2023

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.

Hello!

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.

I thought I would join in with Stacking the Shelves this week because I actually bought some books this week. I am making an effort to buy less books this year and read the ones I own and so far I have been doing quite well.

I have decided to read the Dr Ruth Galloway books from the beginning because I haven’t read them all. This has also meant buying some of the books I don’t own and discovered this lovely book set and although I do own a couple of these books I just couldn’t help myself with the lovely book set.

I have already started reading The Crossing Places and absolutely loving it.

Have you added any new books to your bookshelves recently?

Happy Reading

Etsy

The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths (Review #9)

The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths

Blurb

When builders discover a human skeleton while renovating a café, they call in archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway, who is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with DCI Nelson. The bones turn out to be modern–the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in 2002. Suspicion soon falls on Emily’s Cambridge tutor and also on another archeology enthusiast who was part of the group gathered the weekend before she disappeared–Ruth’s friend Cathbad.

As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the archaeology group and look for a link between them and the café where Emily’s bones were found. Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. The trail leads Ruth a to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves. 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?

Review

In 2019 I discovered Elly Griffiths and her wonderful Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and since then I have been hooked. I will be honest I still haven’t read all the books but I plan to read them all this year. I had this book preordered for months so I was so excited when it arrived in the post.

As usual there is a lot going on in this book. Poor Ruth is worried about the threatened closure of her beloved archaeology department, she isn’t sure what her relationship with DCI Nelson’s going to come to and now she has a body to excavate. Plus she also has added worries about friends and work colleagues.

Nelson finds himself finally making up his mind about Ruth and Kate but then not getting the response he was looking for from Ruth. Added to this he now has a murder investigation to run and it is anything but simple. He also has to find Cathbad who has gone missing and who is also connected to the murder case.

The thing I loved about this book was how it kept moving. From the first page there is something going on. The murder investigation keeps moving and more and more leads are found and more suspects and some very complicated relationships. There is the story of Ruth’s professional life and where her career is heading. We also follow Ruth make decisions regarding her personal life and see her love for her friends as she tries to help find Cathbad.

Norfolk is as usual heavily featured in this book and I have an even longer list of places I want to visit there. My best friend lives in Norfolk and I am constantly asking her where such and such place is as I want to visit all these places. I also want to visit Ely cathedral because of this book.

I loved this book so much and I couldn’t put it down. It was a fantastic book to end the series with and I will really miss these wonderful characters. The book has detailed and beautiful descriptions and a brilliantly written story. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

Book Depository | Bookshop.org | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)

About the author

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 long listed for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband.

Etsy

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths (Review)

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths

Blurb

The night hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach. DCI Nelson believes that the dead man might be an asylum seeker, but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison.

Review

I do love a Dr Ruth Galloway novel so I was very happy when I finally got my hands on a copy of this book.

Ruth has moved back to Norfolk and is back living in her little cottage in the middle of nowhere. However, not everything is the same because she is now head of the department she used to work for and that means she has staff working for her and she has hired a new lecturer.

Ruth is called out to examine a site of interest that the metal detectorists were digging when they found a body on the same beach. This means that Ruth is back working with DCI Nelson and even though she tries to not think about him her mind is always drawn to him and wishes to see more of him. Nelson on the other hand does not know what to think but knows his life can not go on the way it is and he needs to make some decisions but one thing is for sure and that is he is not retiring!

As the story unfolds more bodies are discovered some new, some old and one not even human and Nelson and Ruth start to unpick the threads of the case. The one frustrating thing for me was the room that looked like a doctors surgery, why did Nelson not investigate it immediately? Surely it was suspicious to the police because it certainly was to me. The other thing that I found frustrating was the massive clue that Ruth ignored regarding the text messages, as a reader it was obvious so I was screaming at the book at this point.

The character that most annoyed me was David the new lecturer, he was rather rude at times and forced his company on people. Overall, I think he was socially awkward and struggled with people but considering his background it was to be expected. Towards the end though he came across as rather sweet.

I really enjoyed this book but the reason it did not get the full five Dragons and only four from me was due to the characters ignoring alarmingly obvious things which frustrated me whilst reading.

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Purchase Links

Book Depository | Foyles | Waterstones | Wordery

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 and the cat Gus.

If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (ARC Review)

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

About the author

Blurb

PS: thanks for the murders.

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should absolutely not be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in carer Natalka’s account of Peggy Smith’s death.

But when Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she had been sure someone was following her…

And that Peggy Smith had been a ‘murder consultant’ who plotted deaths for authors, and knew more about murder than anyone has any right to…

And when clearing out Peggy’s flat ends in Natalka being held at gunpoint by a masked figure…

Well then DS Harbinder Kaur thinks that maybe there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.

Review

This is my first non-Dr Ruth Galloway book from Griffiths and I was so excited when I discovered I had been granted my request to read it on NetGalley.

Peggy Smith has died but has she been murdered? Peggy is also a ‘murder consultant’ who helps authors with the crime writing. As the story goes on more murders happen and the mystery thickens.

I’m not sure why but I struggled to get into this book and it just did not move along as I would have liked it to. I really liked the characters Harbinder and Neil and really liked their working relationship. However I disliked her repeatedly comparing Neil to a type of animal and thought it was unnecessary and rather mean of her. I also enjoyed the fact Harbinder still lived at home with her parents and the family dog Sultan.

The character that really grated on my nerves was Natalka. She really drove me insane. I found her very arrogant and self centred. I didn’t mind Benedict and Edwin and thought that they were both interesting and rather endearing characters, especially Benedict who was once a monk and now owns a coffee shop. But the whole concept of Natalka, Benedict and Edwin running off trying to solve the crime just came across as ridiculous and really they should have been arrested for meddling in a murder case. I think it was the whole storyline of this book that put me off as it did just come across as all a bit fanciful.

I still liked elements of this book and will admit I did not see the conclusion of the book at all. I will read the first book with Harbinder in and give the series another shot but sadly this book was just not for me. I only give the book 3 out of 5 Dragons.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for allowing me to read and review this book.

Purchase Links

Waterstones • Book Depository

The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths (Review)

The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

About the author

Blurb

Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway.

She has a new job, home and partner, and is no longer North Norfolk police’s resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Amyas March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this, and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried – but only if Ruth will do the digging.

Curious, but wary, Ruth agrees. March tells Ruth that he killed four more women and that their bodies are buried near a village bordering the fens, said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, mysterious figures holding lights that lure travellers to their deaths.

Is Amyas March himself a lantern man, luring Ruth back to Norfolk? What is his plan, and why is she so crucial to it? And are the killings really over?

Review

Firstly, I will be honest and say that I am a Dr Ruth Galloway addict. I haven’t read all of the books yet but I try and buy a new book as a treat to myself as often as possible. This one is book 12 in the series and was a massive surprise to me because it has moved on quite a bit from book 11. Ruth now has a new job, a new house and is now with a new partner. This was quite a shock for me after where book 11 left Ruth but a nice surprise.

Ruth is her usual self in the book and now she has what appears to be the dream life but as you read it you can’t help but wonder if she is really happy?

Nelson is trying to solve a murder case where the suspect March is already in prison but will not admit to being guilty of the murders. He later agrees to tell Nelson where other bodies are if he talks to Ruth. Ruth agrees which leads to Ruth and Nelson working a case together again.

As the case developed I must admit I did not see the end result coming and it was a massive surprise how it turned out. What didn’t surprise me was what happened at the very end of the book.

One of my favourite characters in the Dr Galloway series is Cathbad and I must admit I would have liked to have seen a bit more of him in the book. I always love a Cathbad ritual of some kind and sadly that was lacking in the book.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and could not put it down. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons and highly recommend it to all crime and thriller fans.

Purchase Links

Book Depository • Waterstones

(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you)

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths (Review)

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

About the author

Blurb

Forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway is called in to advise when builders, demolishing a Victorian house in Norwich, uncover the skeleton of a child – minus the skull. Is it some ritual sacrifice or just plain murder?

The house was once a children’s home. DCI Harry Nelson meets the priest who used to run it, who tells him two children did go missing forty years before – a boy and a girl. They were never found.

But someone is trying hard to put both Ruth and Nelson off the scent – and a seemingly forgotten crime becomes terrifyingly real, with deadly consequences.

Review

Firstly, Elly Griffiths is fast becoming an absolute favourite of mine, every book of hers I read I can not put down and look forward to reading the next one.

I loved this story and loved the connections with Roman history and the God Janus. When I was younger I absolutely loved the history of the Roman Gods and Janus was a personal favourite, I became obsessed with closing gates so I didn’t anger him.

It was really nice to be reading about Dr Ruth Galloway again, she is such a wonderful character, she is down to earth, intelligent and not glamorous or hung up on her appearance. DCI Nelson is rough around the edges and does not pull his punches and quite funny.

The character that I really enjoyed in this book is Cathbad, he is so free and funny and really does not care what people think of him. I wish he would feature more in the stories to be honest.

The book was fast paced and kept me hooked from the beginning. I must admit I did work out the culprit but it did not ruin the story for me and it was a nice surprise that the story did not go down the predictable line I thought it was looking like.

The other element I loved was the personal dramas of the characters unfolding and I enjoyed that as much as the actual crime investigation unfolding. Overall I loved this book and have given it 5 out 5 Dragons. I highly recommend it to everyone but especially people who love a good crime drama.

Purchase links:-

Waterstones

Book Depository

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (Review)

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

About the author

Blurb

A child’s bones are discovered near the site of a pre-historic henge on the north Norfolk coast, and the police ask local forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway to date them. Are these the remains of a local girl who disappeared ten years ago?

DCI Harry Nelson refuses to give up the hunt for this missing child. Ever since she vanished, someone has been sending him bizarre anonymous notes about ritual sacrifice, quoting Shakespeare and the Bible. He knows Ruth’s instincts and experience can help him finally put this case to rest.

Then a second child goes missing, and Ruth finds herself in danger from a killer who knows she’s getting ever closer to the truth…

Review

A couple of months ago I read the latest Dr Ruth Galloway book The Stone Circle and absolutely loved it. Since then I was determined to read all of the series and have been buying the books when visiting Waterstones stores. So a few days ago I began the first novel in the series which actually links in with The Stone Circle.

I just love the character of Ruth, she is an academic who doesn’t seem to care about what people’s opinions of her are. It is clear her weight is an issue though as she thinks about it a lot in this book but doesn’t really do anything about it. She is a woman who just seems to have reached a certain age and has decided she is happy in her own skin and circumstances. She lives in a tiny remote cottage in the middle of nowhere but she loves it and she definitely loves her own company.

Harry is a tough DCI who takes no nonsense and has seen a lot in his job. He has developed a hard shell that takes a lot to break but certain cases like child abductions do get through and cause him a lot of pain. He comes across as an arrogant and grumpy cop but he has a heart and a caring side, which comes across as the story goes on.

I loved how this story has the archaeology in it as well, I found it so fascinating how Ruth excavated the bones and recorded everything down. I loved the references in the mysterious letters and how Ruth methodically works out where they all come from. Ruth is methodical in everything she does and gets excellent results. Harry does not come across as methodical, more run from one clue to another and try and figure it out as he goes along. Even though he says to Ruth he likes lists, he doesn’t come across as a list person to me, but maybe that is just how I am interpreting him.

The ending of the book was a massive surprise to me as I did not see the end result at all and that made me love the book even more. I do have a habit of predicting the end of crime novels but with this book I thought I knew the ending but was very wrong. The other element I loved was that I started to meet Harry’s team and hope in the following books I learn more of the team members as I find them very intriguing.

The other character I absolutely loved was Cathbad, he seems surreal to me and rather amusing with his druid ways. The main thing that comes across though is that he is happy, unbelievably happy and completely at one with himself and nature. The druid way of life obviously has some benefits.

Overall I loved this book and would happily recommend it to anybody who will listen to me. I will be lending my copy to my dad as he loves a good crime novel. I give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons and I can not wait to start reading the next one in the series. I am officially hooked to the Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery series.

To Purchase

Waterstones

Lady Book Dragon

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths (A Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery) (Review)

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths (A Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery)

About the author

Blurb

The past is reaching out for Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

DCI Harry Nelson is receiving anonymous letters, and their resemblance to those that first drew him to the Saltmarsh, and his first case with Dr Ruth Galloway, has left him uneasy. After all, the author of those letters is dead.

Or are they?

Then he gets a call from Ruth. She is digging on the Saltmarsh, on the site of a henge – a stone circle. And she has found the bones of a young girl.

When the body is identified as that of Margaret Lacey, a twelve-year-old who went missing thirty years ago, the North Norfolk police reopen the cold case. Are the letters a coincidence, or did someone really know all along where Margaret could be found?

Then another body is discovered. Is this death linked to Margaret’s? It seems that feelings run high and someone is guarding their secrets. What else might they know, if only Ruth and Nelson can find them?

Review

I have never read a book by Elly Griffiths before but I saw this one in Waterstones and loved the blurb so thought I would give it a go. I am so pleased I did as I absolutely loved it and I could not put it down. When I should have been sleeping I was reading but being tired in the morning was worth it. I am fast becoming addicted to crime mystery books, I only really started reading them last year and now I am hooked and discovering more and more favourite authors.

Having not read any of the previous books I was a little worried that I would not follow the storylines between the characters but I soon found the book was possible to read as a stand alone. I also loved that there were mini character biographies at the back of the book, this helped me a lot to understand a bit more about what type of people the main characters were. The first thing that became clear was that most of the police force have complicated relationship histories, which is probably made clearer in the previous books.

This book had me hooked just with the first page, the mysterious letter, I immediately wanted to know more. I loved the idea of an archaeological dig uncovering more than expected and the mystery involved behind it.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book, most crime novels centre around the chief detective but this centres around a Doctor and not any Doctor, a forensic archaeologist. Seeing the crime from Dr Ruth’s point of view is very interesting and eye opening. I found Ruth an interesting character, she loves her daughter deeply and is still madly in love with the father of her child even though they are not together. She also lives for her work and should be thinking of progressing up the career ladder but can not seem to bare leaving Norfolk, for many complicated reasons.

My first impression of Harry Nelson is that he does not know what he wants in life and is a bit like a lost little boy but he is an excellent police officer who can work out any crime and does not let his problems in his personal life get in the way of his work.

I really enjoyed meeting Harry Nelson’s team and would love to know more about them and so I definitely plan on reading more of the books, I have in fact bought the first one in the series to read next. The other element that I absolutely loved was that I had no idea who the culprit was, I had the completely wrong person in my mind. Quite often with crime mysteries I guess the culprit quite early on, but not this book.

I can not recommend this book enough, I could not put it down. If you love crime mysteries and archaeology then this book is for you, but I must warn you, you might end up with a few sleepless nights because you can not put it down. I gave this book a massive 5 out of 5 Dragons.

Purchase from Waterstones

Lady Book Dragon

Waterstones Challenge: Worcester

It’s half term so I decided to go a bit further out for the next Waterstones visit and Worcester was the one we chose. We turned it into a National Trust visit as well and visited Elgar’s Birthplace.

The visit to Elgar’s Birthplace was really good and quite different since the National Trust has taken over. I went a few years ago and it was quite a different layout, my husband has never been though and really enjoyed it, apart from basically all the signs using it’s instead of its, that drove him insane.

After our visit, we went into Worcester and found the Waterstones, it is quite small but really well laid out, I loved the top floor it was so spacious and welcoming and it also has an escalator which I thought was excellent for easy access. The book I went in for was The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon but it was not there and after my husband looked it up it was because I had got the release dates wrong and the book is not out until the 26th February 2019. I’ve never been good with numbers, let alone dates. It was not a wasted journey though, because I managed to buy three books. I will be honest, I went to the till with just two books but then the third just jumped into my hand and I ended up buying it as well.

The three books I got are:-

The Crossing Places: A Dr Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths

I have just recently discovered Elly Griffiths’ Dr Ruth Galloway and I just can not put the books down so I was happy to find one that I have not read.

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher

I wanted to read another Rosamunde Pilcher book after falling in love with Coming Home so it looks like this will be next on my list.

The Story of Brexit: A Ladybird Book

This was the book that jumped into my hand at the till, I do find the Ladybird books rather funny and good to read with a mug of tea.

We celebrated the latest Waterstones visit by going to Pizza Express for a treat and then we went to my parents’ house and had Coco cuddles. Coco is my dog who has always been one of my reading buddies. Sadly when I moved out she stayed with my parents so I go over as often as I can for cuddles. Coco loves using piles of books as a pillow.

Lady Book Dragon

New Book – 14/02/2019

Hello my fellow readers!

I hope you have all had a good week and have a full weekend of reading planned ahead.

I just thought I would tell you about my latest new book. My wonderful husband took me to Waterstones on Valentine’s Day and told me to choose a book and he would treat me. I was very restrained as he had already spoiled me with some other presents and a big bunch of flowers, he is brilliant. My choice in the end was The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths. I have been looking forward to this book and so grabbed it when I saw it on the shelf, although it was hidden away right at the bottom. Another exciting book to add on to my TBR pile!

I am hoping to read a bit more next week and get down my TBR pile, work has got in the way recently and falling asleep on the sofa but next week is half term so I am hoping for a bit of reading time as I am only working on three days and they are not full days.

What will everyone be reading this weekend?

Lady Book Dragon