A USA Today Bestseller There’s nothing Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body, she finds herself thrust into their midst—and into the crosshairs of a string of murders circling ever closer. Ruth is back as head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk when a group of local metal … Norfolk when a group of local metal detectorists—the so-called Night Hawks—uncovers Bronze Age artifacts on the beach, alongside a recently deceased body, just washed ashore. Not long after, the same detectorists uncover a murder-suicide—a scientist and his wife found at their farmhouse, long thought to be haunted by the Black Shuck, a humongous black dog, a harbinger of death. The further DCI Nelson probes into both cases, the more intertwined they become, and the closer they circle to David Brown, the new lecturer Ruth has recently hired, who seems always to turn up wherever Ruth goes.
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I love the Ruth Galloway series. Picking up the latest did not disappoint—it’s much like slipping into an old comfy shoe. My favorite part of the experience is the magnificent setting of the Norfolk coast that is the usual backdrop to whatever mystery is afoot.
I just finished reading The Night Hawks, the latest in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. Though the plot was thin in spots, I absolutely loved it. The protagonist, Ruth, is a fascinating and realistic character. She isn’t perfect. Her life isn’t perfect. I can relate to that, and I care about her. Isn’t that the secret to all good books?
If you’re new to Ruth Galloway… don’t start here. Several books are worth starting with if you don’t want to go to the first one, but not number thirteen. It’s not that there isn’t enough backstory on who’s who, it’s more that the relationships (and job changes) have developed so far it would be enormously confusing. And Kate is nearly a teenager! How time flies.
Is the story as good as ever? Yes.
Are the twists and turns of the relationships as satisfying as ever? Well, there are some undercurrents that seem confusing, and plenty of difficulties for our number two police detective in her relationships with everyone including work. New people arrive who don’t know the history, and are, frankly, irritating. I was actually hoping one of them did it, rather than have him turn up in future books!
Will my review of Night Hawks make any difference to what a die-hard Ruth Galloway lover or hater will do about this book? It will not.
So, I’ll just say it’s a worthy successor. And as this is set in a looming-Covid world, I’m intrigued to see what will happen in the next book, out next February.
Things have been shaken up once again in Ruth’s world, but as usual she and Nelson sort it out. I’m really hoping that the implications of the ending pan out!
It is the middle of September 2019 as The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths begins and locals are on a spit of land jutting out into the North Sea. It is dangerous to be out on the spit of land as the tide is coming in, but the group is out there using metal detectors as they are on a quest. Recently some Iron Age coins were found in the area and the group, known as “The Night Hawks,” are in the spirit of the hunt.
They did not expect to find a body.
But that is what they did find, and clearly it is a person that has been deceased for only a short period of time. That means cops and ultimately DCI Nelson and his team.
Ruth Galloway is back at the University Of North Norfolk and is the new Head of Archeology. Phil Trent has accepted early retirement, so Ruth is back and adjusting to her new position. For now, she is resisting the urge to force the staff to call her supreme leader. Though it would be fun.
Soon after the body is found, DCI Nelson, who is being pushed by his boss to retire, calls Ruth to the scene to examine the body. The first of several interesting cases in The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery that keeps Ruth and the police working hard in the days to come.
The latest in the long running series is another good one. Complex and well-established characters and their various relationships serve as the backdrop to the mysteries at foot. There are a number of mysteries at different levels of complexity at work in the read. The result is a complicated book that leaves open the possibility of significant change in the series.
The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths is strongly recommended. As is the series that is best read in order.
The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery
Elly Griffiths
https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/book/the-night-hawks/
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Night-Hawks/9780358237051
June 2021
ISBN# 978-0-358-23705-1
Hardback (also available in paperback, audio, and e-book formats
368 Pages
My reading copy came from the Hampton-Illinois Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
A spectral hound, buried treasure, a body on the beach…plus Ruth and Nelson growing closer. Or are they? So much suspense all around, and I loved visiting with the running characters in the series. Also the humor (“Team Rank” anyone?) Tried not to, but I raced through. One of Elly Griffiths’ finest.
The twist in the end just blew me away!
For those of you who may not know, Norfolk is in a remote part of the UK, so it is no wonder that old tales about enormous dark dogs whose bark is a harbinger of death are still around in the 21st century.
Ruth is now Head of Archeology at the University of North Norfolk, back in her too-lonely cottage (which she loves) with daughter Kate who is now about 10 years old. Between teaching and doing mounds of paperwork, Ruth finds herself caught up in a sinister murder investigation, involving a murder-suicide and dead bodies, one of which appears to be a Bronze Age Murderer.
Now she has to worry about this newly-discovered Bronze-Age site as the local metal detectorists (people prowling around at night with metal detectors, something that has become a craze in Britain recently) might disturb it. These locals call themselves the Night Hawks, and as far as Ruth is concerned, they are a pain in the neck. But when they begin to die off one by one, an annoying hobby becomes worrisome.
Enter DCI Nelson and his team. But that lonely farmhouse is no place to go, especially when we find our well-loved friends imprisoned there by a slightly mad man with a large dog. Five stars,
I love this series. It’s smart, interesting, and like visiting old friends. Ruth Galloway is such an interesting character on her own – smart, excellent in her field of work, but always struggling a bit with her work and personal relationships. I like that Ruth is aging relatively naturally over the course of this series, for example Ruth was expecting her daughter, Kate, in the book released about 11 years ago – and Kate is 11 in this current book. That also makes for a nice flow with the characters that surround Ruth – things have changed at the university where she works, and at the police station that she consults for. There have been promotions, retirements, and deaths.
This book is no exception. It begins with the discover of a body, and while the police have some guesses when they arrive on the scene as to what may have happened, it turns out that nothing is what it initially seemed. Throw in a sinister-seeming farm, an apocryphal black dog that might the harbinger of death, plus a few more deaths, and you’ve got another excellent addition to this series. (And if you’re thinking you’d like to read this series – I highly recommend starting from the beginning – as I mentioned, the relationships that develop between the characters really are best read in order.)
Many thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for providing a copy for an unbiased review.
The Nighthawks is a folklore-inspired mystery and the thirteenth book in the Ruth Galloways mystery series by Elly Griffiths.
You would think twelve books into the series, it would be hard to understand what was going on. But, though I could tell that the characters had documented histories, enough background was explained to quickly pick up this book and enjoy it without first reading the past books. Of course, now I want to read all twelve of them, but that is a happy problem.
I loved the folklore inspiration of the Black Shuck that is the backbone of the mystery. I had never heard the tale, so it was fascinating to learn about it. I also loved how the author used the folklore of this creature to increase the suspense at specific points in the story dramatically. The fascinating support character, Cathbad, is full of Norfolk folklore tales such as Black Shuck and is one of the most exciting support characters in the story.
There is such a delightfully diverse group of support characters – some eccentric and some more familiar. I could tell the series had deep roots because all of the characters were so unique and well-developed that I could easily imagine them and delight at being in their company. The main character, Ruth, is exceptionally layered with nuances and quirks that make her instantly relatable. I can see how she can carry a series for thirteen novels.
Ruth and Nelson’s relationship is one that drew me in. Not overly romantic, they do share a daughter, and though he stayed with his wife for many years because of their young son, I could easily discern that Ruch and Nelson still share deep feelings for each other. I don’t usually side with the “other women” in love triangles. Still, I wasn’t far into the story before I found myself feeling Ruth’s pain that she never actually verbalizes or even reflects.
I didn’t even guess the murderer, though the reason is not as much of a surprise. Did plot holes exist? Possibly, but it did not phase me as I read because there were so many other elements to delight in that they took most of my focus.
To Read or Not to Read
If you are looking for a puzzling mystery with a fun touch of paranormal folklore, this is the story you’ve been hoping to read, and don’t be worried if you haven’t read any of its twelve predecessors as it can stand alone quite easily. But beware, you are going to want to read them once you finish this one.
Dr. Ruth Galloway has returned to Norfolk after spending time at Cambridge. She has joined the staff at the University of North Norfolk so her 11 year old daughter can be near her father. Though he is married with children and will not leave his wife for Ruth, Kate shouldn’t be denied at least knowing her father better. On the academic page of Ruth’s life she has to deal with a co-worker who refuses to acknowledge her being head of the department. He’s very irritating but he is talented. Ruth is not best pleased with him.
The start of the body count and the mystery of what could possibly connect them comes from the Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists who have been hunting for Bronze Age treasure. They get more than they bargained for. Not only do they find an ancient burial with its body but a much more recent corpse. Ruth is called in for the ancient corpse and Kate’s father, DCI Harry Nelson is on the case of the new corpse.
That’s just the start of this well-crafted mystery set in a fascinating corner of England. Full of local lore and great scenery and full of a great cast of characters, this is one of the best of contemporary British mysteries.
My thanks to the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
This is the 13th in the Ruth Galloway series, and finds Ruth called to the scene of dead body washed ashore. Ruth, a forensic archaeologist, is not normally called to unattended deaths, but because historical coins and a human bone were found near the body, she is asked to handle the treasure trove. The detective inspector in charge of the investigation is an ex-lover with whom she had a child, Kate. When two more bodies are discovered in an old farmhouse, murder/suicide is suspected. The alleged suicide note claims there is a dead body in the garden. Ruth is again called to a crime scene, this time the Black Dog Farm. On her way home from the scene, she sees a specter in the road, a massive black dog with red eyes known in local folklore as the Black Shuck…
Griffith has written a complex mystery with many threads needing to be pulled together. Her characters are multifaceted, and the book is as much about Ruth and Nelson as it is about the crimes in the storyline.
While this is the 13th book in the series, you need not have read the first 12 books to enjoy this one. Griffith’s writing is excellent, and she moves the story along at a spritely pace. Her descriptions of the remoteness and wildness of coastal Norfolk will have you keeping a night-light on as you read far into the night.
If you like your mysteries to be character-driven with elements of phantom dogs and other elements of folklore, you’ll enjoy this book.
My thanks to Houghton and NetGalley for an eARC.
A digital copy of this advanced reader copy was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the 13th book in the Dr. Ruth Galloway Mysteries series. I have not read any of these books previously. In the beginning of the book, I had a little bit of a difficult time getting the characters straight and their relationship to each other, but once I got on track, this was a really good book. Archeology and murder mysteries, two of my favorite things. Dr. Ruth Galloway is called out to a scene of the crime by DCI Nelson. She unearths skeletal remains, but is part of the investigation. There are several murders that do connect even though they don’t seem like they could. Of course, now I want to read the series from the beginning.
The Night Hawks, #13 in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths is the winner of the CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY AWARD.
Ruth has returned to her former university to take over the reins for Phil, who has retired. She and Kate are back in their cottage by the sea, resuming their lives after the short stint in Cambridge. DCI Nelson summons her to the scene when a Bronze age bones are found near the site of a dead man. Old friends and new characters , the reality and the mystic, blend to make this the most exciting read yet. The second murder quickens the already brisk pace with twists and turns that lead to a shocking end. I like learning a bit of history while I work at solving the mystery and really enjoy the dark, atmospheric folk tales Griffths weaves into her mysteries.Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for granting my request for an advanced reader copy of this book. My opinions are my own; I review books I enjoy so that others can enjoy them, too.
5* I highly recommend this book.
#13 in the Ruth Galloway series. I love this series. It’s very much my comfort read. The characters and their development and interaction are great. It’s a more emotional read than most.
The inclusion of local legends, is really interesting and adds atmosphere.
There are quite a few characters and connections, but these are frequently revisited so it’s easier to keep track of who is who.
The book is character driven, the characters feel like old family friends.
action, law-enforcement, England, murder, murder-investigation, druid, archaeologist, archaeology, lore, family-dynamics, friendship*****
The archaeology professor and the DCI. The second in command and the Druid. Norfolk and detectorists searching at night for a Bronze Age hoarde but come upon a recently deceased body instead. But it’s only the first. An apparent murder-suicide at a farmhouse results in the DCI getting the archaeologists in to excavate the garden. Gripping tale full of lore as well as good police work and archaeology. This is the first I’ve read in this series, but it certainly will not be the last.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley.