Monday, May 22, 2023

The Last Remains

Title: The Last Remains
Author: Elly Griffiths
Published: April 25, 2023 by Mariner Books
Format: Hardcover 368 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Ruth Galloway #15

First Sentence: The bonfire is burning brightly now, its heart molten gold.

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? (GoodReads)

My Opinion: The Ruth Galloway series comes to a satisfying conclusion with the possibility of her appearing in other Griffiths books. The plot begins with the discovery of a body behind an enclosed wall, leading readers on a journey through Ruth's past cases, encounters with various people, and memories that come full circle.

Although I can't recall how I discovered the series, I've recommended it to others unsure of what to read next, and no one has been disappointed.

As for what's next, I don't know what Elly Griffiths has planned, but I hope to see more of her DI Harbinder Kaur series (The Stranger Diaries, The Postscript Murders, Bleeding Heart Yard) and maybe see Ruth occasionally making an appearance.

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