A Room Full of Bones: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 4

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Perhaps because there were many disparate threads running through it to fully engage me but maybe because there wasn't an archaeological mystery at the heart of it. You do NOT establish the sex of a skeleton based on a single characteristic, and you definitely don't do it with one look. 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.

A breeze from an open window is riffling through the pages of a guidebook lying on the floor, making a sound like the wings of a trapped bird. However I’m well aware that I’m just dipping into this ongoing saga at a random point, and readers who have been invested in it from the beginning may strongly disagree with my wish to murder one of the main characters.Also the author seems to have a fetish with cheating since 99% of her characters are cheating on their partners and worst of all I as a reader can't feel the connections because the author does a poorly job writing about them! It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder. The pace eventually picks up in the second half when the owner of a museum and horse racing stable dies, Nelson falls deathly ill, Ruth encounters Max, Judy uncovers a drug ring, and Cathbad does his thing. As an Australian, I found some of this plot great but was a little perplexed about the ignorance of the modern day English characters.

As an Aussie I may have a greater connection than some who’ve reviewed here but it was both accurate and respectful in the telling.But she won’t remember it,’ Ruth wailed to her best friend Shona, herself five months pregnant and glowing with impending maternity. The story opens just before Halloween, whilst much of the investigation takes place all the way up until Christmas so makes for a perfect wintery read.

We were on holiday in Norfolk, walking across Titchwell Marsh, when Andy mentioned that prehistoric man had thought that marshland was sacred. Griffiths has an excellent eye for characterisation and as well her regular cast she involves several others who provide an injection of humour, most notably in didgeridoo playing Australian neighbour, Bob Woonunga and the eclectic Smith family. The characters are constantly engaging - particularly the vulnerable Ruth - the writing is perceptive, as well as wryly humorous . Actually the adventures of Ruth, her druid friend, Cathbad, and her one time lover, DCI Harry Nelson (the former two seem, bizarrely, to be involved in all the latter’s cases) read more like a soap-opera than crime fiction. Erik Anderssen, Erik the Viking, Ruth’s tutor at university and for many years afterwards her mentor and role model.Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway—a forensic archeologist who is prickly, tough, awkward, and vulnerable—makes for the perfect amateur sleuth, and jaded copper Harry Nelson is the perfect foil. The story of Ruth, Nelson, the various members of the police, Cathbad the local Druid who always seems to be in the middle of everything, and now a visitor from Australia are all developed further. I loved working in publishing and eventually became Editorial Director for children’s books at HarperCollins. Ruth is almost peripheral to much of the action in this installment - as is Nelson, for that matter. I think in future books she’ll be even more fun as she ages and can even more fully express herself, but I do already love her character.

But the true strength of Elly Griffith's writing is her focus on characterisation and the relationships that interweave between groups of people. While a fascination with matters archaeological or historical isn't essential, readers with these interests will find the series irresistible! By now we had two children and my husband Andy had just given up his city job to become an archaeologist. The first thing I have to say about this book is that is soooo boring and so do yourselves a favour and just DON'T read it especially if you are fan of crime/mystery novels!

As her convictions are tested, she and Nelson must discover how Aboriginal skulls, drug smuggling and the Aboriginal ritual of The Dreaming may hold the answer to these deaths - and be the key to their own survival. I do enjoy the characters in this series, especially Cathbad the Druid and Ruth herself when she's involved in an archaeological investigation. Griffiths applies a light touch, her Norfolk setting is admirably gloomy and Galloway is appealingly unglamorous. The storyline is ridiculous, the characters are stereotypes who behave in the silliest of ways, the writing is clunky and the pace is sluggish. There are even the other police officers, whose private lives are starting to form part of the fabric of each book.