The Last Remains (The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries)

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Ruth and DCI Nelson are working on a murder case in which their friend Cathbad emerges as the prime suspect. Can they uncover the truth in time to save him? I enjoyed the details of local areas such as Thetford forest and Grimes caves and of the folktales such as the green children and the fairy cow that were very much parts of my childhood. Ruth and Nelson really don’t have all that much in common. The only thing we know for sure is they’re always having great sex. Whoopteedoo. That’s not enough to stand the test of time, when you have little else in common. I really wanted to see Michelle wind up with someone deserving of her. However, the police find that Emily was involved with several men, so there are plenty of suspects......possibly including Cathbad. This is significant to the cops because Cathbad's life partner Judy is a detective on Nelson's team, and must be recused from the investigation.

The discovery of a missing woman’s bones force Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own in this not-to-be-missed Ruth Galloway mystery from USA Today bestselling author Elly Griffiths. The discovery of a missing woman’s bones forces Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own.The Last Remains ends with the resolution of a twenty-year-old cold case and many ends tied up neatly in presumably “happily ever after bows,” but as stated before, fans will hunger for more from the author. Remarkable Writer, Addictive Books! All the bases are covered here. Life during the pandemic and the NHS phone app that told users when they had to stay home because they'd been in the same place as someone with Covid. Ruth's very real possibility of losing her beloved archaeology department and her job. Nelson's boss constantly harping at him to retire. Cathbad's slow recovery from Covid and his mystifying disappearance. New faces, like a detective constable named Lucy. Ruth's daughter Kate growing up so fast. And-- of course-- a first-rate mystery to solve. I found the university storyline quite boring and although I enjoyed the introduction of Zoe in the last book she seemed to have no part in this story.

Of course, no Ruth Galloway adventure would be complete without an appearance from Cathbad. We’re well served here, as he plays a sizeable and significant role in the investigation. Not only did he know Emily and was on her last field trip, but he disappears midway through the investigation. This is it. The last book in Elly Griffiths ‘Dr. Ruth Galloway’ series. Fifteen books. Spanning 2009 to 2023. Oh, sure - Griffiths is being very gentle in adding “for now,” whenever she discusses this as the final book in the series … but her publisher Quercus is advertising it as “the final instalment in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries,” and it does indeed read with finality. A lovely goodbye.The case serves as a distraction for Ruth from her responsibilities with the university; but then it’s announced that due to lower enrollments and budget cuts, the Archeology Department may be eliminated at the University of North Norfolk. She has tenure and could remain in some to-be-determined capacity or easily be hired by another university — whether in England or abroad — but her colleagues’ positions would be eliminated. A massive campaign to publicize the importance of their work is soon underway. I found The Last Remains utterly absorbing from start to finish. While I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few Elly Griffiths novels, this fifteenth Ruth Galloway book was my first of this series. Even though I had no prior acquaintance with these characters, I was genuinely surprised by how invested I became in Ruth and Nelson’s relationship, despite finding their ambivalence towards commitment desperately irritating. It’s actually Cathbad who has the best advice for this romantically infuriating pair, when he asks Nelson:

A storyteller from a young age, she wrote her first crime novel – an Agatha Christie-style story called The Hair of the Dog – when she was 11, followed by stories inspired by her TV favourites Starsky and Hutch. 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. The relationships are so believable in all of Ms. Griffiths’ books, with this novel being no exception. I honestly went from not understanding what Ruth saw in Nelson to rooting for their relationship to overcome the plentiful obstacles strewn in their path. I can only imagine what a treat this book will be for series fans, who will surely also love the pivotal cameos from people who’ve featured in the preceding fourteen installments. And also she has the future – what does she do with Nelson? But the story, I hope, does lead all the characters full circle.” Meanwhile, renovations of an old Norfolk café, with the aim of re-opening as a fashionable tea room, reveal a skeleton hidden behind a wall.The discovery of a missing woman's bones forces Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own.

Long-running crime series are like an addiction. Once you’ve started with book one, if the author is skilled enough to get you on the hook, it’s impossible to say no to books two, three, four and so on. Sadly, after a while some writers take the foot off the gas and start to cruise – a big mistake, because that’s a real turn-off and there are so many great books out there, all waiting for a willing reader. Taking place just after the worst of the Covid pandemic, archeologist Ruth Galloway is called in to assist on a case when a skeleton is found encased behind a wall in a shop being renovated. Her life is complicated as the university where she teaches announces they are going to close the archeology department while she is also trying to her figure out her relationship with DCI Nelson. When the bones are identified as belonging to a young woman who went missing twenty years earlier, they lead to links within the world of archeology and a close friend of Ruth’s. The Last Remains is the fifteenth and latest in Elly Griffiths’ series featuring archaeologist Ruth Galloway. It's another engrossing mystery with plenty of ongoing character storylines and fascinating historical content. At this point, Ruth and Nelson have been 14-years in this painful dance. And in this, the final instalment, it’s time to put up or shut up.She feels that she has been fighting things - Covid, the university, her own feelings - for too long." This was a well written, engrossing read. I didn’t want to put it down. I enjoyed all the richly drawn characters in this well plotted and quite atmospheric novel, as well as some of the folklore from the Norfolk area. As it happens, Ruth's druid friend Cathbad (real name Michael Malone), who was 36-years-old at the time, was on the outing with Ballard and the undergraduates. The novel's finale is satisfying, and leaves room for more books if the author decides to continue the series at some point. We used to spend quite a lot of time with my aunt, having holidays in Norfolk on her boat,” she says.