I adore this series and always look forward to a new adventure with Ruth. This installment does not disappoint. Ruth has left the prestigious job at Cambridge and come home to take over as department head at UNN from her former boss Phil and live in her beloved cottage by the sea with her daughter Kate, who is now 10. All the usual characters are here, even a small cameo from Cloughie, who no longer works with Nelson and the gang. The story is great and we have a new curious person in Ruth's life. My only quibble with the book is the constant talk of Nelson's boss wanting him to retire. He's only in his early 50s! Although, if he did retire he could open his own PI firm and hire Ruth as a consultant and that could be fun as well. I'll just wait and see what Elly Griffiths has in store for this great series!

Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series always delivers a fascinating plot and a cast of characters who are allowed to be human--prickly and flawed. But like the best of humans, her characters have heart. And as always, the Norfolk landscape and mythology also serves as a compelling character. This entry's plot is intriguing--covering both forensic archeology, folk mythology, and medical experimentation. You'll fight the urge to race through to see how the plot resolves while wanting to take your time to prolong your time with the characters.

This is book number 13 in the Ruth Galloway series and a word to the wise – these really need to be read in order and do not work well as a stand-a-lone read.

Ruth is a forensic archaeologist who lives near Norfolk, England and is now in her late forties. She has a daughter, Kate, who is eleven years old and they live in a remote cottage with their cat Flint. Ruth tries to live a quiet life but, in each book, she gets pulled into investigations by the police when bones are found that are believed to be “old”. In The Night Hawks, she is now head of her department at the local university and once again, she receives a call from the police requesting her assistance.

I started reading this series when Book 1, The Crossing Places, was released and was immediately hooked. At the time, it was a fairly unique storyline and I found the character, Ruth, refreshing and different from the usual protagonists. As with any long-running series, some of the books are better than others but I am happy to say that I found The Night Hawks on the better end of the scale (4/5 stars). I highly recommend the books in this series as they are good mysteries and the author has done a good job with character development along the way.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review will be posted on social media upon release date.

This is one of my favorite mystery series ever! Whenever I get a new title, it goes straight to the top of the digital pile.

Ruth is back in Norfolk, and I'm glad. I didn't like the person she became when she was living with the historian guy--too whiny and listless. But now she's back, and there's the beautiful coastline, a new job as head of the department at her old stomping grounds, and, of course, bodies. Several bodies. Add to that spooky local folklore, a (maybe) murder/suicide, the deaths of one or more police officers, and an annoying new lecturer in her department, and you have a cracking good read!

This series is one of the few that I like that takes a rather large cast of characters and focuses on different characters in each book. Ruth is always the main character, and Nelson is always central, but in various books, Judy, Cathbad, Michelle, Tim, Shona, Cloughie, and other characters have played large or small roles, depending on the book. Usually, that doesn't work for me. But somehow, Griffiths does it in a way that I enjoy spending time with whoever the viewpoint characters are in that particular book.

I love the moody setting, the clever plotting, the smart main character, and even the romantic tension. The Ruth Galloway Mysteries rock!

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Elly Griffiths writing. The characters are so well written and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them and follow their journeys. I’m just sorry that I’ve caught up in the series and will have to wait for the next book!

Another great installment in this series - just keeps going strong! Love this series and the characters. The author does a great job growing some very complex relationships that intertwine and change over the series. Unlike other series that get old or repetitive over time, the mysteries are all engaging and fresh, always the right level of complexity and a great mix of the mystery and sub-plots with the characters. Also enjoy the archeology aspect and folks lore that is thrown in. Will definitely keep reading as long as she keeps writing.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read and review this book.

I have enjoyed reading all of the books written by Elly Griffiths, especially the Ruth Galloway/DCI Nelson series. Blending forensic archeology and the investigation of a series of murders is scenic England, along with a cast of interesting characters, makes interesting and delightful reading. As Ruth and Nelson attempt to solve the the latest mystery (the finding of a Bronze Age skeleton along with a dead body washed up on shore), Nelson is also called out to what seems to be a murder/suicide. There doesn’t seem to be a connection, but the investigation finds some clues that bring the two together.

The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, seem to keep showing up at the oddest times, even becoming suspects, at times. While Ruth is annoyed by a new member of the department, Nelson is being encouraged by his boss. As usual, the tension between Ruth and Nelson is always there, since Nelson is the father of Ruth’s daughter, even though he remains married to his wife, Michelle.

There is a serious twist to the story as Ruth and Nelson face danger, again, and the murders are solved. This was another great story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

# Thank you Natgally .# Elly Griffiths. For this book. This is the 13t book in this series.. I was very excited to be a part of the early reader group. This book is very good. .

The Night Hawks is the thirteenth book in the Ruth Galloway series by award-winning British author, Elly Griffiths. Now Head of Department at the University of North Norfolk, Dr Ruth Galloway is dismayed to find herself spouting the phrases about funding she abhorred when they came from her former boss. Her new hire, archaeologist David Brown, arrogant, smug and irritating, is the target of several.

How he manages to ride along to Blakeney Point when DCI Harry Nelson request-demands her input at the scene of a body washed up (an illegal alien?), she can’t quite understand. The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists who hunt for buried historical artefacts at night (nuisances, in Ruth’s opinion), stumbled over the body near a find of coins and weapons.

David Brown is excited by the likelihood that it’s Bronze Age, and the skeletal remains could be one of the European Beaker People whose virus, he theorises, wiped out Neolithic Britons. He envisages facial reconstructions and museum displays; Ruth fears for her departmental budget.

The next night, one of the Night Hawks alerts Police to a shooting at Black Dog Farm that looks like a murder-suicide: Cambridge researcher Dr Douglas Noakes and his wife Linda. Mention of a body in the suicide note has Ruth and her team digging up the garden, at which David Brown once again appears.

Certain anomalies see Nelson unconvinced that the scene was not staged, and the team are soon looking deeper into the family and associates, as well as the metal detectorists who seem to be on the spot. Diligent investigation by the team gradually reveals noteworthy connections and pertinent facts, but the list of suspects and possible motives seems to expand. And all the while, to the annoyance of his Super, Nelson inserts himself in the action when she feels he should be seriously considering retirement.

“Nelson thinks about retirement for about eight seconds and then dismisses the idea. The force needs his experience and know-how. There are some things you can only learn from years of actually doing the job.”

Meanwhile, the washed-up body is identified as a local; then a young policeman dies unexpectedly, and enquiries lead Nelson’s team to a Cambridge research lab: could there be something illegal going on? In the background to it all is the Norfolk legend of the Black Shuck, a harbinger of evil whose manifestation is making fleeting appearances, unnerving many.

Another murder, a shooting and a hostage taking are all part of the dramatic climax. Once again, Griffiths keeps the reader guessing right up to the final chapters with red herrings and misdirections, and, as always in these stories, she demonstrates how the solving of a crime depends very much on a team effort. In this instalment, the usually unspoken relationship between Ruth and Nelson gets more of an airing, and Cathbad plays a significant role. Clever, exciting and informative: more of Ruth, Nelson and co will be most welcome.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishers

Thank you NetGalley for the giving me the chance to read and review The Night Hawks.

Am so happy that Ruth is back in Norfolk, living on the Saltmarsh with Kate and Flint. I enjoyed the previous book, but it feels right that Ruth is Norfolk. It's a very multi layered story, with good characters and an excellent detective plot.

The characters are all very well drawn and established. I love Cathbad and his vast knowledge of everything.

I wonder how Elly Griffiths keeps such high standards for her books and how she works the plots out.

There’s nothing Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body, she finds herself thrust into their midst—and into the crosshairs of a string of murders circling ever closer. This is one of my favorite series of all time. I love the plotting, the ongoing development of such interesting characters and the complicated relationship that Ruth shares with the father of her child. Weaving a really good mystery throughout all this makes this a wonderful addition to the series. I cannot recommend highly enough! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This is the thirteenth book in the excellent Ruth Galloway crime series.

Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist, is now head of the archaeology department at the (fictional) University of North Norfolk. Her old boss Phil Trent has retired, and a great deal of the humor in this installment centers around Ruth finding out she is starting to think in the same bureaucratic way she reviled so much in Phil.

Ruth and her daughter Kate, now ten, are back in the isolated cottage on the coast where they lived before Ruth’s two-year stint teaching archeology at Cambridge. Ruth is also once again seconding for the Serious Crime Unit of the Norfolk Police, headed up by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, who happens to be Kate’s father.

Nelson, now 51, works out of he King’s Lynn Police Station. In actuality, King’s Lynn is a seaport in Norfolk, England and Norwich is a town in Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of its most important. Thus old bones do in fact get excavated quite frequently. Griffiths integrates many interesting historical aspects of this region into her story lines.

Harry and Ruth have a complicated relationship. Harry is married with two adult daughters (Laura and Rebecca). Harry and his wife Michelle had another (unexpected) baby a little more than two years before, a boy named George. All of Harry’s children are fond of one another. Michelle allows Harry to see Kate but insists that Harry only see Ruth in a professional capacity.

In this book, the relationship between Michelle and Ruth takes a most interesting turn.

The story begins with the discovery of a dead body by the Night Hawks, a local group of amateur archeologists, or “metal detectorists,” who, taking advantage of Norfolk’s archaelogically rich landscape, go out at night along the beach to search for Bronze Age artifacts.

This body isn’t the first they find, as they next hear gun shots coming from the Black Dog Farm, reputed to be haunted, according to East Anglian folklore, by a giant spectral dog, the Black Shuck. The dog, according to legend, appears to people prior to their deaths. The Night Hawks called the police, who went to the farm and discovered the bodies of Douglas and Linda Noakes in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. Complicating matters, their son Paul is one of the Night Hawks.

The bodies continue to pile up, and all of the deaths seem in some way related to the members of the metal detectorist group.

All the while, Nelson’s boss is pressuring him to retire, a prospect he is vigorously resisting. He recognizes he must make a decision soon, and not just about his professional life.

Evaluation: I enjoy this series a great deal because the main characters are all complex, likable and funny. Yet there is still plenty of page-turning tension and a lot to learn about archeology and history in the Norfolk area. This book ends, like so many of them, with developments in the characters' personal lives that will have readers champing at the bit for the next installment.

What a joy to have Ruth back in Norfolk and her salt Marsh cottage! This latest book in one of my favorite series has it all, dead bodies, both new and ancient, local myths and legends, Cathbad and other characters we’ve come to know, and the ongoing tension between Ruth and Nelson regarding their future.
A group of amateur archaeologists with metal detectors looking for treasure on a beach find more than they were expecting, the body of a young man being washed in on the tide. The ancient body they found higher up the beach prompts Nelson to call in Ruth, while he and his team set to work to identify the new death. As more people die the same people seem to be involved, but how? I definitely did not see the ending coming, and am now left waiting for the next book to see if the big question left unanswered gets resolved.
Thank you to Elly Griffiths (your own thanks in the acknowledgments to the UK Crime Book Club made me smile, they are a favorite for book suggestions!) for your wonderful writing, and to the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and NetGalley for providing me an advance copy, the opinion is my own.

Thank you Net Galley for the free ARC. I have always been a fan of this series and was not disappointed in this newest issue. Another murder with archaeological overtones and all the characters I have come to love.

Ruth is back in Norfolk and now Head of Department. A body is found on the beach by amateur archaeologists known as the Night Hawks. They also find a Bronze Age Skelton which brings Ruth into Nelson’s investigation again. Then two bodies are found in an apparent murder suicide and there are Night Hawks around again. Is there a link? This is another great instalment with the two main characters making a tiny bit of progress. Once again they are both in mortal danger but that’s half the fun.

The latest installment in the Ruth Galloway mysteries is a page-turner for sure. I always enjoy the history, local lore, and mysticism mixed together, this time centering on a enormous devil dog. The introduction of the new character in Ruth's department adds loads of possibility for coming books, as does the cliff-hanger ending. I thoroughly got wrapped up in the story; and I always enjoy the progressive social context surrounding the mystery and the lives of the beloved characters. Admittedly, I was a little confused at Ruth's initial response to David, the new lecturer in the department. She seems to let him push her around a bit. In hindsight, though, it is this realistic side to Ruth, a character I want to put on a pedestal, that ultimately makes me like her even more. And he never really does get the best of her anyway. She triumphs, as always. ;)

Elly Griffiths continues to be one the best mystery writers out there. . Ruth Galloway is one of my favorites characters. As always, the people in her books are fully developed, . Her descriptions of settings make me want to be there. Yes, even with a killer running around . I especially like how each book has an unique additional
story line that give an extra richness to her books.

OMG! This is well written another book ( actually 13th freaking one) of this fast pacing, intriguing series and foolish me haven’t read the previous 12 books! Yes! What a shame!
But interesting fact is the author did a spectacular job by introducing us the characters and summarized their back stories so adroitly! You can catch everything in few pages and you also get connected with the characters, becoming friendly around them because writing style is so realistic, smartly described, genuine, profound starting with dear Dr. Ruth Calloway: snarky, sarcastic, smart, badass forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway.

As far as we learn she left Cambridge, rejected marriage proposal of Frank, returning back to Norfolk hens with her ten years old daughter Kate where Kate’s biological father DI Harry Nelson lives.

The character analysis of the novel is so good! You want to read more about their stories. Cathbad is one of the most interesting characters I’ve introduced. His knowledge about Norfolk myths and legends picked my interest from my beginning. I also loved DI Harry Nelson, his loyalty to his wife, his children ( two of them are adults) , his undeniably love for Ruth and their daughter. He also deals with his big boss Super Jo and does not have any intention to go without fight, rejecting to retire!

The ongoing mystery didn’t attract my attention because the investigation process has a little plot holes. But the dark and haunted atmosphere of Norfolk was so deliciously intriguing, interesting. Especially the story of Black Schuck : a large black dog with hellfire which is harbinger of death. Of course when DI Judy mentioned the black dog curse her colleague Nelson directly rejects to believe in the idea of it!

The story starts with appearance of Night Hawks who are bunch of metal detectorists to search buried treasures of Norfolk at night time. They recently find a dead body as they search through nearby beaches. DI Nelson and team involved with the investigation and he also calls Ruth who finds another ancient skull at the crime scene with her obnoxious colleague David who tangled up with her.

Then another murder-suicide incident of the middle aged couple happens at Black Dog Farm. One of the victims leaves a suicide note says he is buried in the garden. Later Ruth finds a giant dog buried in the garden which revives black shack legend again. Maybe the dog was the last thing they saw before they took their last breath. Spooky, isn’t it! And interesting fact: the Night Hawks called the police and inform them about the gun shouts which helped them to find bodies!
What’s the connection between crimes and Night Hawks and why everything about the crime is connected with the eerie, bleak Black Dog Farm. Even though Ruth is a true badass, she should have second thoughts to go back there to dig more. But eventually she returns there, doesn’t she?

Four fascinating characters, riveting plot, dark, haunting atmosphere stars!

I think I have to read more books of the series ASAP! The characters and Norfolk myths definitely grew on me!

Special thanks to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Solid offering in this series, which has shown markedly better representation over the last few books. My library has a very limited popular reading collection and I doubt we would buy this.

action, law-enforcement, England, murder, murder-investigation, druid, archaeologist, archaeology, lore, family-dynamics, friendship*****

The archaeology professor and the DCI. The second in command and the Druid. Norfolk and detectorists searching at night for a Bronze Age hoarde but come upon a recently deceased body instead. But it's only the first. An apparent murder-suicide at a farmhouse results in the DCI getting the archaeologists in to excavate the garden. Gripping tale full of lore as well as good police work and archaeology. This is the first I've read in this series, but it certainly will not be the last.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley.