The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway changed her life—until a convicted killer tells her that four of his victims were never found, drawing her back to the place she left behind.

Everything has changed for Ruth Galloway. She has a new job, home, and partner, and she 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 travelers 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?

Convicted murderer Ivor March offers DCI Nelson a deal he can’t refuse. March will tell Nelson where the bodies are buried of two young women the DCI is convinced March has murdered – but only on the condition Dr Ruth Galloway is brought back from Cambridge to oversee the excavation. Nelson quickly discusses this with Ruth, and she agrees – wanting to help bring closure to the two grieving families. Only when Ruth begins the excavations it’s three female bodies she finds buried where March said they were – not two. Can Ruth and Nelson piece together what really happened?

I’ve been greatly enjoying this series and was pleased with this book. While there is plenty of history between Ruth and Nelson, I do feel readers should be able to fairly easily pick up this book by itself. Readers looking for something heavy on the Archaeology might find this story a little light in that respect. Usually, I’ve found books in this series are fairly evenly weighted between the history/archaeology plotline and the murder/mystery plotline. This time, however, there is very little archaeology and almost no real history – more a few folklore and regional tales – and a far more intense and well woven police procedural murder mystery. I really enjoyed this plotline, and the greater time spent on it – but must admit readers keener on the history aspects usually present in this series might find this story lacks a bit of oomph in that area.

I really enjoyed the characters of a few new team members. One of the new guys in particular I’m hoping will become a regular and get a bit more time in the coming few books. I was also pleased that many of the regular returning characters were given a fair bit of screen time and found their progress was really well written. I also was very relieved that there was a fair bit of time and progress between Ruth and Nelson. Theirs has been a very off/on fluctuating relationship and a few books ago I was really getting sick of the apparent lack of momentum. While it is absolutely still slow going, I have to admit some progress is definitely being made and I am hoping this keeps up until it resolves once and for all.

Readers looking for a slightly different murder mystery – one that usually involves quite a bit of history and archaeology but also a few different viewpoints – should find this an excellent series and I was quite happy with this book as a whole. Recommended.

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Ruth’s partner in crime, DCI Nelson, has been receiving threatening letters. They are anonymous, yet reminiscent of ones he has received in the past, from the person who drew him into a case that’s haunted him for years. At the same time, Ruth receives a letter purporting to be from that very same person—her former mentor, and the reason she first started working with Nelson. But the author of those letters is dead. Or is he? The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

DCI Nelson has received a few anonymous letters that are eerily similar to those he received during his first case with Dr. Ruth Galloway and a Bronze Age girl buried at a local henge. He’s uneasy, but resolves to ignore them as the original author of the letters is long dead now. But then Ruth calls to say she’s found what she thinks are somewhat recent bones of a young girl she finds when excavating at a new location right near that original henge, a recently discovered stone circle. Ruth and Nelson are finding their past is becoming ominously part of their present.

I’ve been a big fan of this series for a while now and even though I admit Nelson and Ruth’s off/on relationship drives me mental sometimes, I really enjoyed this book a lot. There is what I felt to be a satisfying amount of progress (of sorts) between Nelson’s family and Ruth/Kate. I loved that Cathbad was once again a solid and prolific character and part of this story. I even really enjoyed the amount of time spent with Judy and Cloughie this time around. I thought there really was a good amount of progress and time spent with all these main characters and the plot revolving around the missing girl whose bones were discovered. Overall, I found the balance in this story – for myself personally – was excellent. I do admit though that people who prefer the archaeology aspect to these books and the time spent focused on the dig and field work and more historical aspects might find this book a little light on for them and they might not be as satisfied as I am.

I particularly enjoyed how a good amount of the first quarter or so of this book really seemed to hark back to the first in this series (The Crossing Places) and even though it’s been quite some time since I’ve read that book, I enjoyed the parallels between the two. I wondered at times if the author was trying a sort of soft reset with the storylines – but I can’t decide if it’s my imagination and I’m reading too much into the parallels or not.

Readers who enjoy British police procedural books – especially those with strong ties to history and archaeology – should definitely find this series as a whole suits their tastes. With a strong cast of secondary characters and a well woven plotline that has a number of red herrings to keep most mystery readers guessing this was an enjoyable book and is a series I greatly enjoy. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

When archaeologist Angelo Morelli asks Ruth Galloway to come to the Italian countryside to help identify bones found in picturesque Fontana Liri, she jumps at the chance to go—and brings her daughter along for what she assumes will be a working vacation. Upon arriving, Ruth hears murmurs of Fontana Liri’s strong resistance movement during World War II, and begins to sense that the townspeople are harboring an age-old secret. But how, if at all, could this chapter in history be connected to the human remains that Angelo has unearthed? Just as she’s getting her footing in the dig, DCI Nelson appears, unexpectedly and for no clear reason. When Ruth’s findings lead her and her crew to a modern-day murder, their holiday turns into anything but as they race to find out what darkness is lurking in this seemingly peaceful place. . .and who may be on their trail.

Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself in a bit of a low patch. With her mother only recently dead in the last few months, her off/on relationship with her married lover – DCI Harry Nelson – solidly off for now, and Nelson’s wife newly pregnant things are feeling difficult for Ruth. When an old colleague from Italy calls out of the blue asking for Ruth’s assistance, it feels like exactly the right time for her and her young daughter to take a quick working vacation before the school year starts once again. Only things in the sleepy little Italian town are not as peaceful as Ruth was expecting. Can she sort out what’s really going on before she and her daughter find themselves in danger?

I really love the plots in this series – always finding them to be a solid weaving together of British police procedural mystery and scientific archaeology. The plots and mystery are always clear and multi-layered. The romantic and family relationships, however, is usually quite murky, messy and often heart wrenching. I find Ruth generally to be a strong and independent heroine for these stories. While it’s completely understandable that Ruth is a little blue with quite a few changes having occurred in the recent past for her, I did find that low ebb of her confidence really seemed to cast a bit of a cloud over the story for me. I also think having Cathbad back in England and Ruth in Italy for the majority of the book might have helped this darker cloud feeling seep into the story for me. I feel Cathbad often can help Ruth feel a little more optimistic and seen. I really feel he lightens her thoughts sometimes and for this book I could have used a bit more of that.

That all said I absolutely love the murder mystery aspect to this plot and as always, I found the strongly written and well plotted archaeology was a joy to read. For me personally this is hands down the best series out there with this style of writing – I guess I just wish the personal and romantic relationships weren’t as messy and complicated as they are.

Readers who want a straightforward mystery might not find this gives them what they wanted. The inter-personal relationships take up a fair bit of space in this novel and while the plot and history are strong components of this book the relationships certainly give the other plots a run for their money. Readers who have enjoyed the previous installments likely will thoroughly enjoy this book as much as they have the others – and like me curiosity on what will happen next shall likely compel them into reading more, just like I’m sure I’ll be picking up the next in the series as well. A well plotted and well written novel, though an emotionally difficult one to read.

The Woman In Blue by Elly Griffiths
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A vision of the Virgin Mary foreshadows a string of cold-blooded murders, revealing a dark current of religious fanaticism in an old medieval town in this Ruth Galloway mystery.

When Ruth’s friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary—in a white gown and blue cloak—in the graveyard next to the cottage he is house-sitting, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all; visions come with the job. But when the body of a woman in a blue dressing-gown is found dead the next day in a nearby ditch, it is clear Cathbad’s vision was all too human—and that a horrible crime has been committed. DCI Nelson and his team are called in for the murder investigation and soon establish that the dead woman was a recovering addict being treated at a nearby private hospital.

Ruth, a devout atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend, Hilary Smithson, asks to meet her in the village, and Ruth is amazed to discover that her friend is now a priest. Hilary has been receiving vitriolic anonymous letters targeting women priests— letters containing references to local archaeology and a striking phrase about a woman “clad in blue, weeping for the world.”

Then another woman is murdered—a priest.

As Walsingham prepares for its annual Easter re-enactment of the Crucifixion, the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again…

When a young woman is murdered in a pilgrimage town near to where Dr Ruth Galloway lives DCI Harry Nelson is quickly on the case. While this time there isn’t much need for Ruth’s archaeological talents, she is still drawn in by the disturbing similarities to the case and some threatening letters a priest friend of Ruth’s also in the town for a conference has been receiving lately. The case grows more complicated however when a second woman is murdered and all too soon both Harry and ruth find this case hits even closer to home than either is prepared for.

I have been really enjoying this series and found this book to be an exceptional addition to it. Readers who are picking this book up by itself should be able to follow along with everything fairly easily – the links and history between the main character’s is fairly well described without too much info-dumping, though I must admit the previous books are all well worth a read in their own right. Readers shouldn’t be worried though about not understanding some of the cross-overs between the characters and their history though.

The plot itself was quite good though also I found it quite straightforward. Usually I enjoy the history of the archaeology or the links to Ruth and a dig site or something similar and that side of this book was a bit thinner than I’ve found previous. The small town is a massive local pilgrim’s site though so the history and such is there, just in a bit of a different context. I feel many readers might feel that this is refreshing and a different take – but I admit I missed some of the archaeology, just personally.

I did however like that there were some important changes and truths exposed personally with Harry and Ruth – and Michelle, Harry’s wife. A lot of the complexities surrounding their relationship and history has been bubbling under the surface for the last few books and I was pleased there was finally some decisive steps taken. I still definitely feel these relationships will remain complicated – and a part of me wishes a few different decisions had been made – but I was very pleased that things didn’t remain in a status quo as they have for the last few books. That was lovely to read and see finally happen.

For an interesting and enjoyable murder mystery this was a good book and is an excellent series I’m thoroughly addicted to.