The Woman in Blue - Elly Griffiths

Cathbad is house sitting for a friend, Justin, who lives in a house next to St Simeon's in Walsingham. As well as the house, Cathbad is also looking after Justin's cat, a defiant black tom called Chesterton. When Chesterton escapes one night, Cathbad follows him through the churchyard & sees a woman, dressed in white & wearing a blue cloak, standing next to a tombstone. As Walsingham has been a site of pilgrimage for worshippers of the Virgin Mary for centuries, & Cathbad is a druid, unfazed by spiritual experiences of any kind, Cathbad is not afraid but interested. Next morning, though, the body of a young woman, Chloe Jenkins, dressed in a white nightdress & blue dressing gown, is found carefully laid out in a nearby ditch with a rosary on her chest. Cathbad's vision was all too real.

Chloe was a patient at The Sanctuary, a clinic for people with addictions. She was a beautiful, blonde young woman, a model who had become involved with drugs & spent several periods in clinics trying to overcome her problem. DCI Harry Nelson & his team soon discover that security at The Sanctuary wasn't particularly rigorous & Chloe wasn't the only patient who had slipped out that night. Harry is also disconcerted by the resemblance of Chloe to his wife, Michelle, & their daughters. Harry's marriage had been shaky for a while when Michelle discovered that Harry had had a brief affair with archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway & that he was the father of her daughter, Kate. Harry wants to be part of Kate's life & Michelle agrees that he should but her own unhappiness has become more apparent, especially as she has become emotionally involved with Tim Heathfield, one of Harry's team.

Ruth is surprised to be contacted by Hilary Smithson, who she knew when they were both post-graduate archaeology students at Southampton. Hilary's career has changed course & she is now a priest. She's going to be in Walsingham at a course for women priests with ambitions to become bishops. Hilary has been receiving disturbing anonymous letters, addressing her as Jezebel & abusing her & all women priests as unnatural. Ruth convinces Hilary to show the letters to Nelson & soon there appears to be a link with the murder of Chloe Jenkins when one of the women on the course, Paula Moncrieff, is also murdered. Both Chloe & Paula were blonde & attractive, both killed in Walsingham. Could there be more of a connection? Could the same killer be responsible? There seems to be a religious theme - the rosary left on Chloe's body & the fact that Paula was a priest. Nelson & his team find clues in the past & in the connection of both women to Walsingham. The action spans the weeks from early spring, when the snowdrops cover the ground in the ruins of Walsingham Abbey to the performance of the Passion Play on Good Friday when everything becomes clear.

I love this series. The relationship between Ruth & Nelson is just wonderful. Ruth has had several inconclusive relationships since Kate was born but she really seems to be in limbo, unable to forget Nelson, despite the tenuousness of their relationship. Nelson is also torn between Michelle & Ruth, wanting to do the right thing & not hurt anyone but continually wrong footed & mostly making himself miserable. Nelson discovers that Michelle has been seeing Tim in a very dramatic scene that results in a reconciliation of sorts with Michelle. Ruth's life as a working mother isn't easy. Her boss, Phil, is still irritating & she feels inadequate as a mother, although Kate is happy, healthy & has lots of friends. Cathbad & his partner, Judy, now have two children & are very content, although Judy is anxious to get back to work in Nelson's team as soon as her maternity leave is over.

It's so lovely to find out what's been happening with Ruth, Nelson, Cathbad & their families. Nelson's Sergeant, Dave Clough, is as enthusiastic & as clumsy as ever & there's a new member of the team, Tanya Fuller, who tries a bit too hard & gets on Nelson's nerves because she isn't as empathetic as Judy. The suspects are a reliably creepy lot with potential motives all over the place. As in the best mysteries, hardly anyone is quite what they seem & everyone has secrets. The religious & historical themes are also fascinating & there's even an archaeological angle as Ruth investigates the results & the finds from a couple of digs that took place at the abbey in the past, looking for the site of the holy house where pilgrims came to worship a phial containing the Virgin's breast milk.

My only problem with this series is that I read them so fast (less than two days for this one) & then have to wait a year for the next book. I couldn't even wait for my library copies to arrive & bought the eBook on the day it was published. It's the mark of a great mystery if I read it that fast so I'll just have to sit tight & wait for the next instalment.

The Ghost Fields - Elly Griffiths

Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is excavating a possible Bronze Age cemetery when she's called to a nearby field to examine the remains of a WWII plane. The pilot's body is still in the cockpit but Ruth soon realises that he hasn't been there since the 1940s.  DNA testing reveals that the pilot was related to local landowners, the Blackstock family. The family knew that Fred Blackstock had been killed in a plane crash during the war but thought he had crashed at sea. His body was never recovered. So, where has Fred's body been for the last 70 years & why is there a bullet hole in his forehead?

DCI Harry Nelson & DS Dave Clough investigate Fred's death & meet the present day members of the Blackstock family, still living at the lonely family farm near the crash site. Fred's brother, Old George, is still alive & living with his son, Young George & Young George's wife, Sally. George & Sally's son, Chaz, has started a pig farm on some of the family land, & their daughter, Cassandra, is an actress, recently returned home. The land where the plane was found belonged to the Blackstocks but has recently been sold to a developer. The construction work on the new estate uncovered the plane.Old George is the only member of his generation left. His older brother Lewis disappeared after the war & Fred had moved to the United States before the war & was thought to have been killed in a plane crash after joining the US Air Force. The Blackstocks seem to be an unlucky family. Old George's mother said the land was cursed & that the sea would reclaim it one day, before drowning herself & Old George himself has become quite odd in his old age, his "funny turns" only whispered about by the family.

Further complications arise when a TV company wants to use Fred's story as the focus of an episode of their new series The History Men, looking at historical events through the personal stories of those involved. Fred left a wife & daughter in the States when he was killed & his daughter, Nell, travels to Norfolk for his funeral & to meet the family she barely knows. She's also agreed to appear in the TV program. At the funeral, a mysterious man with long grey hair appears & soon after, Cassandra is attacked in the churchyard. The investigations into Fred's death lead Nelson to suspect that one of the Blackstocks was responsible for moving Fred's body from its original burial place to the cockpit of the buried plane. He also suspects that one of the family was responsible for Fred's murder.

I love this series. It's an absorbing combination of archaeology, history & police procedural but, above all, it's the characters that make the series so compelling. Ruth & Nelson had a brief relationship that resulted in their daughter, Kate. Nelson has stayed married to Michelle, the mother of his two daughters, although he feels a protective concern for Ruth & Kate. Ruth has had half-hearted relationships with a couple of men (Frank Barker, the American historian Ruth met in the last book, returns to Norfolk with the film crew in this one) but she loves Nelson, even though she knows he won't leave Michelle. Nelson's team - Dave Clough, DS Judy Johnson & newcomer Tim Heathfield - all play an important role in the story although it's their personal connection & loyalty to the team that is paramount. Clough is the rough diamond of the team, rescuing Cassandra Blackstock from her attacker, & surprised by his own involvement in the Blackstock story. Judy Johnson is now living with Cathbad, Ruth's Druid friend, & very pregnant with her second child. Tim is a good policemen but there's something reserved in his manner that hints at a secret that prevents him bonding with his colleagues completely.

I enjoyed all the personal subplots, especially the fact that Cathbad's predictions about future events, usually foolproof, prove to be way off the mark on a couple of crucial points. Ruth is such an appealing character. She is always doubting her abilities as a single mother & dithering about her relationship with Frank; resenting Nelson's picky comments & over-protectiveness, yet wanting him to be part of Kate's life, & her own. The Norfolk landscape is the other attraction. The loneliness of the marshes where Ruth lives & the coastal areas is described so evocatively. The Ghost Fields is a very satisfying mystery & although I had an inkling about one of the characters, there were still plenty of surprises a second murder & two attempted murders to keep me occupied until the last page. My only problem with Elly Griffiths' books is that I read them too quickly & now I have another year to wait for the next installment.

Margaret Finds a Future - Mabel Esther Allan

Margaret Barry is a 17 year old orphan at school in Wales. Her Aunt Gwen, who had paid her fees, has died, leaving a lot of debts & Margaret will have to leave Llanrhysydd at Christmas. Margaret is devastated to be leaving the progressive, co-educational school & all her friends & her future prospects look bleak. Another aunt, her mother's sister, Ellen Pye, has written to offer Margaret a home. Aunt Ellen is the custodian of Great Melveney Hall in Norfolk, a stately home now run by the National Trust. Margaret knows little of her aunt & nothing of Norfolk & she is apprehensive as she leaves school for the last time to spend Christmas with a friend before the long journey to Norfolk.

Margaret's aunt is a kind woman who is eager to help Margaret although her means are limited. Margaret finds Melveney strange at first. It's lonely in the middle of winter & the house is vast & cold. Gradually, as she learns more about the house & its history, she begins to settle down. Her education at Llanrhysydd had been practical as well as academic & she can cook & help her aunt with the many tasks involved in running a stately home. She soon begins to meet the locals. Ludovic Thornton, the vicar's son, is desperate to join the RAF & is impatiently waiting to be called up for National Service. Ludovic has a poor opinion of girls & Margaret realises that he has quite a bit of growing up to do.

Lucy Purdy, the daughter of the estate manager, loves the Hall & used to spend as much time as she could there devoting herself to her other great passion, drawing.  After an accident that resulted in a painting being damaged, Lucy has been banned from the Hall by Mrs Pye & she drifts miserably around the grounds. Lucy is the eldest of a big family & her parents don't see art as a viable profession. Her only encouragement comes from Andrea Barradine, a former artist who now lives in a nearby village perched precariously on crumbling cliffs overlooking the ocean. Margaret befriends Lucy & tries to find a way to convince her aunt to allow Lucy back into the Hall.

Margaret plans to continue studying languages & eventually take a stenography course & work as a secretary. She longs to travel but doesn't see how her dreams could ever come true. She soon becomes reconciled to her new circumstances but there's still sometimes a lingering regret for what might have been. Then, a meeting with a stranger opens new doors & Margaret's future suddenly looks very different.

This is a charming book with lots of atmosphere & an absorbing story. Mabel Esther Allan wrote a prodigious number of books for girls over a long career. Margaret Finds a Future was published in 1954 & is one of several books about older girls that Allan wrote. Most of her books were school stories & her schools are often like Llanrhysydd, progressive schools based on the educational theories of A S Neill. Even the little glimpse we get of the school in the opening chapter is of a school where individual talents are encouraged, boys & girls work & play together & the students take responsibility for most of the running of the school.I've never been a great reader of school stories, although I did love Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl books. However, I do enjoy books like this one, written by authors known for their children's books & rediscovered by publishers such as Girls Gone By & Greyladies. The Introduction to this book is very informative about Allan's career & her love of location & place when writing. I was amused to read her thoughts on the cover for this book,

The heroine looks as if she is soon to die of consumption. The book is set in Norfolk and my beautiful Tudor gatehouse, the entrance to an old manor house, was non existent. The house had become a Victorian villa, wildly Gothic, with sharp turrets, and the gate was a small iron one, with cannon balls on top of the posts. The colour was ghastly too.

What do you think? Girls Gone By have, as always, reproduced the original cover. Margaret does look ill but at least it conveys the wintry atmosphere quite well.

Mabel Esther Allan also wrote a few books for adults which have been reprinted by Greyladies. I've read Murder at the Flood, also set in Norfolk, & I have Death Goes to Italy & Return to the West on the tbr shelves. One of the strengths of both books I've read so far is the sense of place. I love books set in winter & Margaret's bicycle rides through the chill Norfolk landscape are so evocative. She visits quiet villages & explores churches & I loved the descriptions of these journeys & Margaret's thoughts as she rode, either alone or with a reluctant Ludovic. This is an absorbing read & Margaret is a sympathetic character who gets on with life even when circumstances are against her & the cast of characters around the Hall are always interesting. She even manages to sort out everyone else's problems as well without being bossy or overbearing! A really lovely book.

The House at Sea's End - Elly Griffiths

The House at Sea's End is the third book in the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. I read the first two books in the series over a year ago & enjoyed them very much. However, I was going through my anti-crime fiction period when this was published last year so I've only just gotten around to reading it.

Ruth Galloway is a forensic archaeologist living on the Norfolk coast. She's often called in to help the police when bones are discovered. This is how she met DCI Harry Nelson. The immediate attraction between Ruth & Harry resulted in Ruth's pregnancy after a one night stand. Ruth decided to continue with the pregnancy alone as Harry is married & neither of them really wanted a relationship. The tentative relationship that has developed between Ruth & Harry is the main attraction of this series for me. Ruth is an unconventional heroine. Overweight, unfashionable, a loner, & now, juggling work with caring for her daughter, Kate. Harry is a native of Blackpool & only moved to Norfolk at the urging of his wife, Michelle, when promotion beckoned. Harry is blunt & touchy but a good policeman who is confused by his feelings for Ruth & overwhelmed by his love for hid new daughter. He also loves his wife & their two daughters. By the end of this book, the well-kept secret of Kate's parentage looks as though it may be about to crack.

The investigation involves the discovery of six skeletons on a remote section of the coastline where erosion has revealed their burial place.  The skeletons had their hands tied & the men had been shot in the back of the head. When isotope analysis discloses that they were of German origin, attention turns to the legend that German troops had attempted to invade Britain along the Norfolk coast, during WWII. On the cliffs above, Sea's End House, owned by politician Jack Hastings, is also affected by erosion & looks as though it will topple into the sea at any moment. The Hastings family have lived in Broughton for generations & Jack's father had been in charge of the local Home Guard. Could the skeletons have been part of an advance force sent by the Germans? If so, how did they die? Then two old men, former members of Broughton's Home Guard, die in suspicious circumstances, just as they were about to talk to a German academic who is researching the aborted invasion. The WWII mystery of the German soldiers suddenly becomes a modern murder investigation. Ruth's investigation of the historic remains intersects with Harry's search for the truth as the elderly survivors of the Home Guard are conveniently murdered before they can talk.

I do enjoy this series. The setting is atmospheric. Ruth lives in a desolate area called the Saltmarsh with no neighbours for miles. Ruth has few friends. Old school friend, Shona, & the druid, Cathbad, who is sometimes a little too perceptive for Ruth's comfort. As I said earlier, the relationship between Ruth & Harry is very subtly handled & is always interesting. I don't usually like present tense narration & it always disconcerts me although, I must say, once I'm into the story, I don't notice it. My main complaint is that Ruth is in peril of her life at the end of every book & I'm a bit sick of it. I enjoyed the setting up & investigation but the dénouement left me cold. I think we've had every variation on Ruth being attacked in her lonely house, on the marshes, on a remote beach with the tide coming in etc etc. I know it's fiction but I would love Ruth to get to the end of the book with a little less effort next time! The new book in the series, A Room Full of Bones, has just been published. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not sure when I'll post my next book review as I've done very little reading since Tuesday when my copy of series 2 of Sherlock arrived in the post. The first series of Sherlock was one of my TV highlights of last year & I couldn't wait for the new series to come to a TV screen near me so I ordered the DVD as soon as it was available. Martin Edwards has reviewed all three episodes on his blog. It is brilliant. I've watched two episodes & I'm looking forward to watching the third tonight. I love the way the writers have updated the original stories so cleverly. I could go on & on but the allusions to the originals (Geek Interpreter, Speckled Blonde), the number of direct quotes from the original stories, usually from Sherlock are so well-done. The way that the relationship between Holmes & Watson has been updated but not changed in essentials. The excellent performances from Benedict Cumberbatch & Martin Freeman. I've read the Conan Doyle stories many times & I can't help but think that knowing the originals adds to the enjoyment of watching Sherlock.

Murder at the flood - Mabel Esther Allan

Murder at the Flood is a terrifically atmospheric murder mystery set in Norfolk in the 1950s. It’s been reprinted by the wonderful Greyladies. I love the quote on their homepage, “Quirky, witty, intelligent, unexpected. Well-mannered books by ladies long gone.” I’ve read 2 of their titles & have another half-dozen on the tbr shelves & I agree with them so far! The author of Murder at the Flood, Mabel Esther Allan, was a children’s author & this was her only published adult book. I wish she’d kept writing mysteries as I loved this & read it very quickly.

Emily Varney is the young wife of the vicar of Marshton, a village on the Norfolk fens. She’s also the detective novelist, A E Sebastian, but she has so far kept this a secret as she doesn’t think the villagers would take too kindly to the vicar’s wife working, even as a novelist. The book opens on a windy, stormy day. Emily feels unsettled by the weather & uneasy about the mysterious letter her husband, Richard, received that morning. Richard has a secret but he hasn’t confided in Emily. Emily also has a secret as she’s being blackmailed by the obnoxious Thomas Long, the local garage owner, who has discovered her other life as A E Sebastian. Long is a violent drunk, cruel to his wife & his daughter, Betony. Soon, Emily’s own problems are overtaken by the news that the river banks have flooded & a stream of villagers & local people start arriving at the higher ground of the church & vicarage looking for refuge. At the same time, Thomas Long is found murdered in the churchyard. Not only Emily & Richard seem to have had a motive for killing Long as he was blackmailing many other people, including local author, Mr Abel-Otty, a man with an eye for a pretty face & Caroline High, the young schoolteacher recently returned to the village.

As the villagers cram into the church, & the village is cut off by flood waters, pompous Mr Pike (who fancies himself as a detective) & sensible Colonel Pashley, decide to investigate Long’s murder while they wait for the police to arrive. Unfortunately, Mr Pike antagonises everyone with his insinuations & insensitive questioning & the rumours become more outrageous. Several people with a motive for killing Long, including his own wife & daughter, were near the churchyard at the critical time but it’s when the rumourmongers decide that Richard is the murderer that Emily is stung into action. She decides that her talents as a detective novelist will help her to find the truth but not before many secrets are revealed & another murder is committed.

The flood adds a feeling of claustrophobia to this story. The realistic details of the struggle to clothe & feed all the refugees adds to the terror Emily feels when she fears that Richard will be forever tainted by the rumours if the true murderer isn’t discovered. The villagers are a realistically drawn group of people, most of them frightened by the flood, worried about their houses & possessions & revelling in spreading nasty rumours to take their minds off their troubles. Murder at the Flood is a great read that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys a Golden Age mystery.

The setting reminded me very much of one of my favourite movies, Thunder on the Hill, made in 1951. This is also set during a flood on the Norfolk fens at a convent hospital high on a hill. A young woman played by Ann Blyth is being taken to Norwich to be hanged for the murder of her invalid brother when the flood forces her & her escort to take refuge at the convent. Sister Mary Bonaventure (Claudette Colbert) decides the woman isn’t guilty & sets out to reinvestigate the crime. Gladys Cooper, one of my favourite actresses, plays a splendidly regal Reverend Mother. Beautifully shot in black & white, it was directed by Douglas Sirk who’s probably better known for his melodramas like Magnificent Obsession. It’s been raining here since yesterday morning so I may dig out my old video & watch it again this afternoon. It’s perfect weather for watching a rainy movie. Golden Age mystery movie lovers might enjoy Thunder on the Hill.

The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths

Yesterday morning I started reading a first novel, The Crossing Places, by Elly Griffiths. Late afternoon, I finished it. It combines mystery & archaeology, both of which I really enjoy reading about. Ruth Galloway is a lecturer in forensic archaeology living in an isolated cottage on Saltmarsh on the Norfolk coast. She's a loner, nearly 40, overweight, estranged from her born-again Christian parents. She's called in by DCI Harry Nelson to look at some bones discovered in the marsh. Nelson hopes they may be the remains of Lucy Downey who went missing 10 years ago but they're Iron Age. Ruth was involved in a dig near the site 10 years before when a henge was discovered. Now, she’s excited by the discovery of the remains & also hopes to discover the causeway that may link the two features. Nelson has been receiving strange letters since Lucy Downey disappeared & when another girl is abducted & he receives another letter full of mythological references, he asks Ruth for help. Ruth and Nelson are interesting characters, both essentially obsessed loners - although Nelson is married, he's not really at home in Norfolk, he only moved there from Blackpool because his wife thought he should go for promotion. Nelson admires Ruth’s professional detachment & there’s definitely a spark of attraction between them. At the end of the novel there’s an intriguing twist that will have an impact on their relationship in future novels in the series. I’d hoped for a bit more about the Iron Age body & the gold torques that were found with it but I suppose only so much can be crammed into a novel, especially a first novel where characters have to be introduced & the mystery plot has to keep ticking along. There were several subplots, all handled very well. I read the book very quickly & I had no trouble keeping track of who was who. The lonely atmosphere of the Saltmarsh was beautifully evoked especially when Ruth strays off the path & becomes lost on the marsh. Griffiths fills in Ruth’s past, the summer of the dig when she fell in love, her relationships with her mentor, the enigmatic Erik Anderssen, her work colleagues & few neighbours. The second book, The Janus Stone, will be published next month in the UK.