Thriller Thursday – Book Review – The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths – @ellygriffiths #BookTwitter #CozyMystery #RuthGalloway

Book Marks Final in Beloved Cozy Series

According to Goodreads, I read my first Ruth Galloway novel in 2014. I’m not sure if that’s correct as my Goodreads recordkeeping has become much more efficient (read: obsessive) since then. Either way, I’m honored and pleased to have spent possibly a decade and 15 books growing and changing alongside Elly Griffiths’ lovely cast of characters.

About the Book

When builders renovating a café in King’s Lynn find a human skeleton behind a wall, they call for DCI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology at the nearby University of North Norfolk. Ruth is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with Nelson. However, she agrees to look at the case.

Ruth sees at once that the bones are modern. They are identified as the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in the 1990s. Emily attended a course run by her Cambridge tutor. Suspicion falls on him and also on another course member – Ruth’s friend Cathbad, who is still frail following his near death from Covid.

As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the student group and the adults leading them. What was the link between the group and the King’s Lynn café where Emily’s bones were found?

Then, just when the team seems to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. Was it guilt that led him to flee?

The trail leads Ruth and Nelson to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves which are as spooky as their name. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?

My Thoughts

I read this book with bittersweet delight. It is quite an accomplishment, I think – both as an author and as a reader – to follow a series through fifteen books. I applaud the author, Elly Griffiths, for keeping us engaged and delighted to keep returning to Ruth and Nelson’s story time after time. For wanting to know what was happening to them and their group of friends, family, and colleagues. Creating an atmosphere that became as real to us as the true moors of Norfolk. I’m sure I’m not the only one who can picture Ruth’s little cottage by the sea almost as clearly as I imagine Griffiths does and feel the cool sea breeze on my face as I read her words.

While I know I can revisit the scenes, it is such a sad day when a beloved series ends. Never heard another fun fact or interesting druidic quip from Cathbad. Nor a dulcet grunt from Nelson. But, as far as endings go, Griffiths gave us a good one. Sometimes, you don’t get one. Series just peter off into nothingness, and you don’t get any sense of finality. With this series, I feel as though the characters are off, living their lives, and continuing on. We’re just not invited to their story any longer. And that’s okay. We’ve all moved on to a new chapter. And that is how life works.

I appreciate how Griffiths included little Easter eggs from multiple of her other books for the Eagle-eyed observer as she fed us the case this time around. A nod to the group’s journey, until she gave us the biggest twist of all. I haven’t read any of her other works, but now that there won’t be any more Ruth and Nelson in my life, I’ll have to get my fix of Griffiths’ writing by exploring some of her other writing. I can only assume I’ll come to love some of her other characters just as well.

Who’s It For?

If you love a good cozy police procedural crossover, you’ll love this book. If you’ve followed the Ruth Galloway series from the start, then obviously you’ve got to pick this one up. If you enjoy CSI, Bones, Criminal Minds, or any of those shows, this is a great series for you to consider, but I’d start at the beginning, not book 15. And, lucky you, you get to binge all 15 books without waiting!

Content Warning: Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Mention of Suicide, Covid/Lockdown, Grief, Religious Ideology, Adult Language, Adult Situations, Infidelity, Sexism

About the Author

Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly’s husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece’s head with the myths and legends of that area. Elly has two children and lives near Brighton. The Ruth Galloway series begins with “The Crossing Places.” https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/book/the-crossing-places/