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The Last Remains: The unmissable new book in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries

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It’s been an idea that’s been in all our heads for a long time and I’ve been doing the research as I go - I’ve got a whole file of stories about Norfolk that haven’t made it into the books. And having a bit of a pause with Ruth has given me time to put it together. As always with this series there are problematic elements yet again Ruth walks into obvious danger with someone she finds really creepy, yet again she takes her daughter. This isn't plausible by book 15 and follows the same old formula. There are continuity errors, a vegan eats non vegan ice cream.... a one off could be ignored but previous books in this series a vegetarian against fishing has eaten both fish and chips and pork chow mien, a vegan has eaten eggs, butter and cream, lots of other continuity mistakes.... The biggest down side for this one was yet again a main character is a main suspect and many of the main characters know many of the accused and the murder victim, this is too farfetched after happening so many times. I don't know why the author does this, it's quite plausible to have a suspect and victim that none of the main characters know.

The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot. At this point, Ruth and Nelson have been 14-years in this painful dance. And in this, the final instalment, it’s time to put up or shut up. I was glad Judy and Cathbad actually got married at the end of the book. They have two children. Maybe I’m old-fashioned but marriage seems like a natural event for a couple who actually share interests and have a good relationship. That one also started by one of the parties cheating on a spouse, but we forget that aspect sooner bc Judy actually shows integrity and ends her marriage, whereas Nelson never does bc the relationship and commonalities between he and his wife Michelle are both longer and stronger than Judy’s. The Ruth Galloway series is a different sort of police procedural with forensic archaeology, because Ruth (our main protagonist) is an archaeologist.

She tells Ruth about the mysterious and threatening letters she's been receiving. These letters, targeted at female priests, intriguingly blend local archaeological references with poignant mentions of a “woman in blue, mourning for the world.” When builders renovating a café in King’s Lynn find a human skeleton behind a wall, they call for DCI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology at the nearby University of North Norfolk. Ruth is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with Nelson. However, she agrees to look at the case. While the location the character lives in is quite vague, she has always imagined her cottage to be near Titchwell or Holme. And the university is just outside King’s Lynn. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson reaches out to Ruth for assistance. He's been getting peculiar letters that intertwine ritualistic sacrifice, Shakespeare, and biblical references. The situation escalates with the vanishing of another girl and a subsequent letter, eerily mirroring those linked to the first child. Meanwhile, DCI Harry Nelson is working on a chilling case: three children found lifeless in their home. The situation worsens with another child's abduction. An individual, identifying themselves as the “Childminder,” takes responsibility for the kidnapping. Could the Childminder also be the murderer?

I think that because people have lived in Norfolk for a very long time, and tend to stay once they’re in Norfolk, stories are passed down in a way they maybe aren’t in other parts of the country. There’s a great folk memory in Norfolk. Elly Griffith’s works are compulsively readable — carefully plotted with intriguing, quirky and relatable characters. I enjoyed the details of local areas such as Thetford forest and Grimes caves and of the folktales such as the green children and the fairy cow that were very much parts of my childhood. Andy’s an archaeologist and he mentioned that prehistoric people thought that marshland was a sacred place because it’s neither land or sea, but kind of something in between. They thought it was a link to the afterlife, and that’s why you get bodies buried there, the so-called bog bodies.

Ruth Galloway Book 9 | The Chalk Pit

Every year in Norwich, the Outcast Dead ceremony pays homage to souls laid to rest in local paupers' graves. Having recently discovered the remains of the infamous Mother Hook, Ruth is particularly interested in this year's event. The trail leads Ruth and Nelson to the Neolithic flint mines in Grime's Graves. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?

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