Another fantastic book from this author. I love this series, this is the third outing for David Stone and Frankie Oliver but this time it is personal very personal. I was hooked from the first page and read this book in one sitting. I could not put this book down. I love the way this author tells a story. I know that I am going to have an entertaing and rollercoaster of a read. Never disappointed with this author and eagerly awaiting the next in this exciting crime series.

DCI Harry Nelson's life is complicated. His two oldest daughters are either living away from home or really should be. His youngest daughter was conceived in a (very) brief affair (let's not call it a one-night stand: there's more emotion in their relationship) with archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway. Michelle, Nelson's wife, knows about Kate and has been very understanding, but then there's the matter of her affair with a black policeman which she'd rather not have to discuss with her daughters. Nelson knows about it and knows that the baby which Michelle is about to deliver, could be Tim's. That's a lot to cope with - and that's before he gets to work.

At work he's been getting anonymous letters telling him to rescue the innocent buried at the stone circle, but it's Ruth Galloway who's at the circle when the bones of a young girl are discovered. They're all that remain of Margaret Lacey, a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared thirty years ago, on the day that Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer. She left a street party with her friend: they went their separate ways and Margaret was never seen again. It was just family and friends who were at the party: is one of them guilty of Margaret's murder? Or is John Mostyn, the prime suspect thirty years ago going to be brought to justice now?

I read widely in the crime genre. I touch on some series and then allow them to pass by. Other detectives will be apprehended as they pass across my desk. There are just a few which I'll buy even if a review copy doesn't arrive. Dr Ruth Galloway comes into that last category. I like Galloway: she's a single parent doing her best to bring her daughter up with love and honesty, whilst still living her own life. She's a lecturer at the University of North Norfolk, sometime TV star, writer and consultant to the police. She's a little confused about the last bit of the job description as she's not entirely clear about her relationship with Nelson: she's not certain that she wants to live with a man again and doesn't want him to leave his wife, particularly now that there's a baby on the way, but...

One of the other reasons I love these books is the North Norfolk location, and Elly Griffiths brings it to life in all its beauty and harshness. I feel at home in the books. But the main reason this series matters to me is that the plots are superb. There's obviously been a lot of research done but it's worn lightly: you feel that Griffiths knows a great deal more than she feels the need to include in the books. There are always plenty of twists and I'm generally surprised by how it all works out. This time was no exception. The solution was a complete revelation and totally right.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Mari Hannah's Kate Daniels series was excellent but, if anything, this is even better. This is the third in her new series featuring David Stone and Frankie Oliver and this time it's personal! When a childhood friend of Frankie's is murdered, she finds it hard to keep it together, and her relationship with her DI is strained to the limit. Both Northumberland and the principal characters are beautifully drawn and the story grips from the very beginning. A real treat!

This is the 11th Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson book and I really enjoyed it. I've read all the previous books so it was great to join them again and also to experience the landscape of the salt marshes, as always a character themselves.
This book brings back the story from Griffiths' first book 'The Crossing Places' which I really liked, as it allowed for us dedicated Dr Ruth Galloway readers a return to those events and with new faces also linked in to the events.
The central plot is woven well and held my attention throughout. With these books it's the through-line story for the central characters that keeps us turning the pages and the complex relationship between Ruth and Harry.
Some funny moment and some poignant ones for the reader and I'd certainly recommend this book, but I'd definitely start with book one and watch the characters develop over the years.
Thank you so much Quercus and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book!

Ancient, recent and personal histories combine When the police start to receive anonymous letters and a skeleton is discovered at an archaeological dig site.

This is my first book in the Ruth Galloway series and, as you'd imagine, with 10 previous instalments there's a lot of backstory to learn on the run. But that was what was so good about the novel. Rather than being muddled and overwhelming, the personal interactions between the characters were layered due to their histories.

Elly Griffiths returns us to the North Norfolk coast with her character driven series featuring academic archaeologist and single mother Dr Ruth Galloway, once again serving as a consultant for the police team run by DI Harry Nelson. This is one of my favourite comfort series, one in which I delight in returning to the familiar characters and this time we come full circle in a mystery that connects to a case from the beginning of this series. Nelson is receiving anonymous letters that echo the past, that unsettle and disturb him, the sender of the original letters, Erik Anderrsen, is dead, so who is evoking past history? Erik's son, Leif, is leading a current henge saltmarsh dig that Ruth is a part of. This is a case that takes us back over thirty years ago when a young 12 year old Margaret Lacey disappeared from a street party celebrating the ill fated wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981. Margaret's bones are recovered at the site of the dig, although it looks as if they have been moved here recently from its unknown original site. No-one was charged with the murder, although the prime suspect was a local young man deemed a weirdo, John Mostyn.

The past replays itself as Nelson and his team, that includes Judy and Cloughie, revisit the cold case and reinterview the major players, particularly the Lacey family, still deeply traumatised about their devastating loss, unable to achieve any form of closure and the now elderly John Mostyn. Nelson and his wife, Michelle, are awaiting the birth of their child, both harbouring fears as to whether Nelson is the father, and how it will be unavoidably clear if he is not, as the now dead Tim was a black police officer. Nelson wants to come clean about being the father of 7 year old Kate, Ruth's daughter, to his older daughters, Laura and Rebecca, aware of the potential problems that lie ahead. A lonely Michelle, having given birth, finds herself connecting with a young mother, Star and her baby, Ava, only to discover Star is part of the younger generation of the Lacey family. In a story that takes in the network of characters that have unexpected connections with Cathbad and Leif, the police find themselves having to deal with a present day murder and the horrors of a missing child.

There are ongoing developments with the characters, such as Ruth seeking the possibility of moving on from her personal situation and wondering if she needs a new start to consolidate her career. However, it ends with her still stuck in her complicated personal life with Nelson, her roots in the Norfolk coast and her close knit and long term ties to the local community. Leif proves to have his own agenda with regard to Cathbad and Ruth, and Superintendent Jo Archer has come to be more accepted with the police team. Fans of this series will adore this addition to this series, probably for the same reason as me, to once again immerse ourselves in characters we have come to love. Many thanks to Quercus for an ARC.

Stone Circle

I realise I’m late to the table and this instalment is way late in this series but I’ve heard so many good things about it, I couldn’t resist when I got the chance to read The Stone Circle.
So this was my first Ellie Griffiths - Ruth Galloway book and I got plonked right into the middle of several ongoing back plots carried over from previous books. The author, however, dropped enough hints and information that I didn’t feel left out and I could easily pick up on the relationships between the characters and the relevant previous case from the first book in the series.
The murder story itself was gripping and well thought out and I really enjoyed my foray into a very well established series with well developed characters and matured, complex background relations.
I did find the tone of the whole book quite melancholic and sad, but wether I felt for Nelson’s dilemma, Ruth’s situation, the bereft families, or just experienced a bout of January blues I’m not sure. I do hope things look up for the two main characters in the next book, but in the meantime I have ten earlier volumes to catch up on!

This is one of my favourite series and I read this book in a setting so the rating cannot be less than five stars.
At the beginning I was a bit perplexed as it seemed to be a reprise of the first book, similar themes and characters.
Reading it I discovered an engaging and entertaining plot and some interesting developments in the characters.
I think it closes with a sort of cliff hanger and I suppose this means there will be more installment.
It found it better than the previous one, I loved being back in Norfolk and meeting again the old gang.
I look forward to reading the next one.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for this ARC

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

This series- the Ruth Galloway books- are best read in order so that the life-changes and development of the cast of characters make most sense. The book nicely balances showing how past events continue to affect people and events in the present, and and resolving some issues from the past- for instance Michelle’s baby is born (mother and child are doing well) and Kate properly meets her half-sisters. Other conundrums continue (Ruth and Nelson) or are explored (how do Cathbad and Judy get on day to day). The book, like others in the series, is about lost children, and I wonder about Ruth’s relationship with a previously lost-then-found girl; surely she must have one. I enjoyed the book both for the plot and for the people. Highly recommended.

I know that I say this for the majority of series books but this time I really do strongly believe that you would be better off starting from book one and reading in order. I say this for two reasons: one, these books are very character driven and there is a lot of personal stuff going on in the background with the main characters and what they get up to now, and have got up to in the past; and two, events in this book are very interconnected with things that have gone before so, at the very least, you really need to read book one - The Crossing Places - before tackling this one. Yes there is the obligatory catch-up to be found within this book but this is more directed as memory links rather than a complete fill in.
So, Nelson receives a letter that feels very familiar. It alludes to a body and, lo and behold, said body, well the bones of at least, is found near that of a dig. Turns out that the son of the author of the original letters is spearheading said dig. On investigation, Nelson and his team think that the bones could be part of a cold case, still unsolved some 30 odd years later; the disappearance of a young girl during a street party celebrating Charles and Di's wedding. Obviously with only skeletal remains found, Ruth gets involved. But with the impending birth of Michelle's baby looming things are strained between her and Nelson. Especially with Frank back on the scene. And then another child goes missing, this time a baby not even a month old and it becomes a race against time to get to the bottom of things.
I do love Ruth, well, actually I have a soft spot for the majority of the main characters in this series. We've been together for so long and I have invested so much of both my time and emotions on them that I kind of consider them all to be almost friends by now. Yes, we do have quite a lot of personal stuff going on in each book but that's part of the beauty of reading a series; for its familiarity. If you're not a fan of this then maybe this isn't the right series for you, but for me, the whole is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
The crime(s) in this book are especially interesting as we have to go back in time to 1981, the year of the Royal Wedding, to get to the original crime. We also revisit the events in the first book, when the gang were just starting to come together.
I can't fail to also mention the setting. The salt marsh especially is almost a character in its own right. Usually I am not a fan of too much description but here, this goes hand in hand with the rest of the story and adds so much colour and atmosphere that I absolutely love reading about it.
Also in this book, Nelson and Michelle welcome the new addition to their family. Not going into detail with this but just to say that this new addition makes things a bit awkward for both Ruth and the rest of the Nelson clan. It's going to be interesting seeing how the author takes this thread further...
All in all, another cracking instalment of one of my favourite series. Can't wait for the next one. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Firstly thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for this advanced copy. Wow.. So glad that Dr Ruth Galloway and the gang are back. This is the 11th book in the series and is still as good as the first. Elly Griffiths draws you into the story and what a story it is. It is fast paced and doesn't let go until the very last page. The events are all woven into each other and you are gripped right up until the end when they all untangle at the end to reveal the guilty parties. This book is a welcome edition to the series and I hope there are more to come. You really get a feel for the places she is describing and it is great to see the characters develop over the course of the series. Absolutely brilliant and it was a privilege to read this book. Roll on the next one.

I admit that I was disappointed with my own reaction to this book, but I think at this juncture Ruth and I must part. The last book was already very borderline, I am just soooo tired of the Ruth and Nelson thing and the relationships that have descended into melodrama and remind me of a telenovela. I adored the first 9, book 10 not so much and book 11, not at all. The re-hashing of the plot of book 1, the same old themes, the characters all starting to turn into stereotypes and cardboard cut-outs of themselves.

SPOILERS

Oh it's good to be back with the gang.

There's a girl in a burial site,that feels a bit like we've done this before,but she soon gets pushed aside by a more recent murder and a kidnapping..

To be honest,it wasn't even those things,but the whole catching up with characters that has me reading these books.
Finding out who's baby Michelle is having,what crazy ideas Cathbad might come up with... how many times ruth complains about being fat (not once I believe,but I did enjoy the comedy fitbit moments).
There felt like the characters moved on a bit... especially with Kate being introduced to her sisters.
The crimes were solved... all good.

I *love* Ruth Galloway but have to admit this book feels like a re-run of the first couple: *yet another* girl's body is found out on the seahenge (how many is than now?) and yet again Ruth advises the police team. A cold case is re-opened of a girl who went missing in 1981, we have more weird letters, Erik's son appears to act in a suitably sinister fashion, and everyone (it seems) has a new baby. There's even the obligatory 'face the killer alone and with no back-up' scene, followed by the killer's confession...

What makes the whole thing so enjoyable isn't the reworked plot but the characters who are a joy. Their relationships are so intertwined and complicated now that while this can be read as a stand-alone, so much of the resonance would be missing. Griffith's sly humour and fluent prose add to the pleasure.

Circles seem important: literal and material stone circles but also the circling back into the past, and relationships going round in circles... we think, briefly, that Ruth might break out, but no, there are too many things holding her where she is. This is a 'more of the same' book: if you've not gelled with this series before, this one won't change your mind. For me, I loved being back in the company of Ruth, Nelson, Cloughie and the others.