Review: THE LAST REMAINS, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition first published by Quercus UK 2023
  
• supplied by my local library
• ISBN 978-1-52940-973-4
• 357 pages
• Ruth Galloway #15 

Synopsis (publisher) 

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.

Ruth sees at once that the bones are modern. They are identified as the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in the 1990s. Emily attended a course run by her Cambridge tutor. Suspicion falls on him and also on another course member – Ruth’s friend Cathbad, who is still frail following his near death from Covid.

As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the student group and the adults leading them. What was the link between the group and the King’s Lynn café where Emily’s bones were found?

Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. Was it guilt that led him to flee?

The trail leads Ruth and Nelson to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves which are as spooky as their name. 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?

My Take

If you have missed the Ruth Galloway series, then you've missed a treat. The bad news is that this is #15. And I really think you get the most out of them by reading them in order. The characters generally have a shared history and certainly there are chronological developments.

However if you are new to the series, and determined to go on, then look to the back of the book where there is a Who's Who of the characters which will fill in some of the background for you, but not the events they've all shared.

For me, this series has become like catching up with old friends. So when Cathbad goes missing I thought the worst. Like many of us Cathbad survived a bout of Covid, although he spent time on a ventilator and his became a near-death experience. I like the way the author establishes relevant settings.

Another touch too - post Covid University students are looking for more "relevant" courses, and not everyone sees archaeology as relevant. So Ruth Galloway's department at the University of North Norfolk is under pressure to go with the times.

Of special relevance to me - when I was on my travels of the UK, nearly 50 years ago, I went to the main setting of this novel, Grime's Graves, and somewhere here I have piece of flint that I illegally souvenired there.

I loved this novel. I hope you do too.

My rating: 5.0

I've also read

• 4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES - Ruth Galloway #1
  
• 4.6, THE JANUS STONE - Ruth Galloway #2
• 4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END - Ruth Galloway #3
• 4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES - Ruth Galloway #4
• 4.8, DYING FALL- audio book - Ruth Galloway #5
• 4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #7
• 4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD, Elly Griffiths - audio book - Ruth Galloway #6
• 4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE - Ruth Galloway #8
• 4.7, THE CHALK PIT - Ruth Galloway #9
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS - Harbinder Kaur #2
  
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12
• 5.0, THE STONE CIRCLE - Ruth Galloway #11 
• 4.8, THE DARK ANGEL - Ruth Galloway #10
• 4.7, THE NIGHT HAWKS - Ruth Galloway #13
  
• 5.0, THE LOCKED ROOM - Ruth Galloway #14
• 4.6, BLEEDING HEART YARD - Harbinder Kaur #3