Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
Elly Griffiths' Dr. Ruth Galloway series is one of my must-buys, and it just keeps getting better with each new book. In The Ghost Fields, the weather plays an integral part in the action, first with unrelenting heat and then with endless rain and flooding. Griffiths makes Norfolk come to life, and her choice of title is particularly evocative. This book talks not only of the abandoned air fields of World War II, but other "ghost fields" from centuries past. Ruth is dealing with a Bronze Age burial when the book begins, and there have also been battles fought in the exact same area during the English Civil War.
No, Norfolk is not short of ghost fields, and further questions arise once we're introduced to the Blackstock family. They live in a drafty, ramshackle manor house barely holding its own against the water around it, and the family is just as strange as the ancestral home. A batty grandfather. A pleasant but distant father. A welcoming mother who's filled with unrealistic schemes to turn the house into a moneymaker. A handsome, charming pig farmer of a son who values his privacy. An incredibly beautiful daughter who's determined to make her name as an actress. Each Blackstock is odd in his or her own way, and trying to gather them together is like trying to herd cats. When DCI Harry Nelson throws up his hands and growls that there are too many Blackstocks, you just have to smile ruefully and agree.
But family is an important theme in The Ghost Fields, and it's not just the Blackstocks. Ruth's daughter Kate is five and now in school. Being a good mother is even more important to Ruth than the work she is so passionate about. Nelson has issues with both his family at home and his co-workers. He even realizes that he considers Clough and Judy to be family. Griffiths knows how to keep her readers completely involved with her characters. The mystery and the characters rely on each other.
There's history. There's danger. There's plenty of family feeling, and contrary to a visiting American's belief that "there's never bad weather in England," there's plenty of that as well. By book's end, we may even have sorted out all those Blackstocks.
The only bad thing about finishing The Ghost Fields is knowing that I have to wait for the next book. This series is superb, and this book is the best so far. If you've never met Ruth Galloway, treat yourself. Start at the beginning with The Crossing Places and read each one. You'll be as hooked as I am.
No, Norfolk is not short of ghost fields, and further questions arise once we're introduced to the Blackstock family. They live in a drafty, ramshackle manor house barely holding its own against the water around it, and the family is just as strange as the ancestral home. A batty grandfather. A pleasant but distant father. A welcoming mother who's filled with unrealistic schemes to turn the house into a moneymaker. A handsome, charming pig farmer of a son who values his privacy. An incredibly beautiful daughter who's determined to make her name as an actress. Each Blackstock is odd in his or her own way, and trying to gather them together is like trying to herd cats. When DCI Harry Nelson throws up his hands and growls that there are too many Blackstocks, you just have to smile ruefully and agree.
But family is an important theme in The Ghost Fields, and it's not just the Blackstocks. Ruth's daughter Kate is five and now in school. Being a good mother is even more important to Ruth than the work she is so passionate about. Nelson has issues with both his family at home and his co-workers. He even realizes that he considers Clough and Judy to be family. Griffiths knows how to keep her readers completely involved with her characters. The mystery and the characters rely on each other.
There's history. There's danger. There's plenty of family feeling, and contrary to a visiting American's belief that "there's never bad weather in England," there's plenty of that as well. By book's end, we may even have sorted out all those Blackstocks.
The only bad thing about finishing The Ghost Fields is knowing that I have to wait for the next book. This series is superb, and this book is the best so far. If you've never met Ruth Galloway, treat yourself. Start at the beginning with The Crossing Places and read each one. You'll be as hooked as I am.
Eadie B. (eadieburke) -
This is the 7th installment of Ruth Galloway mystery series and did not disappoint. Elly Griffiths can tell a good story with a great plot and excellent well-developed characters. Always entertaining, her novels keep you hooked until the end. This one also had interesting historical information about WWII in Norfolk. I love following the relationship between Nelson and Ruth and I eagerly look forward to each new book by Griffith and recommend her highly.
Seventh in the Ruth Galloway series. A construction project uncovers the crashed remains of a WWII plane in a field, with the pilot still in the cockpit. Called to the scene to take a look, anthropologist Ruth Galloway points out that he couldn't have been the pilot - not only is there a bullet hole in the man's head, but he was put there fairly recently. It starts getting complicated when the man is identified as a local, who had emigrated to the US before the war and was a pilot with the American side. I love the characters more than the mystery - while that's interesting, it's the relationships between Kate, Nelson, and the others that keep me reading. However, I do like the bits where Ruth is using her anthropology skills to figure out the puzzle, and I wish there were more of that. I wouldn't recommend someone new to the series start here, but it's a good series and well worth starting at the beginning.
