Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (Review #42)

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

Blurb

Ruth’s old friend Dan Golding dies in a house fire. But before he died Dan wrote to Ruth telling her that he had made a ground-breaking archaeological discovery. Could this find be linked to his death and who are the sinister neo-Nazi group who were threatening Dan? Ruth makes the trip to Blackpool to investigate, wary of encroaching on DCI Harry Nelson’s home ground. Soon Ruth is embroiled in a mystery that involves the Pendle Witches, King Arthur and – scariest of all – Nelson’s mother.

There are forces at work in the town that that threaten all that Ruth holds dear. But, in the final showdown on Blackpool Pleasure Beach, it is Cathbad who faces the greatest danger of all.

Review

At the end of September I needed a comfort read and this usually means I pick up a Dr Ruth Galloway book. I still haven’t read all the books from the series but I am almost there. 

I will be honest I did get a little bit annoyed with Ruth in this book. I thought her reaction to visiting Judy and the new born baby rather selfish and considering she was a mother and has been in Judy’s position she wasn’t very understanding. She is also constantly so down on herself which I think is sad because she is clearly a wonderful woman who has a lot to live for. 

The thing I loved about this book was that we learn more about the characters we have come to love. We learn more about Nelson’s mom and sisters and the arguments they have and find fun. We learn more about Cathbad’s childhood in Ireland and his mother and grandmother. We also learn about Michelle’s mother and Nelson’s relationship with his mother-in-law. I honestly couldn’t get enough of the background information that was packed in this book. It really made me understand and appreciate the characters more. 

Dan’s discovery that Ruth goes to investigate is fascinating and I found it really intriguing. As per usual the archaeological side and history and myth side were bang on and Griffiths had clearly done her research. I really wanted to know more about the discovery and I hope it might be mentioned more in the next book. 

This book is packed full of events, we have arson, suicide, murder, kidnapping and more. The book is non stop and it was really interesting to have it mainly set in Blackpool rather than Norfolk. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons. 

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About the author

Elly Griffiths was born in London and began her career in publishing, she then turned to writing full time. In 2016 she won the CWA Dagger in the Library for her work. Griffiths lives in Brighton with her family.

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