The Locked Room (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths
| The Locked Room (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: It might be the fourteenth book in the series but they're getting better and better. This one is brilliant: in years to come it will remind us of what lockdown was really like. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 384/9h41m | Date: February 2022 |
| Publisher: Quercus | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1529409659 | |
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It was some time since her father had remarried but his wife was now keen to do some decorating and Dr Ruth Galloway volunteered to clear out her mother's belongings. She was intrigued by the discovery of a picture of her own house: it was an old photograph, taken in misty conditions and on the back it said 'dawn 1963', some years before Ruth was born. It was before her parents were married. When she returned to Norfolk she was determined to find out what was behind the photograph but Covid intervened and the country was in lockdown. Ruth and Kate are restricted to the cottage with Ruth attempting to home school Kate and continue with her university teaching duties. The good thing was meeting Zoe, the new tenant from next door whom they got to know whilst clapping for carers.
DCI Nelson is investigating a series of deaths of women. They might all have been suicides but Nelson isn't convinced. When one of the deaths is linked to an archaeological discovery he decides to visit Ruth Galloway: he never needs much of an excuse as Kate's his daughter. Whilst there he encountered Zoe whom he remembers from the time when she was tried for murder, but her name wasn't Zoe then.
Sometimes you need a treat: mine was an audio download (which I bought myself) of The Locked Room. It ticks so many boxes. There are few authors who bring the north Norfolk coast to life quite as vividly as Elly Griffiths. It's one of my favourite parts of the world and as I read, I'm there. She's particularly good on those places which are almost neither land nor sea but which hover under the big Norfolk skies. The location is a character in its own right.
All the characterisation is excellent. Even if you haven't read any of the earlier books in the series, you'll quickly get an idea of who's who. I'd begun to worry that Ruth and Nelson were drifting apart: I doubt that Nelson's wife would see it in quite the same way but I was relieved to find that the relationship is as strong as ever. Every character comes off the page fully formed - and in remarkably few words.
Covid is almost a character too: it dictated so much of what happened in the story. It might feel as though we've largely stood still for the last two years but it was quite startling to be reminded of how it really was in those first few, frightening months. The virus comes perilously close to home.
It's the plot you want to know about, isn't it? Well, it's excellent on so many levels and I didn't spot the ending until it was in front of me. Elly Griffiths never lets her readers down.
My audio download was narrated by Jane McDowell and I was impressed. The pacing was excellent and McDowell has an impressive range of voices to the extent that it was rather like listening to a play with added commentary.
As treats go, it was perfect.
Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries in Chronological Order
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