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. I think my issue with the series first developed with the Janus Stone. Ruth, the main character, seems to get caught up in the center of a lot of drama that doesn't have much to do with her. Her character isn't compelling enough to attract so much attention. She's a well-drawn character, but a little dull; even the author admits it. In The House at Sea's End, Ruth is surrounded by people more interesting than herself. Cathbad, Tatiana, Nelson, Judy, Hugh Ancel, were all more interesting than the main character. Ruth was grating on me by the end.

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. The mystery itself is very good. While you, as reader, know some of the events have a direct impact on the story, it’s Ms. Griffiths’ ability to bring together a lot of small pieces into solving the complete puzzle that is admirable. There is heart-pounding suspense, surprises, twists and an ending which was wonderfully set up but not contrived. The solution to the mystery was a little convoluted for my taste. It was such an unlikely ending, and I was left dissatisfied.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. They all look up at the grey house on the cliff. The curved wall of the tower is only two or three feet from the precipice. The remains of a fence hang crazily in midair. Ruth Galloway has just returned from maternity leave and is struggling to juggle work and motherhood. When a team from the University of North Norfolk, investigating coastal erosion, finds six bodies at the foot of the cliff, she is immediately put on the case.

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 . . . 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.

Kate, Ruth's baby daughter undergoes both a naming ceremony - courtesy of Cathbad - and a Catholic christening to appease Nelson. Neither ceremony pleases her 'born again Christian' parents who don't attend either. And Ruth has an unsettling encounter with Judy at Judy and Darren's wedding. This is an example of what I truly enjoy in a mystery series--the combination of the mystery in each book and the relationships between the main characters that carry on between the books. Griffiths is developing a number of the secondary characters too. I am particularly fond of the Cathbad, the druid, with his penchant for showing up unexpectedly but at just the right moment. 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. 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. 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!

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. 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. There is an interesting side story of Ruth’s earlier investigation of war graves in Bosnia and her involvement with the mother of a missing child. The first book, The Crossing Places, was very chilling, and included pagan lore, history, and archaeology. I fell in love with the descriptions of the freezing salt marshes, the birds, the lonely cottage. The Janus Stone included Roman history, which I'm very interested in. I think the real pull for me with these books was the inclusion of my interests in great mystery plots. Between the salt marsh and the history and mythology, what's not to love? There's so much that I enjoy about Griffiths writing, both the setting feels real and characters that I instantly care about.

Christmas Gifts

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. 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: As readers have come to expect from the series, the cast of supporting characters are interesting and well-developed. DS Judy Johnson is a more prominent character than previously, and Griffiths sows the seeds for her to become a more permanent fixture in Ruth's social circle going forward. Similarly, the evocative landscape of Norfolk is again woven into the mystery, with the precarious nature of the eroding sandstone coastline being not only the means of the revelation of a mass grave, but driving much of the tension in the later stages.