View source for The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

{{infobox1
|title=The Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|sort=Stone Circle (Dr Ruth Galloway)
|author=Elly Griffiths
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=The eleventh book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series lived up to all my expectations.  A superb read which I finished all too quickly.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=384
|publisher=Quercus
|date=February 2019
|isbn=978-1786487292
|website=https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/
|cover=1786487292
|aznuk=1786487292
|aznus=1786487292
}}

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.

If you're looking for further reading then you might enjoy [[A Pitying of Doves by Steve Burrows]] - it's also set in North Norfolk.

[[Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries in Chronological Order]]

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