The House at Sea's End: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 3

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I love the little snippets of information we learn about the characters in each book. Clough eats almost constantly: McDonald's, Mars Bars, pot noodles, sandwiches, cakes . . . After just two books in this gripping series the central characters, forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson, have the allure of old friends, and it's great to find that the third title is just as enthralling as its predecessors. Erosion on the north Norfolk coast leads to the discovery of six bodies buried at the foot of a cliff, and it soon becomes clear that the corpses are German and have lain there since the second world war. Further investigation reveals a plan to repel an enemy invasion and an oath of secrecy sworn, in blood, by members of the Home Guard. Although the use of the present tense can be a bit uncomfortable at times, it doesn't detract from the sheer readability of this Boy's Own-style psychodrama with its cast of refreshingly unusual characters. The characters are pretty much the same, there’s Nelson, Ruth, Julie, and Shona. We do get an addition of a couple more, this was more to add something new to the story. I will say that this is The House at Sea’s End is the first book I’ve read that didn’t feel like Ruth’s story. There was far more emphasis on Nelson and his team. Ruth just didn’t feel as involved as she usually did. However saying that I loved watching Ruth struggle to work and be a mother and the insecurities that surrounded that. It was a really great insight into usually and infallible character. I really appreciated seeing her honest thoughts about being a mother. When a body washes up on the beach, it becomes clear that someone wants the truth of the past to stay buried, and will go to any lengths to keep it that way. Can Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to stop another murder? The mystery for this book isn't as compelling as the previous volumes. The fact that almost all of the drama took place in the past undercuts the tension. The only way the author is able to inject drama or suspense into the plot is by having her characters (Ruth, I'm looking at you) make (no boundaries between you and Nelson, really? some (why do Ruth and Nelson end up at that house so often, anyway?) poor (So you ask the daughter of some one involved in a case to babysit? And then poor Judy's gotta clean up the mess?) decisions (and a fireship seemed like the best idea to you, eh? It has the word FIRE in it..

If you enjoy the setting for this series, I would also recommend A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows. It also takes place in the Norfolk area, with the same darkly looming environment. It’s protagonist, Domenic Jejune is also a specialist, just in birds not archaeology. If it’s the relationships that entice you, try In the Bleak Midwinter, the first book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s The Rev. Claire Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery series. Like this series, Spencer-Fleming’s series keeps me reading to find out where Claire and Russ are headed. Every now and then there is a review which I find difficult to write; this is one. Let me start with all that I found very well done: I enjoy this series but have to say this third book was not up to par with the first two books. The book's focus was on a case from the past which wasn't entirely all that exciting. The police investigation leads to witnesses and people involved turning up dead and the police believe they have a killer on their hands who doesn't want the truth of the past to become known. This case is a little more interesting but the two are inseparably intertwined.

The dry humour and intelligence of Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway mysteries, set in Norfolk, England, are fresh air in a genre dominated by surly male detectives and gun-totin' female PIs. History is a driving thread through the plot of the story. I particularly appreciate her perspective of someone in the present being unable to comprehend the fear of those living in vulnerable areas during the war. One can empathize, but never really understand without having the experience. I feel as though I’m harshly grading this series. It’s excellent and maybe better than some other mystery books I’ve assigned 5 stars. Yes, I wish we had a 1-100 point scale. But it’s hard to compare books against other books no matter the method.

It’s so interesting reading in a fictional mystery and having there be story details that correspond to a non-fiction biography I recently read re England during WWII. I love when various books’ subjects and details overlap. The solution to the mystery was a little convoluted for my taste. It was such an unlikely ending, and I was left dissatisfied. of the Ruth Galloway novels – a series of crime novels featuring a Norfolk based forensic archaeologist and of particular interest to me given my interests in both Norfolk and archaeology (see my review of “The Janus Stone”). I love the illustration at the beginning of the book. I admit to being a map person so anything which provide a prospective as to the settings, I appreciate. Additionally, Ms. Griffiths’ descriptions are wonderful a establishing a sense of place and enhancing the action of the story. She describes both the tension of driving in a heavy snowstorm as well as the beauty it creates with equal skill.

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With Ruth seconded to the Serious Crimes Unit of the police in her capacity as a forensic archaeology expert, this allows author Elly Griffiths to furnish her readers with hugely satisfying details about the archaeology aspects of Ruth's work as she is tasked with explaining the specifics to Nelson. Alongside the foreboding setting of Ruth's home on the Saltmarsh and the bitter weather of the Norfolk coastline, Griffiths delivers a spine-chilling element of danger and ensures readers are never less than fully consumed by her grandstand climaxes. I would definitely recommend this one. I really love this series and even though the ending wasn’t my cup of tea, the rest of the story made up for it! If you’re looking for a crime series with high stakes and personal drama then this is definitely for you. There's so much that I enjoy about Griffiths writing, both the setting feels real and characters that I instantly care about. The manner in with Griffiths thrusts parenthood on to forensics expert Galloway adds a nice touch of chaos to her life, something that all parents can relate too especially as Ruth is trying to juggle working too. DISCLOSURE: I own my copy of The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Harry isn’t the guy that I would choose. He kind of isn’t the guy that Ruth would choose either, it just happened. But you know, I like him a lot better when I see him trying to bond with this baby! Maybe he’s not the complete jerk that I have been imagining for the first two books. This is an example of what I truly enjoy in a mystery series--the combination of the mystery in each book and the relationships between the main characters that carry on between the books. Griffiths is developing a number of the secondary characters too. I am particularly fond of the Cathbad, the druid, with his penchant for showing up unexpectedly but at just the right moment. While the murder investigations are going on "Sea's End" mainly seems to concern itself with the private lives of the two main characters Ruth and Harry, plus those of some minor characters within the police department as well. I enjoy mystery series that contain a continuous story throughout with the main characters but this time the personal relationships overshadowed the mystery theme and I didn't really come upon any surprise twists. One thing I did appreciate was the further development of Cathbad's character who has been proven to much more human in this entry, rather than the eccentric buffoon he's been up to this point.

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The aspect of the book with which I had reservations, and thus dropped my rating from “VG,” is based on the relationship between two of the characters. It is my personal view only. Yet because it is such a significant part of the series and accounts for a considerable portion of each story, it’s not something I can ignore. The event is a moral decision, not one of legality, and while I realize may this may seem silly, being the characters are fictional, but it is just not something acceptable to me. Had an event which occurred in the first book of the series not reoccurred, I am certain I would feel differently. However, that was not the choice made by the author. That’s fine, it is her choice, but it is one that clearly impacts the way I feel about the book. Having just returned from maternity leave forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is struggling to cope with both work and being a mother. When six bodies are discovered buried at the foot of a cliff by a team from the University of North Norfolk, Ruth is asked to help with the case. DCI Nelson the father of Ruth's daughter Kate is investigating which causes extra complications. Tests show that the bodies are from Southern Europe, killed sixty years ago and police Investigations unearth records of Project Lucifer, a wartime plan to stop a German invasion. A further discovery reveals that members of the Broughton Sea's End Home Guard took a 'blood oath' to conceal some deadly wartime secret. When a visiting German reporter is killed, Ruth and Nelson realise that someone is still alive who will kill to keep the secret of Broughton Sea's End's war years. Can they discover the truth in time to stop another murder? THE AUTHOR: Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly's husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece's head with the myths and legends of that area. Elly has two children and lives near Brighton. The thing that really impressed me about The House at Sea’s End was the crime that was committed in WWII. With how it ended up relating to modern-day. I thought the fact that it was German soldiers that were found and how they had been murdered was particularly well handled. I felt sympathy for them regardless of their mission and being ‘the enemy’ so to speak. The way that Griffiths used the older generation to paint not only the scene but also the empathy needed was beautiful. One of my favourite things about this book.

They all look up at the grey house on the cliff. The curved wall of the tower is only two or three feet from the precipice. The remains of a fence hang crazily in midair. The mystery itself is very good. While you, as reader, know some of the events have a direct impact on the story, it’s Ms. Griffiths’ ability to bring together a lot of small pieces into solving the complete puzzle that is admirable. There is heart-pounding suspense, surprises, twists and an ending which was wonderfully set up but not contrived. As readers have come to expect from the series, the cast of supporting characters are interesting and well-developed. DS Judy Johnson is a more prominent character than previously, and Griffiths sows the seeds for her to become a more permanent fixture in Ruth's social circle going forward. Similarly, the evocative landscape of Norfolk is again woven into the mystery, with the precarious nature of the eroding sandstone coastline being not only the means of the revelation of a mass grave, but driving much of the tension in the later stages. Kate, Ruth's baby daughter undergoes both a naming ceremony - courtesy of Cathbad - and a Catholic christening to appease Nelson. Neither ceremony pleases her 'born again Christian' parents who don't attend either. And Ruth has an unsettling encounter with Judy at Judy and Darren's wedding. This is the third book in this series. I enjoyed it less than the first two I read, so allow me to elaborate a bit on them.ABOUT 'THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END': When bones are unearthed at the foot of a north Norfolk cliff, forensics expert Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson are put on the case. The skeletons have lain there for decades, possibly since the war, and for all that time a hideous crime has been concealed. One of the early titles in the popular Ruth Galloway series and my favourite so far, starting from the beginning that I've already grown to love the development of the series main protagonist - especially now that Ruth is a single mum to 4 month old Kate. In a cove beneath the house of a vocal MEP which sits on a crumbling cliff, a group of archaeologists find a group of bodies killed by gunshots who they establish by forensic investigation, lead by Ruth, are of German origin and date from the mid 20th Century.