Review: THE FROZEN PEOPLE, Elly Griffiths

• 
   The edition read on Kindle as an e-book (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CW1N9SVD
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quercus (February 13, 2025)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages 

Synopsis (Amazon)

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen - or so their inside joke goes. Most people don't know that they travel back in time to complete their research.

The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London in order to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of MP Isaac Templeton. Rumour has it that Cain was part of a sinister group called The Collectors; to become a member, you had to kill a woman...

Fearing for her safety in the middle of a freezing Victorian winter, Ali finds herself stuck in time, unable to make her way back to her life, her beloved colleagues, and her son, Finn, who suddenly finds himself in legal trouble in the present day.

Could the two cases be connected?

Get ready for an original, transportive and characterful new crime novel from no. 1 bestselling author Elly Griffiths. Perfect for those missing the Dr Ruth Galloway series and for any crime and historical fiction fans.

My Take

An absolutely mesmerising story mixing cold cases and time travel. 

Ali Dawson is part of a British police cold case team that is investigating past crimes by going back in time to when they actually happened. This is a secret project involving only a few people and normally the hops in time involve only the immediate past. But this time it is at the request of a British politician who specifically requests Ali go back well over 150 years to attempt to find out the truth about a relative of his.

It is one of those stories that you keep reading because you really want to know what happens.

And the author refers to it as the beginning of a series, so, if that is the case, this will be essential reading.

My  Rating: 4.8

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
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.5, THE BLOOD CARD- Brighton Mysteries #3
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6
• 4.6, THE GREAT DECEIVER -Brighton Mysteries #7 
• 4.4, THE LAST WORD - Harbinder Kaur #4

 

Review: THE LAST WORD, Elly Griffiths

• this edition from my local library
• published 2024 by Quercus, large print edition
• ISBN 978-1-399-16878-6
• 341 pages
• Harbinder Kaur #4
  

Synopsis (Publisher) 

Words can be dangerous. Sometimes they kill…

Natalka and Edwin are running a detective agency in Shoreham, Sussex. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated, longing for a big juicy investigation to come the agency’s way.

Then a murder case turns up. Local writer, Melody Chambers, is found dead and her family are convinced it is murder. Edwin, a big fan of the obit pages, thinks there’s a link to the writer of Melody’s obituary who pre-deceased his subject.

The trail leads them to a slightly sinister writers’ retreat. When another writer is found dead, Edwin thinks that the clue lies in the words. Seeking professional help, the amateur investigators turn to their friend, detective Harbinder Kaur, to find that they have stumbled on a plot that is stranger than fiction.

My Take

An easy to read story but perhaps just a few too many tangled threads.

Private detectives Natalka and Edwin come across some deaths which relatives think are actually murder. The starting point is a writer's retreat during which a third person dies. From there we go to a book club which seems also linked, and more suspicious deaths are discovered.

My rating: 4.4

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
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.5, THE BLOOD CARD- Brighton Mysteries #3
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6
• 4.6, THE GREAT DECEIVER -Brighton Mysteries #7

Review: THE GREAT DECEIVER, Elly Griffiths

• this edition supplied by my local library
• 
  published by Quercus 2023
  
• ISBN 978-1-5294-0-990-1
• 344 pages
• author website
• #7 in the Brighton Mysteries

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

It starts with a magician and a murder in a Brighton boarding house; throw in a show on Brighton pier, a sinister radio personality and a potential serial killer, and you've got the next twisty mystery from Elly Griffiths.

Magician Max Mephisto, now divorced and living in London, is on his way to visit daughter Ruby and her new-born baby when he is hailed by a voice from the past, fellow performer Ted English, aka the Great Deceiver. Ted's assistant, Cherry, has been found dead in her Brighton boarding house and he's convinced that he'll be accused of her murder.

Max agrees to talk to his friend, Superintendent Edgar Stephens, who is investigating the case. What Max doesn't know is that the girl's family have hired private detective duo Emma Holmes (aka Mrs Stephens) and Sam Collins to do some digging of their own.

The inhabitants of the boarding house, most of whom are performing in an Old Time Music Hall show on Brighton pier, are a motley crew. The house is also connected to a sinister radio personality called Pal. When a second magician's assistant is killed, Edgar suspects a serial killer. He persuades Max to come out of semi-retirement and take part in a summer show. But who can pose as his assistant? Edgar shocks the team by recommending someone close.  

My Take

It seems to me that the more I read of this series, the more I really enjoy them.

This one is set in 1966, mainly in Brighton but also in London. Magicians on stage, and variety acts, have almost been displaced by television. But someone is murdering magician's assistants and of course there really is only one person who can help in solving this mystery.

The characters are well developed and I enjoyed the story line.

However, you need to start this series at the beginning so that you can appreciate the back stories that contribute to the series. Of course you could read this one as a stand-alone, but will miss so much.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.5, THE BLOOD CARD- Brighton Mysteries #3
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6

Review: THE BLOOD CARD, Elly Griffiths

• 
  This edition from my local library
  
• Published by First Mariner Books 201
• ISBN 978-1-328-51192-8
• 372 pages
• #3 in the Brighton Mysteries
• author website
  

Synopsis (author website)

Elizabeth II’s coronation is looming, but the murder of their wartime commander, Colonel Cartwright, spoils the happy mood for DI Edgar Stephens and magician Max Mephisto. A playbill featuring another deceased comrade is found in Colonel Cartwright’s possession, and a playing card, the ace of hearts: the blood card. The wartime connection and the suggestion of magic are enough for him to put Stephens and Mephisto on the case.

Edgar’s investigation into the death of Brighton fortune-teller Madame Zabini is put on hold. Max is busy rehearsing for a spectacular Coronation Day variety show – and his television debut – so it’s Edgar who is sent to New York, a land of plenty worlds away from still-rationed England. He’s on the trail of a small-town mesmerist who may provide the key, but someone else silences him first. It’s Sergeant Emma Holmes who finds the clue, buried in the files of the Zabini case, that leads them to an anarchist group intent on providing an explosive finale to Coronation Day.

Now it’s up to Edgar, Max and Emma to foil the plot, and find out who it is who’s been dealing the cards.

My Take

I read this novel partly to catch up with books that I have missed in this series, mainly when I jumped from #2 to #4. I have discovered I already have #7 to catch up with.

I really enjoyed the historical setting of  the imminent coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This coincides with the advent of television which those who attend Variety Theatre are fearful with mean the demise of live theatre.

The novel also filled in for me details that I had missed in the personal lives of Edgar, Max, and Emma.

An enjoyable and well written read.

My Rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4 
• 4.6, NOW YOU SEE THEM- Brighton Mysteries #5
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6

Also

• 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
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
  

Review: NOW YOU SEE THEM, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition published by Quercus 2019
  
• #5 in the Brighton Mysteries
• ISBN 978-1-78648-735-3
• 351 pages
• author website
  

Synopsis (author website)

Three girls have left. None have come back.

Brighton, 1963. Edgar Stephens has been promoted to Superintendent and is married to his former sergeant, Emma Holmes. Edgar’s wartime partner in arms, magician Max Mephisto, is a movie star in Hollywood, while his daughter Ruby has her own TV show.

The funeral of an old friend highlights just how much the gang’s lives have changed in the last nine years. Edgar is struggling with fresh responsibilities and the new swinging Brighton of rioting mods and rockers; Emma is chafing against the restrictions of life as a housewife.

Bob Willis, meanwhile, is tackling his biggest case since his promotion to DI: a schoolgirl missing from high-class boarding school Roedean. It looks like she’s run away; but there are disturbing similarities to the disappearances of a young local nurse and a tearaway Modette, neither of whom have been seen or heard from since…

A new world is dawning in Brighton, but the city’s dark side is as dangerous as ever.

My take

The disappearance of 3 young women who have left similar goodbye notes sparks an investigation. And then the body of one of them is discovered and is followed by the disappearance of Ruby Magic, Max Mephisto's daughter. Ruby has also left a note telling people not to worry. But Ruby has missed work, an left her cat locked up in her flat.

Meanwhile Edgar Stephens' wife Emma is very much feeling underused and left out. She was one of the first female detective sergeants  in the country, but she resigned on her marriage. Emma feels she could still make a useful contribution. In the long run it is Emma who eventually works out what has happened to the girls.

Set in the 1960s, the plot definitely shows how things are changing. Max has been asked to accept a role in a film with a film star of some prominence.

My rating: 4.6 

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
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.8, THE ZIG ZAG GIRL - Brighton Mysteries #1
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
  
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR- Brighton Mysteries #6

Review: THE ZIG ZAG GIRL, Elly Griffiths

• 
   this large print edition published in 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• provided by my local library
  
• ISBN 978-1-62899-768-2
• 350 pages
• #1 A Magic Men Mystery (Brighton Mysteries #1)
  

Synopsis (author website) 

Magic, murder and a mystery rooted in a murky wartime past. Meet DI Stephens and Max Mephisto.

Brighton, 1950. When the body of a girl is found, cut into three, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old friend of Edgar’s. They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men. 

Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. Changing times mean that variety is not what it once was, yet Max is reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate. But when the dead girl turns out to be known to him, Max changes his mind. Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max become convinced that the answer to the murders lies in their army days. 

When Edgar receives a letter warning of another ‘trick’, the Wolf Trap, he knows that they are all in the killer’s sights…

My Take

This story is a treat in many ways. First of all it is by one of my favourite authors. Secondly it is the first of a series that I've hardly touched, so I know I have at least a couple of treats in store.

This is the first in what has become known as the Brighton Mysteries series. The author carefully introduces the main characters, Max Mephisto, and Edgar Stephens, magician and detective, who first came together during World War II in a special unit intended to create illusions to trick Hitler into thinking England was about to invade Norway.

Now, five years after the war, Stephens is a detective in Brighton and Mephisto has gone back to the Variety Halls. They are brought together by a body in 3 parts. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my outing.

My rating: 4.8

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
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX - Brighton Mysteries #4
  
• 4.5, THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, Elly Griffiths - Brighton Mysteries #6

Review: THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition supplied by my local library
  
• published by Quercus UK 2021
• ISBN 978-1-78747-759-9
• 337 pages
• #6 in the Brighton Mysteries

Synopsis (publisher)

An old man lies dead and it looks like poison, but his wife isn't the only one who had reason to kill him.

Brighton, 1965

When theatrical impresario Bert Billington is found dead in his retirement home, no one suspects foul play. But when the postmortem reveals that he was poisoned, suspicion falls on his wife, eccentric ex-Music Hall star Verity Malone.

Frustrated by the police response to Bert's death and determined to prove her innocence, Verity calls in private detective duo Emma Holmes and Sam Collins. This is their first real case, but as luck would have it they have a friend on the inside: Max Mephisto is filming a remake of Dracula, starring Seth Billington, Bert's son. But when they question Max, they feel he isn't telling them the whole story.

Emma and Sam must vie with the police to untangle the case and bring the killer to justice. They're sure the answers must lie in Bert's dark past and in the glamorous, occasionally deadly, days of Music Hall. But the closer they get to the truth, the more danger they find themselves in...

My Take

You'll see from my list below that I have really only dabbled in this series, and it is 5 years since I have read one of them. I found this one a perfectly acceptable read rather than being over the moon with it like I am with the Ruth Galloway series. I think the reason is that I much prefer the Ruth Galloway character (and the setting) to Max Mephisto.

I found the creation of the new PI duo, Emma Holmes and Sam Collins an interesting concept. Emma Holmes is a former policewoman and the wife of Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens. Edgar is a good friend of Max Mephisto (from the war years) and so you can see the relationships are a bit tangled. I thought the sharing of information that goes on between the detecting strands is a bit unrealistic and at times Emma forgets she is no longer a policewoman.

For what its worth, the new duo goes on into the next book in the series THE GREAT DECEIVER.

My rating: 4.5

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 - Brighton Mysteries #4
  
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES - Harbinder Kaur #1
  
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Brighton Mysteries #2
  
• 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
• 5.0, THE LAST REMAINS - Ruth Galloway #15

The Brighton Mysteries (Fantastic Fiction)

   1. The Zig Zag Girl (2014)
   2. Smoke and Mirrors (2015)
   3. The Blood Card (2016)
   4. The Vanishing Box (2017)
   5. Now You See Them (2019)
   6. The Midnight Hour (2021)
   7. The Great Deceiver (2023)

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

Review: BLEEDING HEART YARD, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition published by Quercus Great Britain 2022
  
• ISBN 978-1-52940-996-3
• 340 pages
• #3 in the Harbinder Kaur series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

A murderer strikes at a school reunion—but the students are no strangers to death— in this propulsive, twisty thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries

Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?

When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.

One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.

Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It’s in Cassie’s interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like it has nothing to do with Manor Park and she seems to be succeeding.

Until someone else from the reunion is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard…

My Take

While this was written with the author's usual aplomb and skill, my main beef with the plot was the final resolution which felt plucked out of nowhere, and, looking back through the plot, I didn't feel there were many hints for the reader.

The book developed Harbinder Kaur's career and her social life. Apart from that it told us that when something traumatic happens, most of us will not remember the finer details, or may even interpret them incorrectly.

A good read. I recommend reading the two earlier books in the series first.

My rating: 4.6

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

Review: THE LOCKED ROOM, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition made available through my local library
  
• published by Quercus in Great Britain 2022
• ISBN 978-1-52940-966-6
• 361 pages
• #14 Ruth Galloway series
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid rears its ugly head. But can they find the killer despite lockdown?

Ruth is in London clearing out her mother’s belongings when she makes a surprising discovery: a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there. Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1963.

Ruth returns to Norfolk determined to solve the mystery, but then Covid rears its ugly head. Ruth and her daughter are locked down in their cottage, attempting to continue with work and home-schooling. Happily, the house next door is rented by a nice woman called Zoe, who they become friendly with while standing on their doorsteps clapping for carers.

Nelson, meanwhile, is investigating a series of deaths of women that may or may not be suicide. When he links the deaths to an archaeological discovery, he breaks curfew to visit the cottage where he finds Ruth chatting to her neighbour whom he remembers as a carer who was once tried for murdering her employer.

Only then her name wasn’t Zoe. It was Dawn. 

My Take

For me, reading a Ruth Galloway novel is like meeting up with an old friend. This one is set in 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Ruth's classes are cancelled and go onto Zoom, schools are closed. Just before this event a skeleton is found in Tombland and it raises the possibility that there may have been plague pits in Norwich near the Cathedral.

Nelson begins investigating cases of unexpected deaths among women who have been attending slimming groups.   

Ruth becomes friendly with Zoe who has moved in to the cottage next door to hers and then Zoe disappears.

Nelson's wife Michelle is away visiting her mother and he and Ruth take advantage of that fact.

I read with interest the way English society deal with Covid, the restrictions and lock downs put into place. This gave the story an extra relevance.

And then Cathbad is struck down with Covid.

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
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS 
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12
• 5.0, THE STONE CIRCLE, Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway #11 
• 4.8, THE DARK ANGEL, Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway #10

Review: THE DARK ANGEL, Elly Griffiths

• 
  This edition published by Quercus 2018
  
• ISBN 978-78429-664-3
• 346 pages
• #10 Ruth Galloway series
• author website

Synopsis (author website)

The tenth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series sees Ruth wanting to escape from Norfolk and from  her complicated relationship with DCI Nelson, at least for a while. Her chance arrives with an invitation from Dr Angelo Morelli at Rome University. Morelli, with whom Ruth once had a fleeting affair, has found some Roman remains that seem to hold a mystery. He offers Ruth a role as a consultant and a free holiday in the picturesque hilltop town of Castello degli Angeli. 

Ruth and Kate fly to Italy without telling Nelson, who is preoccupied by a recently released killer and by Michelle’s pregnancy. But Ruth’s holiday is not the relaxing break she had imagined; an earthquake is followed by a murder that shocks the local community and stirs long-forgotten memories. And it’s not long before Nelson, accompanied by Cathbad, is on his way to Italy. But has Nelson ignored the dangers at home? 

My Take

This novel takes Ruth out of her familiar setting of North Norfolk, and potentially we have a story uncomplicated by her relationship with Harry Nelson.

Ruth hasn't told Nelson that she and Kate are having a fortnight in Italy so she can give some advice to a friend at the University of Rome. However an earthquake in the area Ruth is staying in, together with media reports of injuries, sends Nelson to fly to her side, much to her surprise. And then the local priest is murdered. The earthquake causes damage to the local church and bones that have been long buried are revealed.

So now I have caught up with the novels in this series that I had missed out on reading. The events of this novel have filled in the details of events I had half known about.

Excellent reading!

My rating: 4.8

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
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS 
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12
• 5.0, THE STONE CIRCLE, Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway #11

Review: THE STONE CIRCLE, Elly Griffiths

• 
  This edition published in Great Britain by Quercus 2019
  
• #110 in the Ruth Galloway series
• ISBN 978-1-78648-730-8
• 361 pages
• Author website

Synopsis ( Author website)

DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters telling him to ‘go to the stone circle and rescue the innocent who is buried there’. He is shaken, not only because children are very much on his mind, with Michelle’s baby due to be born, but because although the letters are anonymous, they are somehow familiar. They read like the letters that first drew him into the case of The Crossing Places, and to Ruth. But the author of those letters is dead. Or are they?

Meanwhile Ruth is working on a dig in the Saltmarsh – another henge, known by the archaeologists as the stone circle – trying not to think about the baby. Then bones are found on the site, and identified as those of Margaret Lacey, a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared thirty years ago.

As the Margaret Lacey case progresses, more and more aspects of it begin to hark back to that first case of The Crossing Places, and to Scarlett Henderson, the girl Nelson couldn’t save. The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

My Take

Another page turner in this series, which I absolutely love.
I had discovered recently that I have missed reading a couple of titles, so I am remedying that.

There is something very satisfying about reading a series when you are familiar with so many of the characters who appear in one title after another, and also when there has been development in the mesh that holds the characters together.

And I love the merging of the plot with archaeological tidbits.

There are a couple of incidents in this novel when the author uses suspense very effectively.

And the question persists: do Ruth and Nelson have a future?

My rating: 5.0

I have 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
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS 
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12

Review: THE NIGHT HAWKS, Elly Griffiths

• 
  first published in Great Britain in 2021 by Quercus
  
• ISBN 978-1-78747-781-0
• 348 pages
• #13 in the Ruth Galloway series 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Dr Ruth Galloway returns to the moody and beautiful landscape of North Norfolk to confront another killer. A devastating new case for our favourite forensic archaeologist in this acclaimed and bestselling crime series.

The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.

Nelson is called to an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm. Local legend talks of the Black Shuck, a spectral hound that appears to people before they die. Nelson ignores this, even when the owner's suicide note includes the line, 'He's buried in the garden.' Ruth excavates and finds the body of a giant dog.

All roads lead back to this farm in the middle of nowhere, but the place spells serious danger for anyone who goes near. Ruth doesn't scare easily. Not until she finds herself at Black Dog Farm ...

My Take

Another episode in this captivating series. It is set about a year later than the previous title. Ruth has left Cambridge and returned as Head of the Department of Archaeology at her old university. She has more or less picked up where she was about 3 years before. 

When two bodies are found, one a recent corpse on the beach, and the other a long dead skeleton in a burial mound, Ruth begins excavations. Dead bodies abound in this story, and Nelson seeks Ruth's advice on a number of aspects.

Among other things, I enjoy the ongoing relationships in these books, as well as the fact that they often combine North Norfolk legend/history with a crime fiction plot. The relationships mean that you get the best out of the stories if you read the books in order. There are characters who appear in several of the books. In the back of this title there is a Who's Who listing 8 of the characters who appear in the series.

The books are generally set in current time - there's mention for example of the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and the next title in the series, THE LOCKED ROOM, is set during lock-down. 

My rating: 4.6 

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
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS 
• 4.7, THE LANTERN MEN - Ruth Galloway #12

I have worked out that I have missed reading 2 in the series, and will take steps to remedy that:

10. The Dark Angel (2018)
11. The Stone Circle (2019)

Review: THE LANTERN MEN, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition published in 2020 by Quercus
  
  
• ISBN 9-781787-477544
• 363 pages
• #12 in the Ruth Galloway series
  

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway.

She has a new job, home and partner, and is no longer North Norfolk police's resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Ivor March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this, and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried - but only if Ruth will do the digging.

Curious, but wary, Ruth agrees. March tells Ruth that he killed four more women and that their bodies are buried near a village bordering the fens, said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, mysterious figures holding lights that lure travellers to their deaths.

Is Ivor March himself a lantern man, luring Ruth back to Norfolk? What is his plan, and why is she so crucial to it? And are the killings really over? 

My Take

The beginning of this book took me by surprise! Ruth has changed jobs, and moved into Cambridge (and I have only missed 2 books in the series!). She even has a new partner. I presume she is trying to establish a life without Harry Nelson. She and Katie are settled in their new surroundings and relationships, have been there about two years I think, but she thinks of Nelson constantly.

But all comes unstuck when convicted murderer Ivor March offers to tell Nelson where some more bodies are buried, on condition that Ruth does the excavation. So once again Ruth and Nelson are thrown together and life become compliacted.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Elly Griffiths has lost none of her touch.

My rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES
• 4.6, THE JANUS STONE
• 4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END
• 4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES
• 4.8, DYING FALL- audio book
• 4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book
• 4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD, Elly Griffiths - audio book
• 4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE
• 4.7, THE CHALK PIT
• 4.4, THE VANISHING BOX
• 4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES
• 4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS
• 4.4, THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS 

Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries
   1. The Crossing Places (2009)
   2. The Janus Stone (2010)
   3. The House at Sea's End (2011)
   4. A Room Full of Bones (2011)
   4.5. Ruth's First Christmas Tree (2012)
   5. A Dying Fall (2012)
   6. The Outcast Dead (2014)
   7. The Ghost Fields (2015)
   8. The Woman in Blue (2016)
   9. The Chalk Pit (2017)
   10. The Dark Angel (2018)
   11. The Stone Circle (2019)
   12. The Lantern Men (2020)
   13. The Night Hawks (2021)
   14. The Locked Room (2022) 

Review: THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS, Elly Griffiths

• 
  this edition published 2020 by Quercus
  
• #2 in the Harbinder Kaur series
• ISBN 978-1-78747-764-3
• 344 pages
• source: my local library 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Murder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricate new novel by internationally best-selling author Elly Griffiths, a literary mystery perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Agatha Christie.

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should not be suspicious. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing out of the ordinary when Peggy’s carer, Natalka, begins to recount Peggy Smith’s passing.

But Natalka had a reason to be at the police station: while clearing out Peggy’s flat, she noticed an unusual number of crime novels, all dedicated to Peggy. And each psychological thriller included a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman breaks into the flat to steal a book and its author is found dead shortly thereafter—Detective Kaur begins to think that perhaps there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.

And then things escalate: from an Aberdeen literary festival to the streets of Edinburgh, writers are being targeted. DS Kaur embarks on a road trip across Europe and reckons with how exactly authors can think up such realistic crimes . .

My Take

Peggy Smith, murder consultant, is 90, living in sheltered accommodation, seemingly healthy and fit, but dies unexpectedly. At first there seems nothing suspicious about her death, but questions are raised when a gunman breaks into her flat just to steal a book. Her death is followed by the murder of a popular crime fiction author whom she assisted with unusual plots. Her carer decides to tell the police that her death was unexpected.

Eventually an investigative trio decides to track another author, who also used Peggy's services, to a crime fiction festival in Aberdeen where another author dies and it seems the suspicions about Peggy's death were well founded.

This novel felt a little too cosy at times, and perhaps a little slow, but the various threads are brought together with a sure hand.

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES
4.6, THE JANUS STONE
4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END
4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES
4.8, DYING FALL- audio book
4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS, Elly Griffiths - audio book
4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD, Elly Griffiths - audio book
4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE
4.7, THE CHALK PIT
4.4, THE VANISHING BOX
4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES
4.5, SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Review: SMOKE AND MIRRORS, Elly Griffiths

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1993 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Publisher: Quercus (November 5, 2015)
• Publication Date: November 5, 2015
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0118MR2UE
• #2 in the Stephens and Mephisto series

Synopsis (author)

December 1951. It’s snowing and two children, Mark and Annie, have gone missing in Brighton. As DI Edgar Stephens leads an increasing desperate search, Max Mephisto is preparing to star in Aladdin on the end of the pier. Then the children’s bodies are found on lonely downland, surrounded by a trail of sweets. For old music hall star, Stan Parks (aka The Great Diablo), the case sparks memories of another murder before the war, when the killer was obsessed with the dark origins of pantomime. Annie used to write plays for the other children, disturbing versions of old tales. Could there be a link between the murders and these stories?

As Christmas approaches, Edgar embarks on the most difficult case of his career. Then another child vanishes. Can Edgar put the pieces of the puzzle together before it’s too late?

My Take

I've found that I haven't read THE ZIG ZAG GIRL, which is the first in this series. This is something that I must remedy as I have thoroughly enjoyed this title. I did read THE VANISHING BOX, but I think my lower rating must have reflected my unfamiliarity with the earlier titles.

This mystery is intriguing right from the start. Two children disappear playing together after school, one of them a very precocious writer who writes her own versions of fairy tales and then organises children to act them out. Her script is based on something she has worked out about her family.

Once again plenty of red herrings which characterises well written mysteries.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read
4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES
4.6, THE JANUS STONE
4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END
4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES
4.8, DYING FALL- audio book
4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS - audio book
4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD - audio book
4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE
4.7, THE CHALK PIT
4.4, THE VANISHING BOX- #4 in the Stephens & Mephisto series
4.6, THE STRANGER DIARIES

List of the series (Fantastic Fiction)

 

Stephens and Mephisto Mystery
   1. The Zig Zag Girl (2014)
   2. Smoke and Mirrors (2015)
   3. The Blood Card (2016)
   4. The Vanishing Box (2017)
   5. Now You See Them (2019) 

Review: THE STRANGER DIARIES, Elly Griffiths

• this edition published by Quercus 2018
• ISBN 978-1-78648-740-7
• 408 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK

A dark story has been brought to terrifying life. Can the ending be rewritten in time?

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to tales of murder. As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland, she teaches a short course on them every year. Then Clare’s life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an R.M. Holland story by her body. The investigating police detective is convinced the writer’s works somehow hold the key to the case.

Not knowing who to trust, and afraid that the killer is someone she knows, Clare confides her darkest suspicions and fears about the case to her journal. Then one day she notices some other writing in the diary. Writing that isn’t hers…

My Take

The narration in this story is from several different voices:
Clare Cassidy herself;
Harbinder, a former student at the school and is the detective sergeant carrying out the investigation into the death of Clare's friend and colleague Ella;
Georgia (Georgie), Clare's daughter and a student at the school;
The short story The Stranger written decades before by R.M. Holland in whose house the school is established;
Excerpts from the story are featured throughout the main story and the narrators change often.

This is a story about obsession. The murder victims appear to be linked by the fact they are teachers in the English faculty at the school.

This I think is the first stand-alone that I have read by Elly Griffiths who in 2016 was the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library for services to crime fiction.

Very readable.

My rating: 4.6

I've also read

4.6, THE CROSSING PLACES
4.6, THE JANUS STONE
4.6, THE HOUSE AT SEA'S END
4.5, A ROOM FULL OF BONES
4.8, DYING FALL- audio book
4.5, THE GHOST FIELDS - audio book
4.7, THE OUTCAST DEAD - audio book
4.7, THE WOMAN IN BLUE
4.7, THE CHALK PIT
4.4, THE VANISHING BOX

Review: THE VANISHING BOX, Elly Griffiths

• this edition published by Quercus (UK) 2017
• ISBN 978-1-78429-700-8
• 351 pages
• #4 in the Stephens & Mephisto Mystery series
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

The fourth Stephens and Mephisto mystery from the author of the bestselling Dr Ruth Galloway series, for fans of Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz

 

'Vivid description, masterful sleight of hand and a lightness of touch add up to a terrific read for aficionados and newcomers alike' Guardian

Winter, 1953. A young flower seller is found dead in her room at a Brighton boarding-house, posed with chilling perfection into a recreation of the death of Lady Jane Grey. This is a killer unlike any DI Edgar Stephens has encountered before.

Across the city at the Hippodrome theatre, Max Mephisto is top of the bill in a double act with his daughter Ruby. Tarnishing the experience, though, is one of the other acts: a seedy 'living tableaux' show where barely-dressed women strike poses from famous historical scenes. Is the resemblance to the murder scene pure coincidence, or is life imitating art?

When another death occurs - this time within the troupe itself - Max once again finds himself involved in one of Edgar's cases, and a threat that will come closer to home than anything before. What should be just a job is about to become personal.

My take


When people ask me about the best way to tackle a book that is part of a series, I always tell them to start with the first book. Well, this time I didn't take my own advice and I think I paid the penalty.

One of the benefits of reading a series from the first book is that you meet the characters as they are introduced and read of the events in their lives, and then follow the minor plots as they develop. There were references to previous events in THE VANISHING BOX about which I had no clue and could only surmise what had happened. Similarly I was coming to the main characters cold and had little idea, apart from hints dropped in the book, about the connections between them. As the story progressed those omissions mattered less, but the end result was that it took me a while to warm to the main characters and to begin to enjoy the story.

I like the time frame of 1953. World War II is an event that connects the investigative duo of DCI Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto the magician, and this is the time of variety halls and boarding houses. The world has an old-fashioned feel about it, of a morality not quite the same as ours. Policewomen who actively participate in investigations of murder are new, and there is a feeling in the force that they need to be protected from gruesome sights and are best as providing comfort in distressing situations.

In the long run it was an entertaining read but for most of the time I had little idea who the murderer was, so the final explanation came as a bit of a surprise.



My rating: 4.4


About the author
WINNER OF THE 2016 CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY. Elly Griffiths was born in London. She worked in publishing before becoming a full-time writer. Her bestselling series of Dr Ruth Galloway novels, featuring a forensic archaeologist, are set in Norfolk. The series has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, and has been shortlisted three times for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her Stephens and Mephisto series is based in 1950s Brighton. She lives near Brighton with her husband, an archaeologist, and their two children.