Source: Purchased audiobook
Publication: 31st January 2023 from Quercus
Listening time: 9 hours 48 minutes
ASIN: B0B27XHBFY
Ruth and Nelson are working on a murder case in which Cathbad emerges as the prime suspect. Can they uncover the truth in time to save their friend?
Elly Griffiths understands her readers so well. Approaching the last (at least for now?) book in her fantastic Ruth Galloway series was always going to be difficult. But superb writer that she is, she knows exactly what we are looking for and delivers it in spades. (sorry/notsorry).
All the relevant characters play into The Last Remains, including Cloughie. This book is very much in the present day, but harks back to the beginning. Things are coming full circle and we are thrilled and delighted to know it.
I love this series with a passion and have followed the trials and tribulations of Dr Ruth Galloway’s relationship with DCI Nelson along with thousands of others. I choose to listen rather than read because of the wonderfully golden, dulcet tones of Jane McDowall who will forever be the voice of Ruth Galloway for me.
The Last Remains is everything you wanted it to be. Cathbad is up to his neck in it. Ruth has been given cause to rethink her career and is pondering a move to another country. Nelson is doing what he does best and failing to connect and express himself the way we have wanted him to for the last 15 books.
I set aside a whole day to concentrate on The Last Remains and it was so worth it. The combination of Norfolk archaeology, a contemporary crime and a cold case all come together to produce the perfect combination of old and new with danger, personality, disaster, left field declarations and an altogether wonderfully arranged finale.
Verdict: Elly Griffiths leaves my heart a little bit broken and I’m feeling bereft because I have a hole in my heart now that needs to be filled. But in terms of a fitting end to a magnificent series, I’d have to say that Elly Griffiths has done us proud and I not only have no complaints, I bloody loved it!
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Elly Griffiths is the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and the Brighton Mysteries. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Her new series featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur began with The Stranger Diaries, which was a Richard and Judy book club pick and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the USA. It was followed by The Postscript Murders, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Bleeding Heart Yard. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband.
Live and Deadly 