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The Night Hawks

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Member Reviews

I will read anything Elly Griffiths writes. This is another beautiful Dr Ruth Galloway set on the coast of Norfolk. This beauty brings in the legend of the Black Shuck. Excellent Ruth and Nelson tension as always.

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I loved this book and have previously reviewed it. Not sure why it is still in my shelf at Netgalley. I also enjoyed seeing Domenica de Rosa at the Book fair in September 2022. I am a huge fan and will read her EVERY book. I especially liked the play on words with this title. And all of it! Can’t wait until her next book comes out.

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I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A great mystery. Perfect for a good weekend read.

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Ruth has returned to the coast after a sojourn in Cambridge, as head of the archaeology department. She hires an eager young man who seems to show up everywhere. David Brown wants to prove his worth to Ruth, so when a local group of amateur archaeologists discover a Bronze Age burial site, he is determined to prove his theory regarding how a tribe of people disappeared from England thousands of years ago. Ruth, on the other hand, is not happy with this local group called the Night Hawks. She knows how much damage amateurs can do to a site. But when dead bodies start showing up at various places, Ruth and DC Harry Nelson are thrown together again. Another interesting entry in the long running series.

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13th in the series
Anyone who knows my reading habits (a small but dedicated group) knows how much I love Elly Griffiths. I discovered her Dr. Ruth Galloway series in the middle and went back to the beginning to read every one. The Night Hawks is the 13th Ruth book, and an evil bird tells me that Griffiths plans to end the series after 15 books. So you can imagine that this book starts the leadup to a grand farewell for Ruth, Nelson, Cathbad, and the rest of the Norfolk team.
I am thankful that Griffiths did not go full-on Diana Gabaldon and age her main characters by two decades between books 1 and 2. However, after 13 books, even with a modest two-year gap between each, Ruth and Nelson are reaching a point of diminishing returns. If and when they do get together, will they be too old to enjoy it? The plot is almost incidental to the relationship at this point, and Griffiths understands her readers so well: we want more Ruth and Nelson (Nuth? Rulson?). I do not mean scenes where Ruth stares pensively at the phone after an abrupt hangup from Nelson. I mean actual interaction. Griffiths delivers, and ends this book on a delicious cliffhanger that I wouldn’t have thought possible for a series 13 books in.
The mystery is well-plotted, with Ruth grinding her teeth over interference from some amateur archeologists and a new member of her department whose ambitions are lofty and whose motives are questionable. It’s gratifying to see Ruth leading the department instead of at Phil’s mercy, and the addition of David, the sharklike colleague, makes for an interesting thorn in her side. This is a fantastic addition to the series, and I’m truly dreading the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.I really like this mystery. Great story and characters. I am always recommending these books to patrons.

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Brilliant book again. I love this author and the Ryth Galloway set of books.
It always amazes me how Elly Griffiths manages to wind the characters and their stories together.

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I was a bit lost with this book as I did not realise it was book number 13 in the Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson series. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the previous books.

The Night Hawks are a group of metal detector enthusiasts who have come across a dead body. DCI Harry Nelson is called to the scene and shortly after Ruth Galloway comes to inspect the scene/bones. I enjoyed the mystery and archaeological aspects of this story. I will recommend that you start at book number one if you want to read this series so you can read the character development and background stories.

Thank you Netgalley and Mariner Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Another solid title in this series featuring anthropologist Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson. Ruth has left boyfriend Frank and her position at Cambridge and moved back to Norfolk with ten year old Kate. An apparent murder-suicide at a farm takes on more sinister meaning when it becomes apparent that the crime has ties to the discovery of two bodies by a group of local metal detectorists searching for buried treasure.

The coastal setting is captivating as usual, and solving the crimes are complicated by local legends, a large pool of suspects, and the ongoing tension between Ruth and Nelson, which is handled especially well by the author. I learn a little something about archaeology and British history with each book in this series.

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Another wonderful addition to one of my all time favorite series! If you haven't yet had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Dr. Ruth Galloway and Co., I envy you!

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I so enjoyed following Dr. Ruth on another investigation. The characters are well loved by me and I enjoy learning more about them. This plot was very good and kept me flipping pages. I hated for it to end.
Many thanks to Mariner Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Always a great read and we learn something new with each book. As we get to know more about the characters they feel more like family each time. Black Dog farm holds many secrets as do the Night Hawks who are the local amateur metal detectorists but what connects them all? As the tension builds will Ruth and Harry be able to survive?

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Dr. Ruth Galloway is at it again in this, the 13th installment of the Elly Griffiths series featuring Dr. Galloway. By now it's like visiting friends and you have to read each new book to catch up on what they have been up to since the last book.
The Night Hawks are a group of metal detectorists who are poking around and stirring up mysteries. Nelson is called in and Ruth soon is soon needed. The mystery leads to to Black Dog Farm and more suspense and danger, of course. All the right ingredeints are here and Elly Griffiths knows how to mix them together to give us an enjoyable outing in North Norfolk.
Every book in this series is a good read but this one is particularly enjoyable. The audio version is also very good.

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Elly Griffiths writes another Ruth Galloway series winner. There is a reason why fans are willing to wait a whole year for the next book. The mysteries are informative, intriguing and cozy. Not to mention the ongoing drama between Ruth and Harry and the other recurring characters. Looking forward to next year’s instalment.

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The latest Ruth Galloway - what am I going to do now for my next drive across France ?
The plot in this one seems a little unlikely, but I love these characters and there are hints that the love triangle will be resolved soon. Can't wait...

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A masterpiece of interwoven mysteries and crimes.
There is no easy way to unravel the twists and turns of the plot, you just have to sit back and enjoy the roller coaster ride of the story.
Unpredictable, with wonderfully complex and diverse characters.
A tough book to put down !


I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

I recently read Elly Griffith's The Stranger Diaries, the first in her Harbinder Kaur series for a book club. When I saw The Night Hawks was available, I was thrilled. Since it is the thirteenth book in her Ruth Galloway series, I read most of the books in the series to give an honest review.

In The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectors, The Night Hawks, search for buried treasure but instead find a dead body. Dr. Ruth Galloway and Detective Chief Inspector Nelson, the father of Ruth's child who is extremely protective of Ruth, are thrust into a mystery involving The Night Hawks and local legends. Can Nelson solve the case before Ruth falls victim to the Black Shuck, a spectral hound who appears to people before they die?

Starting with The Crossing Places' first installment, Griffith builds a well-developed world with well-developed, likable characters. While it is not necessary to read all of the prior novels in the series, doing so would allow for appreciation of the interwoven connections of the characters and offer a better understanding of the characters' actions.

I enjoyed the Ruth Galloway series, but I am sorry I did not find it sooner.

This 200-word review will be published on Philomathinphila.

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I love the Ruth Galloway series, so I was delighted to receive a copy of this book to review. Ruth is now Head of Department at North Norfolk University and has returned from Cambridge to her isolated cottage, with her daughter Kate and her cat.

The story deals with the murder of a ‘Night Hawk’ one of a group who go treasure hunting using metal detectors, often in the middle of the night. As usual, Elly Griffiths provides the reader with plenty of red herrings and blind alleys, whilst providing enough clues to solve the mystery, or at least understand the ending when all is revealed.

The sense of place Griffiths creates is stunning, I always feel as if I am on the Norfolk coast alongside Ruth and the other wonderful characters, she writes the setting beautifully.

I love all of the characters, and Griffiths does such a good job bringing them to life that they feel like life long companions. As a result I care deeply about them and I am, therefore, invested in their lives and the issues they face.

The relationship between Ruth and Nelson remains central to the plot and Ruth presents the reader with a real dilemma, because whilst I would love to see Ruth and Nelson together, I don’t want Michelle hurt. That is a difficult thing for a writer to achieve, but Griffiths has managed it, and had managed it exceptionally well.

This is the 13th book in the series and I have loved every single one of them, they are compelling and difficult to put down!

They would also make a great TV series.

Thank you to Quercia and NetGalley for my ARC, which I devoured in a day.

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I avoided coming to the point where I must wait for the next Ruth Galloway (next June, folks), but here I am after tapping the last Kindle page of The Night Hawks. What I concluded was: with every Ruth Galloway, I care less about the mystery and more about the characters. (If you love the series, the review might be fun to read; if not, it’ll definitely have an insiders feel to it.) It’s great to have Ruth and twelve-year-old daughter Kate back in their Saltmarsh cottage: Ruth, now head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk, the usual gang circling them, especially the complicated relationship with “the love of her life,” DCI Harry Nelson of King’s Lynn police and Kate’s father. DC Judy Johnson, still married to Ruth’s friend, Cathbad, is back; Harry’s family: wife Michelle; baby George, now three; adult daughters, Laura and Rebecca; and my favourite still makes an appearance, DCI David Clough, “Cloughie”. The murder is complicated and atmospheric and involves amateur archaeologists, illegal medical experimentation, and the eponymous “night hawks” discovering a washed-up body at Blakeney Point. Nelson calls Ruth and she is once again part of a police investigation as forensic expert. Their personal lives’ dangerous currents are the narrative’s focus as much as the investigation. The blurb provides further details:

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, 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.

David Brown is irritating and arrogant, though an interesting addition to the cast of characters Griffiths is constantly shifting and developping. Equally compelling is Griffths’s homage to Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles as the farmhouse murder-suicide has Ruth and Nelson sight the Black Shuck on several ominous occasions!

Griffiths’s murder-mystery is dark, sad, and tragic; the Black Shuck sightings are deliciously creepy. The mystery’s resolution, never Griffiths’s forte, wasn’t quite obvious, but inevitable, given what we learn about the man on the beach and the murdered farmhouse couple. Family and love are ever at the core of Griffith’s characters’ murderous motives. Her detecting cast, Ruth, Harry and his team, and their families, have complicated, messy lives and relationships, but their ability to bring order into the chaos stands strong. The complications of their lives and loves, on the other hand, come to a crisis point in The Night Hawks. It appears change is on the horizon and Griffiths does a maddening job of leaving us with an emotional cliffhanger.

Of all the familiar characters, Ruth seems to be in the best place, as happy as she can be: ” … Ruth, as an archaeologist, feels more comfortable in the past. But, in the present, Ruth has her life with her daughter and her cat – and her work. She has to be content with that.” Nelson has his superintendent, “Super Jo Archer,” hinting at retirement. (Nelson is NOT ready to retire.) Nelson is an endearing conservative (it’s hard to believe I wrote that, but it’s true; like Ruth, I love Nelson): “he wants everything to stay exactly as it was.” But change is inevitable and even DCI Harry Nelson must admit it. The person who pushes him towards change is the greatest surprise of the novel for those who’ve followed the series.

Mystery-wise, The Night Hawks wasn’t as compelling as The Outcast Dead, Woman in Blue, Chalk Pit, or Stone Circle, but it was still Ruth and Nelson and their circle of awesome … and I’ll be drumming my fingers till June for The Locked Room. Miss Austen and I agree, The Night Hawks offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Elly Griffiths’s The Night Hawks is published by Mariner Books. It was released on June 29th and may be found at your preferred vendors. (I recommend starting the series at the beginning and letting yourself glom all thirteen.) I received an e-galley from Mariner Books, via Netgalley, for the purpose of writing this review.

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3.5 stars but I am rounding up.

I enjoyed reading this book but couldn't help feeling like I was the new kid in town. There are so many characters in this book and as the newbie, I can make assumptions about them and their relationships, but feel like I don't know the full story. In all fairness, this is my first Ruth Galloway book and it is also #13 so I have missed out on a lot of character building!

The story was good, it kept me engaged and I wanted to keep reading until I found out what really happened. I liked the mix of mystery, history and folklore!

13 books in this series is a lot and I am not sure if I am up to reading the past 12 and future books right now, but I did enjoy this book!

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

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