The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

There’s nothing forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body in this gripping murder mystery, she finds herself thrust into their midst—and into the crosshairs of a string of murders circling ever closer.

Ruth is back as head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk when a group of local metal detectorists—the so-called Night Hawks—uncovers Bronze Age artifacts on the beach, alongside a recently deceased body, just washed ashore. Not long after, the same detectorists uncover a murder-suicide—a scientist and his wife found at their farmhouse, long thought to be haunted by the Black Shuck, a humongous black dog and a harbinger of death. The further DCI Nelson probes into both cases, the more intertwined they become, and the closer they circle to David Brown, the new lecturer Ruth has recently hired, who seems always to turn up wherever Ruth goes.

DCI Nelson is called out onto the coastline in the middle of the night when a group of enthusiastic metal detectorists discover a body washed up on the shore. The case quickly turns difficult as a cache of Bronze Age artefacts – complete with a skeleton – is simultaneously found nearby, and Nelson calls Ruth in to ensure the skeleton is old and none of his concern. But when an apparent murder suicide quickly occurs, Nelson and his team need to uncover what’s really going on.

I have been a fan of this series for a number of years and found this to be an excellent addition. Nelson and Ruth’s long term – and extremely complicated – relationship gives a solid tension and backdrop to the mysteries – both old and new. In some respects this book gave the feel of things beginning to come full circle and settle down, and I admit I really liked that. The ongoing will they/won’t they tension between Nelson and Ruth does sometimes get me a bit down and frustrated. While I admit no actual progress was made between them, this books ending really gave me the impression that some sort of resolution wasn’t too much further into the future. Considering the book ends at Christmas 2019 (and we all know what followed sharply after THAT event) I have a feeling things will shift pretty firmly one way or the other in the next book.

Readers who are familiar with this series will know to expect a blend of history/archaeology and British police procedural murder mystery. This book does fulfil that – though I must admit the archeology takes somewhat of a back seat in this book, being more focused on Ruth and her teaching career. I thought the digs and field work were not quite as prominent as they sometimes are. I didn’t mind this – the characters, both old and new – were a lot more front and center and really there were almost two mysteries in this book, the washed up body and the apparent murder/suicide. These two cases gave the book a solid feel of plenty going on and adding on a big archeological scene on top of that would have felt too full in my opinion and might have detracted somewhat from the focus and plot.

While I do feel this book can be read by itself, there is a long and complicated history between the characters – particularly Ruth and Nelson – and while I think this is an excellent book I do feel a better understanding and emotional connection will be achieved if readers have at least a few of the other books under their belt first. This book is towards the end of the series and while discovering this series would be fantastic, I do think it might be prudent to start a little closer to the beginning.

I found this to be a well written and solidly plotted mystery with a strong element of archaeology. The characters are layered and deep – and the main relationship in particular is complicated and not for the faint hearted. A brilliant series and one I will be sad to wrap up in a few books time. Recommended.