The House at Sea's End: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 3

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There's so much that I enjoy about Griffiths writing, both the setting feels real and characters that I instantly care about. The books to date in the Galloway series aren't traditional whodunnit style mysteries, in that the reader is never in possession of all the information necessary to identify the villain ahead of the text. Instead, the complex narrative enables relevant information - and red herrings - to be gradually revealed to the protagonists in real time with the reader. Consequently, Ruth again finds herself in a potentially deadly confrontation when the killer's identity is unveiled at the end of the book. She seems to be making a habit of this! History is a driving thread through the plot of the story. I particularly appreciate her perspective of someone in the present being unable to comprehend the fear of those living in vulnerable areas during the war. One can empathize, but never really understand without having the experience. Every now and then there is a review which I find difficult to write; this is one. Let me start with all that I found very well done:

This is the third book in this series. I enjoyed it less than the first two I read, so allow me to elaborate a bit on them. The dry humour and intelligence of Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway mysteries, set in Norfolk, England, are fresh air in a genre dominated by surly male detectives and gun-totin' female PIs.If you enjoy the setting for this series, I would also recommend A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows. It also takes place in the Norfolk area, with the same darkly looming environment. It’s protagonist, Domenic Jejune is also a specialist, just in birds not archaeology. If it’s the relationships that entice you, try In the Bleak Midwinter, the first book in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s The Rev. Claire Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne mystery series. Like this series, Spencer-Fleming’s series keeps me reading to find out where Claire and Russ are headed. The characters themselves are complex, interesting and very realistically human. There is a wonderful diversity among them and I’ve certainly come to have my favorites. Relationships are complicated; and nowhere is that point made more clear than in this series. As an aside it seemed a shame to feature a Norfolk Home Guard without any reference to the nearby filming of Dad’s army. of the Ruth Galloway novels – a series of crime novels featuring a Norfolk based forensic archaeologist and of particular interest to me given my interests in both Norfolk and archaeology (see my review of “The Janus Stone”). I would definitely recommend this one. I really love this series and even though the ending wasn’t my cup of tea, the rest of the story made up for it! If you’re looking for a crime series with high stakes and personal drama then this is definitely for you.

While the murder investigations are going on "Sea's End" mainly seems to concern itself with the private lives of the two main characters Ruth and Harry, plus those of some minor characters within the police department as well. I enjoy mystery series that contain a continuous story throughout with the main characters but this time the personal relationships overshadowed the mystery theme and I didn't really come upon any surprise twists. One thing I did appreciate was the further development of Cathbad's character who has been proven to much more human in this entry, rather than the eccentric buffoon he's been up to this point. The manner in with Griffiths thrusts parenthood on to forensics expert Galloway adds a nice touch of chaos to her life, something that all parents can relate too especially as Ruth is trying to juggle working too. A team of archeologists studying coastal erosion uncover a number of skeletons neatly placed within a cleft of a cliff. Archeologist and forensic expert Ruth Galloway is brought in to work with DCI Harry Nelson, to determine the age and identity of the remains. The more they discover, the less someone wants them to find and others die trying to keep secrets buried. I love the little snippets of information we learn about the characters in each book. Clough eats almost constantly: McDonald's, Mars Bars, pot noodles, sandwiches, cakes . . .

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I do get tired of mystery series though, including this one, when the recurring main character at some point in each book becomes in grave danger. Also., I do wish this one didn’t get quite so scary each time toward the end. Of the first three books in the series I found book two much more amusing than book one and also more amusing than this third book. Though the characters, regular and guest, are so interesting that I do continue to like the books more and more. I hope book four has more humor and is at least a tad less scary. I love what humor is there. I love Ruth. I love the characters. I love this series. I love the setting(s). I love the archeology. I love the story(ies). One of the early titles in the popular Ruth Galloway series and my favourite so far, starting from the beginning that I've already grown to love the development of the series main protagonist - especially now that Ruth is a single mum to 4 month old Kate. There's a nice sense of humour too, though the comparison of a baby bouncer to a Dalek was quite amusing - it should be pointed out that they've been able to elevate and climb stairs for quite a while now! The villain in this case was I felt a little too obscure to be fully satisfactory while still involving rather too much coincidence.

I feel as though I’m harshly grading this series. It’s excellent and maybe better than some other mystery books I’ve assigned 5 stars. Yes, I wish we had a 1-100 point scale. But it’s hard to compare books against other books no matter the method. Generally I felt this was a stronger novel than the first two in the series – less rather bizarre pagan or Roman references, less jeopardy around the main characters (unfortunately this re-emerges at the book’s climax). Increasingly I found that the book has rather too much unfaithfulness and infidelity – every character seems to have had, be having or contemplating an illicit relationship with another – albeit this is all I think part of developing the side characters, it might just have been nice for the author to think of a different way of developing a story arc.It’s so interesting reading in a fictional mystery and having there be story details that correspond to a non-fiction biography I recently read re England during WWII. I love when various books’ subjects and details overlap.

I love the illustration at the beginning of the book. I admit to being a map person so anything which provide a prospective as to the settings, I appreciate. Additionally, Ms. Griffiths’ descriptions are wonderful a establishing a sense of place and enhancing the action of the story. She describes both the tension of driving in a heavy snowstorm as well as the beauty it creates with equal skill. The mystery for this book isn't as compelling as the previous volumes. The fact that almost all of the drama took place in the past undercuts the tension. The only way the author is able to inject drama or suspense into the plot is by having her characters (Ruth, I'm looking at you) make (no boundaries between you and Nelson, really? some (why do Ruth and Nelson end up at that house so often, anyway?) poor (So you ask the daughter of some one involved in a case to babysit? And then poor Judy's gotta clean up the mess?) decisions (and a fireship seemed like the best idea to you, eh? It has the word FIRE in it.. Having just returned from maternity leave forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is struggling to cope with both work and being a mother. When six bodies are discovered buried at the foot of a cliff by a team from the University of North Norfolk, Ruth is asked to help with the case. DCI Nelson the father of Ruth's daughter Kate is investigating which causes extra complications. Tests show that the bodies are from Southern Europe, killed sixty years ago and police Investigations unearth records of Project Lucifer, a wartime plan to stop a German invasion. A further discovery reveals that members of the Broughton Sea's End Home Guard took a 'blood oath' to conceal some deadly wartime secret. When a visiting German reporter is killed, Ruth and Nelson realise that someone is still alive who will kill to keep the secret of Broughton Sea's End's war years. Can they discover the truth in time to stop another murder?When a body washes up on the beach, it becomes clear that someone wants the truth of the past to stay buried, and will go to any lengths to keep it that way. Can Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to stop another murder? The thing that really impressed me about The House at Sea’s End was the crime that was committed in WWII. With how it ended up relating to modern-day. I thought the fact that it was German soldiers that were found and how they had been murdered was particularly well handled. I felt sympathy for them regardless of their mission and being ‘the enemy’ so to speak. The way that Griffiths used the older generation to paint not only the scene but also the empathy needed was beautiful. One of my favourite things about this book.