A Room Full of Bones - Elly Griffiths

A Room Full of Bones is the newly released fourth book in Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway series.

Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in England. She's been called in to a local museum to oversee the opening of a coffin that purportedly holds the bones of a medieval bishop. But when she arrives earlier than planned, she finds the curator dead and the body still warm. She calls for help and it arrives in the person of DCI Harry Nelson and his sidekick Clough.

We were left with a bit of a cliffhanger in the last pages of the third book, The House at Sea's End.  You see, Harry is married, but he is the father of Ruth's one year old daughter Kate. Their (non) relationship has been just as intriguing as the plots that Griffiths comes up with.

Other favourite characters are back as well. Cathbad rivals Ruth for my affection. Cathbad is a self proclaimed Druid, who always seems to appear without warning, just when one of his friends might need help. I was happy to see him have a larger piece of the plot in this book. Detective Sergeant Judy Johnson is also given a larger role in both her professional and personal story lines. Again, another character I quite like. Really, all of the supporting characters are just as interesting. Their personalities are all quite diverse and I feel like I've come to know them.

Griffith's descriptions of the Norfolk marshes always capture me. Ruth's little cottage at the edge of the salt marsh sounds wonderful.

A Room Full of Bones involves a good deal of police work, but the line between cold, hard facts and otherworldly situations, elements and solutions blurred in this latest book- especially with Cathbad's input. It was a thought provoking plot line drawing from a very real issue.

Aboriginal bones, dead Bishops, animal rights, drug runners, curses, horse racing and more are teamed up with some of the most interesting and engaging characters around. Griffiths has done it again - hooked me with a great read that I finished too quickly and left me waiting for the next in this engaging series. Definitely recommended.

Read an excerpt of A Room Full of Bones. You can find Elly Griffiths on Facebook and on Twitter.