs.
Adult murder Mystery - archaeological forensic pathologist
Finished Feb. 8, 2016
Goodreads rating: 3.90
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Norwich, England

First line/s:  "A light breeze runs through the long grass at the top of the hill.  Close up the land looks ordinary, just heather and coarse pasture with the occasional white stone standing out like a signpost."  

My comments:  I enjoyed this second-in-the-series book very much.  It did follow a similar plotline to the first, and I will definitely read a third to see if it strays or sticks to the same sort of plot.  I like Ruth Galloway.  I haven't been to many places outside of the US, but I have been to Norwich (nowhere near the salt marshes, though) so I can somewhat picture that part of the setting.  I look forward to seeing what the relationship between Ruth and Nelson will be like once the baby's born.....

A Goodreads review (liked it better than the Goodreads synopsis):  This is the second in the Ruth Galloway series and I liked it very much. Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in Norfolk, England. Ruth is around 40, chubby, and very good at what she does. She is also pregnant from a one night stand. Her parents, staunch Christians, are horrified.
          Ruth lives in an isolated salt marsh and just outside her front door are archaeology sites. I am fascinated by this. The newest find is a Roman village and a new professional digging it out, Max Grey. There is a spark between them.
          A child's skeleton is found at a redevelopment project and Ruth is called in as an expert to determine how old the bones on. Harry Nelson, police detective, is brought into contact with her as is Cathbad, a druid. The spectacle of Cathbad running around in a purple robe brings a smile to my face.
          This is a great series. Ruth is a competent woman who knows her own mind. She's not drop dead gorgeous yet she attracts a few great men. Maybe intelligence is not such a bad thing. I can't wait to read the next one.

15. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths

#1 Ruth Galloway, Norfolk (England) forensic archeologist

Audio read by Jane McDowell

8 unabridged cds (8:27)
2009 AudioGO

2010 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

320 pgs.

Adult murder mystery with archaeological overtones

Finished 2/14/2015

Goodreads rating: 3.85

My rating:    4 - Loved it

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England

1st sentence/s:  "They wait for the tide and set out at first light.   It has rained all night and in the morning the ground is seething gently, a mist rising up to join the overhanging clouds."

My comments:  I'm quite excited to have found a new mystery series, and it seems to have pulled me right in! Ruth Galloway, in her late thirties, short and overweight (12 1/2 stone, but I'm not at all sure how much that is) lives by herself with her cats in a small cottage in the salt marshes near Norfolk, England.  I can't quite picture this salt marsh, where people who are walking along can get swallowed up and die/drown, or easily get pulled out to sea.  I really want to see this place!  I think I've actually been quite close, taking the train from Cambridge to Norwich a few years ago - while looking for Norfolk on a map of Britain, it seemed quite close.  Ruth's relationship with Inspector Harry Nelson was really interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it's going to develop in later books.  Their working relationship and respect for each other is strong, but the personal relationship that's begun certainly has some far-reaching possibilities. Although resolution of the mystery was, indeed, pretty easy to figure out, I'm expecting some good things from books-to-come in this series.  This was just setting them up!

Goodreads book summary:  When she’s not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone in a remote area called Saltmarsh near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants - not quite earth, not quite sea.
      When a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help. Nelson thinks he has found the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing ten years ago. Since her disappearance he has been receiving bizarre letters about her, letters with references to ritual and sacrifice.
      The bones actually turn out to be two thousand years old, but Ruth is soon drawn into the Lucy Downey case and into the mind of the letter writer, who seems to have both archaeological knowledge and eerie psychic powers. Then another child goes missing and the hunt is on to find her. 
      As the letter writer moves closer and the windswept Norfolk landscape exerts its power, Ruth finds herself in completely new territory – and in serious danger.
     THE CROSSING PLACES marks the beginning of a captivating new crime series featuring an irresistible heroine.