The Night Hawks: A British Cozy Mystery

By Elly Griffiths

A USA Today Bestseller

There’s nothing Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body, she finds herself thrust into their midst—and into the crosshairs of a string of murders circling ever closer.

Ruth is back as head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk when a group of local metal detectorists—the so-called Night Hawks—uncovers Bronze Age artifacts on the beach, alongside a recently deceased body, just washed ashore. Not long after, the same detectorists uncover a murder-suicide—a scientist and his wife found at their farmhouse, long thought to be haunted by the Black Shuck, a humongous black dog, a harbinger of death. The further DCI Nelson probes into both cases, the more intertwined they become, and the closer they circle to David Brown, the new lecturer Ruth has recently hired, who seems always to turn up wherever Ruth goes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9780358237013

Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel; The Postscript Murders; and Bleeding Heart Yard. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.

Book preview

Prologue

There’s so much blood, that’s what he always remembers. Even after the police and the ambulance have left, there’s blood on the grass and even on the trees, dripping into the mud like some Old Testament plague. He follows his father who treads blood into the house and, when he leans heavily against the wall to take off his boots, a bloody handprint is outlined on the yellow wallpaper. His father goes into the sitting room, sits on his chair by the fire and opens the newspaper, almost as if nothing has happened, almost as if his hands aren’t still stained with her blood.

He goes back out to the barn. The dog comes to him then, leans against him as if he understands. It’s the only time the dog has shown him any affection and he supposes that he’s grateful. But another part of him wonders if he’ll ever feel any proper human emotion again. There’s a flurry of action as the ambulance men manoeuvre the covered stretcher, sliding it into the vehicle—such an easy fluid movement. Then the wheels crunch away over the gravel and the birds rise up from the fields where they have been feasting on the scattered corn. And then, suddenly, everything is silent. Just the weathercock slowly turning on the roof. It’s as if the house has retreated somehow and, from now on, no matter how much noise there is in the outside world, here it will always be silent.

Wednesday, 18 September 2019, 00.10

---

All along the coast on this very eastern edge of England, the tide is coming in. It rolls over dark sand at Holme, it crashes against the multicoloured cliffs at Hunstanton, it batters windows at Happisburgh, reminding home owners that this land is just on loan. And, on this spit of land jutting out into the North Sea, it approaches from all sides, turning streams into lagoons and lagoons into unfathomable lakes.

The Night Hawks are aware of the encroaching waters. This is dangerous territory, after all. But they are hunters and their blood is up. Iron Age coins have been discovered in the sand near Blakeney Point and there are rumours that they are part of something really big, perhaps even a hoard. The hawks spread out across the beach, their metal detectors glowing and humming. The sea rolls in, white waves on black water.

A young man with a torch like a third eye on his head calls, ‘There’s something here!’ The other hawks converge on him, their machines picking up the message, the call of metal below the surface of the earth.

‘Could be more coins.’

‘Could be armour . . .’

‘A metal torque. Arm rings . . .’

They start to dig. Someone sets up an arc light. It’s not until there’s a shout of ‘Tide!’ that they realise the waters are almost upon them. Then there’s another cry, coming from Troy, a young hawk stationed at the mouth of one of the estuaries winding back inland. His comrades splash over to him, taking care to keep their machines above water.

‘There’s something . . .’ says Troy. ‘I almost fell over it.’ He’s very young, still a teenager, and his voice wavers and breaks.

Alan, an older detectorist, reaches out in the dark to touch his shoulder. ‘What is it, lad?’

But another of the hawks is pointing his torch at the ground by Troy’s feet. And they all see it, first some clothes swirling in the incoming tide, a movement that gives the appearance of life. But then, caught in a clump of sea grass, a dead body, its arm outstretched as if asking for their help.

1

Wednesday, 18 September 2019

---

Ruth parks in her usual spot under the lime tree and takes her usual route through the Natural Sciences department to the archaeology corridor. This route is so familiar to her that she almost stops at her old office, the place where she first met DCI Nelson twelve years ago. But, with only a slight hesitation, she continues on her way and heads to the last door, on which there is a new plaque: Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology.

This corner office, which boasts two windows and has room for a sofa as well as a desk, chairs and a round table for meetings, was once occupied by Phil Trent, Ruth’s old boss. But now Phil has taken early retirement and Ruth has the top job. Not that head of department at the University of North Norfolk is the toppest of top jobs (in fact Ruth’s previous post as a senior lecturer at a Cambridge college was probably more prestigious) but on days like this, when she can see the ornamental lake glittering from her windows and the new freshers drifting across the campus, it does feel pretty special. I am in charge, thinks Ruth, putting her laptop on the desk and clicking onto the university intranet. It’s a good feeling but she mustn’t get too power hungry and start making her cat a senator or forcing the staff to call her Supreme Leader. It’s still a medium job in a medium university. But at least she has her own coffee machine.

She’s just about to have her first espresso of the morning when there’s a perfunctory knock on the door. Before Ruth can say ‘go away’, the space in front of her is full of David Brown, the new archaeology lecturer. Her replacement, in fact.

‘I’ve been thinking about our induction for new students,’ says David, without even a ‘Good morning, Supreme Leader’. ‘It seems crazy that we don’t have them digging as soon as possible. We give them all that crap about research methods but don’t let them get down and dirty until the second semester.’

Ruth sighs. In principle she agrees. Digging, ‘getting down and dirty’, is one of the joys of archaeology. She would like her students to experience the thrill of discovery as soon as possible. But there are practical implications. Although Norfolk is one of the most archaeologically rich landscapes in the world, there are only ever a few digs running at one time and these could be ruined by over-eager first-years trampling all over the trenches. And the students themselves will be disappointed if, after a day in the bitter easterly winds, they only unearth a nail or a jubilee coin from 1977. Plus she despises the word semester. They’re called terms in England, she tells David silently.

‘We’ve thought about this before,’ she says. Before you came and disrupted everything is the subtext. ‘But there’s not really a suitable dig at the moment. Caistor St Edmund needs Roman specialists and Sedgeford is only in the summer.’

‘Then we should start our own dig.’

‘We haven’t got the funding,’ says Ruth. She remembers how Phil used to irritate her with his constant talk of grants and funding, yet here she is playing the same tune. But the harsh reality is, they don’t have the money or the person-power to start a new excavation, not unless another Bronze Age henge magically materialises on a Norfolk beach.

‘Our induction programme is out of date,’ says David. ‘There’s not enough on isotope analysis or DNA testing.’

Ruth, who updated the programme herself, glares at him but is distracted by her phone ringing. Nelson says the screen. ‘Excuse me,’ she says, ‘I must take this call.’

David doesn’t take the hint and leave but stands in front of her, blocking out the light.

‘Ruth,’ says Nelson. He, too, never bothers with niceties like ‘Hallo’. ‘I’m at Cley. A body’s been washed up at Blakeney Point. I think you’d better come and see it.’

---

Ruth doesn’t know quite how David Brown manages to come along too. It certainly isn’t because she invited him. All she knows, as she climbs into her lime-spattered Renault, is that David is next to her, folding his long legs into the passenger seat and adjusting it without her permission. She can’t really tell him to get out. Teaching hasn’t started yet. The only official business of the day is the Meet and Greet with the freshers at five. She supposes that David has all the time in the world to inspect dead bodies.

‘This might take a while,’ she says, as she backs out of her space. ‘I’m a special advisor to the north Norfolk police. They probably want me to look at the position of the body, provide some forensic analysis.’

All David says is, ‘Mind the hedge,’ as Ruth takes the corner too tightly. She grinds her teeth.

Ruth doesn’t know quite why David annoys her so much. They have the same academic speciality, the prehistoric era, which doesn’t help, but this is partly why Ruth employed David, to teach the courses that used to be her province. They even attended the same university, University College London, although David is four years older than Ruth so they didn’t overlap. David then went to live and work in Sweden which is why he finds himself, aged fifty-five, applying for a job at UNN. But he was a good candidate and Ruth is lucky to have him on the team. It’s just, why does he have to act as if he’s all too aware of this?

It’s a short drive to Cley and David is silent for most of it. Ruth is damned if she’s going to make conversation, but she longs to point out the beauty of the landscape, the yellow grass and blue water, the flint cottages, the fishing boats in the harbour. Yet David hardly looks up from his phone. More fool him, thinks Ruth.

Nelson is waiting for them at the entrance to the car park. Ruth remembers meeting him, years ago, at Blakeney car park on their way to interview Cathbad in his caravan. Now Cathbad owns a charming cottage in nearby Wells, where THE NIGHT HAWKS he lives with his partner and three children. Everything changes, thinks Ruth, as she parks the car and gets out her wellingtons. She is wearing her best boots in honour of the Meet and Greet and she’s not going to risk them getting wet. David watches her sardonically. He’s wearing a trainer/ shoe hybrid that will probably fare very badly in the mud and sand.

‘What took you so long?’ says Nelson, as soon as Ruth comes into speaking distance.

But some things never change.

‘This is a colleague of mine, David Brown,’ says Ruth, ignoring Nelson’s comment. ‘David, this is DCI Nelson.’ She doesn’t give Nelson’s first name because no one in Norfolk, apart from his wife, calls Nelson ‘Harry’.

Nelson nods at David and turns back to Ruth. ‘The body’s a little way along the beach. We’d better hurry because the tide’s coming in.’

The only way to reach Blakeney Point is to take a boat or walk from Cley. By foot it is, by all accounts, an energetic four-mile trek. Ruth has never tried it herself. She has taken Kate on the boat trip though, to see the seals who loll on the sand bank like drunks who have been thrown out of a pub. She hopes that today’s walk isn’t going to be too arduous. It’s a beautiful autumn day but she doesn’t want to spend hours trudging along the shingle in her wellingtons. Nelson strides ahead and Ruth has to scurry to keep up with him. She’s not going to trail behind the two men. Luckily David dawdles, taking pictures on his phone.

They walk along the beach, scrubby shingle on one side and the sea on the other. Occasionally Ruth sees sea poppies and clumps of samphire. A yacht goes past, its sails very white against the blue. In the distance is a curious blue house like an upturned boat. Just as Ruth’s legs start aching, Nelson turns inland. There are patches of still water here and, as they pass, the birds rise up in clouds. Eventually they reach a promontory where yellow police tape is fluttering gaily in the wind. Two figures in white coveralls are standing at the water’s edge.

‘Should we be suited up?’ says Ruth.

‘No,’ says Nelson, ‘we don’t need to get that close.’

Ruth looks at him quizzically but says nothing. They climb the shingle bank so that they are looking down at the inlet. Here the water comes to a point and starts to trickle inland. On the higher ground a tent has been erected but, through the open flaps, Ruth can see the shape of a body.

‘Male,’ says Nelson. ‘Young. Looks to be about twenty. We’ll get his DNA, of course, but that’ll only help if it matches someone on our records. My guess is that he’s an illegal immigrant . . . a refugee,’ he amends, looking at Ruth.

‘Why do you think he’s a migrant?’ says David. ‘Because he looks foreign?’ He puts contemptuous quotes round the words.

‘No,’ says Nelson, scowling at him but keeping his voice even. ‘But we’ve had reports of migrant boats coming this way. They’re heading for Southwold because there’s no coastguard there.’

Ruth looks across at the tent. She can see the head quite clearly, dark hair lifting in the breeze. A young man’s body. Has he really travelled hundreds of miles just to end up here, washed up on an unknown shore? She says what has been in her mind ever since she got Nelson’s call. ‘If you know who he is and why he’s here, why do you need me?’

‘Because his body was found by some archaeologists,’ says Nelson. ‘Metal detectorists. They call themselves the Night Hawks. And I think they’ve found something else too.’

2

‘Nighthawks aren’t archaeologists,’ says Ruth.

‘Why do you say that?’ says Nelson. ‘They looked pretty professional to me. Lots of equipment.’ They’ve moved along the beach to a point where the earth is lying in huge mounds, as if a giant child has been building a sandcastle.

‘They’re not archaeologists,’ says Ruth. ‘They’re amateurs who charge around looking for treasure. They’ve no idea how to excavate or how to read the context. They just dive in and dig up whatever looks shiny.’

‘Wow,’ says David. ‘Elitism is alive and well and living in Norfolk.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ says Ruth.

‘Archaeology isn’t just the preserve of people with degrees,’ says David. ‘Detectorists are valid members of the community and these finds belong to the people.’

‘Licensed metal detectorists are fine,’ says Ruth. ‘But Nelson called these people nighthawks.’ She can hear her voice rising and takes a deep breath. She doesn’t want Nelson to hear her arguing with a colleague. Well, strictly speaking, an employee.

‘It’s what they called themselves,’ says Nelson. ‘Much as I hate to interrupt this academic discussion, as I was saying, the body was found by some metal detectorists who were looking for that.’ He points at the mound.

‘What is it?’ says Ruth.

‘It seems like a lot of old metal,’ says Nelson. ‘I thought you might like to have a look.’

Ruth feels her heart beating faster. This part of the coast is famous for buried treasure. There was the so-called jeweller’s hoard at Snettisham, as if the contents of a Romano-British jewellery shop were just lying underground waiting to be discovered. Then there was the Sedgeford torc and the Iceni silver coins at Scole. Old metal, Nelson said, but he wouldn’t know an Iron Age hoard from the contents of the slot machines on the Golden Mile in his beloved Blackpool.

‘These metal detectorists,’ Nelson is saying. ‘They were here last night with their machines and lights and what have you. They found this and got all excited, then one of them, a young lad called Troy Evans, found the body. They called the police and two local PCs attended the scene. They called me first thing this morning.’

‘We’ll have to secure this site,’ says Ruth. ‘Stop anyone else trampling over it. Can you make it part of the crime scene, Nelson?’

She’s half-joking but Nelson says, ‘I suppose so as it was found at the same time as the body. Funny place to bury something, isn’t it?’

‘Not really,’ says Ruth. ‘Two thousand years ago it would have been well above the tide line.’

‘But why bury something on the beach?’

‘They could have been a votive offering,’ says Ruth. ‘An offering to the sea gods.’ She looks at Nelson and knows that they are both thinking the same thing: bodies buried in the sand near here, murdered to placate nameless, vengeful gods. They have reached the hole—it can hardly be called a trench—and Ruth can see the dull gleam of greenish metal.

‘Or sometimes you find escape hoards,’ David cuts in. ‘Warlords on the run, perhaps escaping back to Scandinavia. They buried their treasure, hoping they would come back for it.’ He squats down to look. Ruth is rather pleased to see that his shoes and trousers are wet and spattered with sand. He leans closer and, when he speaks, his voice is different. Thick with excitement.

‘Ruth! I think this is Bronze Age.’

Ruth comes forward to look. A Bronze Age hoard would be a find indeed. Rarer and older. Leaning in—uncomfortably close to David—she can see what looks like a fragment of a spear, shaped a bit like the club in a suit of cards.

‘Broken spears,’ says David. ‘This could be Beaker.’ Ruth knows that the Bronze Age, and the Beaker People specifically, is David’s speciality.

Ruth has brought her excavation kit, a backpack containing trowel, brush and zip-lock bags. She brushes the sandy soil away from the metal and sees something else in the earth below, something smooth and off-white.

Nelson comes forward now.

‘What’s that?’

‘I think it’s a part of a skull,’ says Ruth.

‘There’s a body there?’ Ruth can sense Nelson’s excitement, even without looking at him.

‘I think so. We’ll need to do a proper excavation.’

David has taken the trowel and widened the area around the bone. ‘I think there’s more here. Looks like we’ve got our dig.’ He grins at her. It’s the first time that Ruth has seen him smile and the effect is actually to make his face look even grimmer than before. She doesn’t smile back. Someone is dead, after all. Two people, if you count the body lying amongst the Bronze Age spears. Which she does.

‘Glad someone’s happy,’ says Nelson. ‘It’s an ill wind.’ This too, suddenly sounds rather sinister, especially as the wind has been getting stronger in the last few minutes. Sand is rising from the beach in clouds, getting into Ruth’s hair and her eyes. Ruth suspects that Nelson got this particular adage from his mother and it’s never a good sign when he starts quoting Maureen.

---

When Ruth and her follower have trudged back to the car park, Nelson returns to the crime scene. The Forensics team are having to work quickly because of the incoming tide. Last night, the Night Hawks moved the body to higher ground. Normally Nelson would be cursing them for interfering but, in this case, it was the only thing to do. The tide was rising fast and, by the time that the police appeared, the body would have been lost to the water. It does mean that they can’t gain any clues from the surrounding area, ‘the context’, Ruth would call it. And they need to move the dead man before the tide comes in again, at midday.

After exchanging a few words with the Forensics officers, Nelson heads back inland. There’s nothing more for him to do here. He’s not a fan of the north Norfolk coast, miles of sand and rocks and mangy looking vegetation. It whiffs to high heaven too, a horrible, rank, briny smell, not like the aroma of vinegar and chips which hovers over proper seaside resorts. As he treads carefully over the wet seaweed, he sees a woman coming towards him, dressed in a yellow raincoat. DI Judy Johnson always has the right gear for the climatic conditions. Cathbad, her partner, says it’s because she is in tune with the weather gods.

‘Hi, boss,’ says Judy, when she gets closer. ‘I saw Ruth leaving. Who was that with her?’

‘Some dickhead from the university. And guess what? We’ve found another body.’

‘Another body’s been washed up?’

‘No. Ruth thinks there’s a skeleton buried with a pile of old metal higher up on the beach. That’s what they were looking for, this Night Hawk gang. They call it a hoard. Of course, they didn’t know there was a body there too.’

‘Is that why you called Ruth?’

‘No,’ says Nelson, not looking at her. ‘I didn’t know about the skeleton. I just thought she’d be interested because some of her lot were involved. Though Ruth says that metal detectorists aren’t proper archaeologists.’

‘Cathbad goes out with the Night Hawks sometimes,’ says Judy. ‘He says that they’re genuine questing souls.’

That figures, thinks Nelson. Cathbad is a druid. He also teaches meditation and once trained as an archaeologist. Nelson doubts that there’s a single group of local eccentrics that Cathbad doesn’t know about. And, if they go out at night and break a few laws along the way, that’s right up his street. Questing souls indeed. He never knows quite what Judy, his best and most rational officer, makes of her partner’s beliefs. She certainly manages to say this sort of thing with a straight face.

‘We need to secure the archaeological site,’ says Nelson. ‘And inform the coroner. Even though the body will turn out to be thousands of years old.’

‘It might not,’ says Judy. ‘Stranger things have happened.’

‘They certainly have,’ says Nelson. ‘And mostly to us.’

‘Do we know anything about the body washed up on the beach last night?’ says Judy. ‘Any identification on him?’ ‘No,’ says Nelson. ‘I think he must have come from a migrant boat. Have the coastguard reported anything?’

‘No. I rang round all the stations this morning. Of course, they could have come ashore somewhere where there are no checks. Who attended the scene first?’

‘PC Nathan Matthews and PC Mark Hammond. Local boys. Good coppers. I came across them in Cley last year.’

‘I’ll read their reports, but shall I get them to come in for the briefing later? Might be good to hear about it in their own words. Especially as we won’t have forensics from the scene.’

‘Good idea.’

‘The tide’s coming in,’ says Judy as, on cue, a wave sneaks over the shingle and breaks just in front of them. ‘We need to move the body. I’ve got a private ambulance standing by.’

‘I’ll leave you to it,’ says Nelson. ‘Briefing at three. See you later.’

‘Super Jo was looking for you,’ says Judy, over her shoulder. ‘I told her you were out.’

‘Good work,’ says Nelson. His boss, Superintendent Jo Archer, is always trying to make him have meetings with her. Avoiding her is his main form of exercise.

3

As soon as Ruth gets back to her office, she rings the coroner’s office. She needs a licence before she can excavate the bones. In order to get the licence, she has to prove that excavating the remains will further historical and scientific understanding. She doesn’t think that this will be difficult. If the weapons look to be Bronze Age, then it’s reasonable to suppose that the skeleton must be too. Of course, there might not be a complete articulated skeleton—an animal could have deposited the bones there—but the presence of the swords makes Ruth think that this is a significant site of some kind and, in that case, it’s quite likely that it’s also a burial site. Bronze Age bodies are often found in burial mounds, typically surrounded by pottery and other grave goods. She remembers reading about a burial in Wiltshire—near Stonehenge, she thinks—where the body was surrounded by gold, like some Inca deity. What if they unearth something like that on Blakeney Point?

The encounter with Nelson had gone well, she thinks, perhaps helped by David’s presence. Since she has returned to Norfolk, her relationship with Nelson has been cordial but slightly distant. She’s aware that her feelings for him played a big part in the decision to return but she doesn’t necessarily want him to know this. Nelson is the father of Ruth’s child but he’s still married and, whilst Ruth once might have overridden her conscience and ignored

Reviews for The Night Hawks

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Manages to keep the mystery well-hidden until the final pages. Evokes the region of Norfolk and environs well. As an introductory book into the series maybe there are better choices. I didn't really know who the secondary characters were, but still a fun read.

[ffortsa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tight, suitably misdirecting mystery in the Ruth Galloway series, involving all the usual characters along with the wild and archeologically rich Norfolk coast, a series of murders (of course), and an adult but dysfunctional family. The Night Hawks are 'metal detectorists' (how British) who scour the landscape for Bronze Age artifacts, and stumble across a body. And Ruth herself is challenged by a new job, a new hire, family changes, etc.Nicely done.

[carol420 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Treasure hunters who call themselves Night Hawks are prowling a Norfolk beach at night armed with metal detectors, hoping to find a hoard of Bronze Age coins when the story begins. What they find is more than they bargained for and brings DCI Nelson on the scene, and of course forensic archeologist, Dr. Ruth Galloway. The relation between Ruth and Nelson reaches a whole new level of attraction and irritation. I didn't care for Nelson’s new female boss who keeps trying to “have a word” with him and nagging him to retire. We have a cruel and repellant scientist, an arrogant new lecturer in the anthropology department, and a huge legendary black dog whose terrifying appearances portend death. There are murders aplenty, but love shares the stage with crime. How could you ask for anything more? The story is transgressive, surprising, and sometimes even humorous. Another 5-star addition to this series.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oh no! I suddenly caught up to the current publishing without realizing it. And this was a particularly good installment in the series, too. Lots of things going on with our characters, from Super Jo pressuring Nelson to retire, to Ruth's return to Norfolk, to a new and somewhat irritating Archaeology professor. Really interesting connected series of deaths, centering on a Bronze-age find and a creepy farm. Satisfyingly twists and turns, and the ending leaves me wanting to see what happens next.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr Ruth Galloway is back at the University of North Norfolk in Kings Lynn, where she is now head of the Archaeology Department. She has returned from her spell in Cambridge to replace her former boss Phil Trent, who has taken early retirement following the heart attack that he suffered during the preceding novel, The Lantern Men. Having previously had to cope with an often-overbearing boss, she now has to deal with an overbearing junior colleague (who has, in effect, taken her old post) in the shape of David Brown, who seems to muscle in to every encounter Ruth has.As the book opens, a group of local metal detectorists, known as The Night Hawks, have been out scouring the coastline. They appear to have been successful, uncovering what may be some bronze Age remains, although these are briefly forgotten when another member finds a dead body. Meanwhile, the police are also in attendance t what appears to have been a murder-suicide at a local farmhouse.As usual, Elly Griffiths manages the different sections of the story deftly, interlacing Ruth’s exploration of the ancient remains with the police investigation of the current deaths. While the book works perfectly well as a standalone novel, for those of us who are devotees of the series (of which this is the thirteenth instalment), all the usual cast of characters are present. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson is as grim and curt as ever. In addition to his customary concerns, he is now facing the additional burden of his earnest and boundlessly enthusiastic boss, Superintendent Jo Archer, being bent upon discussing his retirement. Unlike Phil Trent, Nelson strongly believes that this fate is still many years away.Ruth is clearly the central character, but there is a strong ensemble cast around her. All of the principal police officers are immensely believable. For instance, Judy Johnson may to some extent be Nelson’s protegëe, but she has secured her promotion to inspector entirely on merit. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Tanya Fuller is fiercely ambitious, which sometimes means that she is not a great team player. Nelson is a great character – devoted to his family (with a very complicated private life) and to his job, at which he is reluctant to delegate. Striding alongside Ruth and the coppers is Cathbad (just your everyday sot of druid), who lives with Johnson, brings a refreshing ethereal perspective to things. Somehow, he always seems either to be there when anything out of the ordinary happens, or knows the people involved. Just reading that last sentence, I realise that anyone who does is unfamiliar with the books might wonder what is going on. All I can say is that while he might be a druid, he is as completely believable a character as he is likeable.I realise that I have now read nineteen books by Elly Griffiths during 2021 (and I might just manage to sneak in The Midnight Hour before the year is out, and I am yet to find one that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. I generally try to avoid clustering books by one author in that way, however good they are, to avoid the risk of becoming overfamiliar with them, but that hasn’t proved a problem with her books at all.

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am up to date with Dr Ruth Galloway. Elly Griffiths has a neat trick: she throws her reader a bone, every now and then; we feel clever for being ahead of the curve. We know that a character is hiding something; we know that he/she is guilty. Come the end of the tale and, yes that character was to blame for something but the main crime was committed by a different character. The clues were all there in the text, but I have been fooled again. It's a bit like watching a magician. Brilliant, and I love it! I can't wait for her next book... I'll catch her out and pick the correct solution early in the book... Yes, right!

[katebaxter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The setting is King's Lynn in Norfolk, England and the nearby seaside and countryside - fall 2018. A group of nighttime metal detector enthusiasts, called the Night Hawks, discovers a body floating at the sea's edge not far from an apparent Bronze Age hoard they had just found on the beach. Naturally, the local constabulary are brought in to identify the body and determine the cause of death, which is presumed to be an asylum seeker who met with misadventure. Another skeleton is discovered within the presumed Bronze Age hoard which prompts the police to contact head of archeology at University of North Norfolk, Ruth Galloway. This puts Ruth and DCI Nelson in a close working relationship, yet again, heightening the sexual tension fraught between them. Not long thereafter, an apparent murder suicide occurs at a nearby farm. There are some folks connected to the discovery of all three bodies but can the deaths be related or is it pure coincidence? DCI Nelson never trust coincidence. Yet, only time will tell.This thirteenth book of the Ruth Galloway series is a wonderful addition. The main characters having been well developed in previous books are familiar friends if you've been keeping up with the series. (If this is your first foray into the series, you would be well served to at least read the first book, "The Crossing Places", which sets the stage for the main characters.) These books are the marriage of archeological discovery, a thorough police procedural and the interplay of close personal relationships among the characters. The introduction of new characters provides added tension and more potential perpetrators as each of the many red herrings is eliminated. Also, some of the secondary characters are further developed and given greater voice which really heightens the tension. I have loved this series from the start and look forward to the next installment.

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the latest entry in Elly Griffiths’ series about forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. (If you’re new to the series, there’s no better place to start than at the beginning with The Crossing Places.) It's hard to believe this is already the 13th outing for Ruth & Company, and it's one of my favorites for the deft combination of interesting plotting and appealing, believable characters. Griffiths deserves praise for maintaining a generally high quality through the series, continuing to advance her characters’ lives without resorting to cliché or outlandishness.As The Night Hawks opens, Ruth has returned to Norfolk from a stint at Cambridge. Her return isn’t entirely like putting on a comfortable old pair of shoes: she has a new job with a new colleague and is still working through the personal decisions she made at the end of The Lantern Men (2020). But when some amateur archaeologists using metal detectors (or treasure hunters as I would call them here in the U.S.) unearth some Bronze Age artifacts, they also find a decidedly non-Bronze Age body. This brings Ruth back into the orbit of DCI Harry Nelson, her frequent colleague through the series and, incidentally, the father of her daughter, Katie. But after all that’s happened between them, personally and professionally, can they really fall back into old habits so easily?I always enjoy the archaeology scenes, and this time there’s a spooky subplot involving a Norfolk legend about the ghostly Black Shuck, a giant dog whose appearance spells doom for anyone who sees him. This time around, he’s seen in and around the location of an apparent murder-suicide. Nelson is suspicious that some of the same amateur metal detectorists who found the body at the Bronze Age site were also witnesses of a sort to these deaths as well. Of course, his police colleague Judy and her husband, the druid Cathbad, once again their individual expertise to the situation.I like the way Griffiths handles the complex personal relationships that result from Ruth and Harry’s entanglement, which encompasses not only Katie but Harry’s wife and two grown daughters and baby son. I know some readers get impatient with the incremental progress in this plot line from book to book, but for me, it seems appropriate given that such situations are seldom tidily resolved in real life. Still, by the end of The Night Hawks, we get hints of more monumental changes on the horizon. But that will be for next year’s Book 14 to reveal. Until then, we can only speculate about where everyone will end up when the merry-go-round takes its final turn.

[beamis12 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5 There is something so special about a new installment of a favored series by a favorite author. Griffiths is beyond talented and I usually respond positively to anything she writes. The Ruth Galloway series has it all, or at least the elements that for me, appeal. Archeology, history, some great characters, interesting crime with many surprises, enticing personal situatiins and a resident druid, Cathbad. Metal detectorists discover a body and some iron age implements. Ruth is brought in to confirm, but soon modern deaths will engulf her and Nelson. Some characters seem to have connections to both threads and danger is lurking. But from whom and where? An noticing personal scenario at books end, leaves me avidly waiting for the next in series.ARC from Edelweiss.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After a stint in Cambridge, Dr. Ruth Galloway is back at University of North Norfolk, now as head of the archaeology department. When a group of metal detectorists uncovers some interesting finds on the Norfolk coast, Ruth and her new assistant David Brown are called to examine them. But the group has also found a body in the water, which brings DCI Harry Nelson into the story. Nelson and his team are also investigating a potential murder-suicide at a remote farm. This case has a more tenuous archaeological connection, but Ruth does her thing and returns to her academic duties. Red herrings and plot twists ensue, and the reveal is unexpected and satisfying. Nevertheless, I felt most of the crime-solving moved rather slowly considering the severity of the crimes, although there was a well-written suspenseful sequence in which both Ruth and Nelson were in peril. And there are developments in Ruth and Nelson’s personal lives to keep things interesting. If you’re already a fan of this series, you’ll enjoy this one too.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth and her complex life, academically and romantically, wobbles on. Not as engaging as previous sagas. Some rather implausible machinations contrive to push Nelson's wife and Ruth together. Cathbad is still my favourite character.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Note: Spoilers for previous books in this series.This is the thirteenth book in the excellent Ruth Galloway crime series. Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist, is now head of the archaeology department at the (fictional) University of North Norfolk. Her old boss Phil Trent has retired, and a great deal of the humor in this installment centers around Ruth finding out she is starting to think in the same bureaucratic way she reviled so much in Phil. Ruth and her daughter Kate, now ten, are back in the isolated cottage on the coast where they lived before Ruth’s two-year stint teaching archeology at Cambridge. Ruth is also once again seconding for the Serious Crime Unit of the Norfolk Police, headed up by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, who happens to be Kate’s father.Nelson, now 51, works out of the King’s Lynn Police Station. In actuality, King’s Lynn is a seaport in Norfolk, England and Norwich is a town in Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of its most important. Thus old bones do in fact get excavated quite frequently. Griffiths integrates many interesting historical aspects of this region into her story lines.Harry and Ruth have a complicated relationship. Harry is married with two adult daughters (Laura and Rebecca). Harry and his wife Michelle had another (unexpected) baby a little more than two years before, a boy named George. All of Harry’s children are fond of one another. Michelle allows Harry to see Kate but insists that Harry only see Ruth in a professional capacity. In this book, the relationship between Michelle and Ruth takes a most interesting turn. The story begins with the discovery of a dead body by the "Night Hawks," a local group of amateur archeologists, or “metal detectorists,” who, taking advantage of Norfolk’s archaeologically rich landscape, go out at night along the beach to search for Bronze Age artifacts. This body isn’t the first they find. On a subsequent evening they heard gun shots coming from the Black Dog Farm, reputed to be haunted by a giant spectral dog known as the Black Shuck. The dog, according to local legend, appears to people prior to their deaths. The Night Hawks called the police, who went to the farm and discovered the bodies of Douglas and Linda Noakes in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. Complicating matters, their son Paul is one of the Night Hawks.The bodies continue to pile up, and all of the deaths seem in some way related to the members of the metal detectorist group.All the while, Nelson’s boss is pressuring him to retire, a prospect he is vigorously resisting. He recognizes he must make a decision soon, and not just about his professional life. Evaluation: I enjoy this series a great deal because the main characters are all complex, likable and funny. Yet there is still plenty of page-turning tension and a lot to learn about archeology and history in the Norfolk area. This book ends, like so many of them, with developments in the characters' personal lives that will have readers champing at the bit for the next installment.

[lisa2013_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was high up enough in the queue to get one of the pristine first batch of hardcover books but the library still has them on order and I knew none would be available on publication day. I compulsively checked way too often for the e-book (and audio-book) hoping I’d be the first in line and would be able to get it on U.S. publication day, July 29th. I did get first in line for both editions at about 7:30 pm day before publication, after the libraries had closed. On the 28th at 9 pm my time I got emails saying both editions were available for borrowing. I started it on the evening of the 28th because I could, even though I knew I wouldn’t make much progress in it the first evening. So exciting! A day early! I immediately sunk in with Ruth and the others. These series books work as comfort reads for me. The less polite way of saying it is these books are like crack = addictive. My first and most persistent guess about the culprit was partly right but it was much more complicated than I’d thought. I deliberately made this book last a bit. I resisted rushing through it. I knew I’d feel bereft when it ended and would have a year to wait for book #14 so I wanted to stretch out the reading experience. I rushed a bit more in the last 25% because the suspense made it harder to stop or even keep reading slowly. I would have liked more of Kate in this book. I would have liked more of everyone. This story felt too short. I could have enjoyed a book twice its length. I liked what was there of all the regulars and like having a new character, and I liked what humor was there, and was able to tolerate what reasonable amounts of violence and suspense were there. Ditto Ruth and not just Ruth putting herself in danger yet again, although at least this time I can sort of understand why danger was not anticipated. I guess it’s a testament to how much I love these characters that I wanted more of them. I appreciated how some of the relationships have developed to where they are at this point. I particularly appreciated the relationship/relating between Ruth and Michelle. I am a bit worried and very curious what will happen in the next book. What will Nelson do? And Ruth and Michelle? I’ve been noticing that books read much faster for me when they have relatively short chapters rather than long chapters. This book/these books have relatively short chapters and that tends to make it easy for me to keep reading and harder to stop reading, especially since I thoroughly enjoy these books. Oh my goodness. The events in this book take place in 2019 and there was one place where Zoom for education was mentioned. I’m thinking that in book 14 these characters might be going through the covid-19 pandemic. It’ll be interesting to see how that will be done if they are. Or, maybe there will be a jump in time? I always love this author’s authors’ notes at the end of her books and she mentioned that this book was written during covid lockdown. As usual, one or more characters’ names are the names of real people who’ve donated to an charity that supports teenage cancer sufferers, an incredibly worthy cause. I’d already read that the author has said that this is the “most Norfolk” of her books and after reading it I understand why. I loved learning about some Norfolk legends. As usual, the settings are fascinating and impressive. I’m glad I read the audiobook simultaneously with the Kinde e-book. I’m used to England English pronunciations of certain words being different from United States English pronunciations. There were a few words in the book I would have mispronounced in my head if I’d been reading the words only on paper. The most surprising and the most different is the English pronunciation of the surname Thomas compared to the American pronunciation. It was said a lot and it still felt weird to me every time. I kind of like it though. I wonder if Thomas as a first name is pronounced the same way. I’d guess it’s likely. The difference is huge and for me was completely unexpected.Even though this book seemed too short and didn’t have “enough” of Ruth, Kate, Nelson, Cathbad, Judy, and the other regulars, this was one of my favorite books in the series so far. 4-1/2 stars

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Continuing her Ruth Galloway series Elly Griffiths has set this murder mystery in North Norfolk with a whole different group of annoying people. OK, irritating people, a new hire in her department who is particularly aggravating, a body, a new excavation, a long time myth, Ruth, Nelson, Nelson’s wife in that ugly triangle, Cathbad and his partner Judy and off we go. Another great installment in the series which held my attention throughout.Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoy reading series books - following along with character's lives and settling in to catch up with old friends. Elly Griffiths' Dr. Ruth Galloway series is one of my absolute favorites. The latest (#13) is The Night Hawks.Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in the beautiful Norfolk area in England. She's head of her department at the University and often consults with the police on cases.I really enjoy Ruth. I think it's because she isn't a 'cookie-cutter' protagonist. She is a single mother looking at her fifties. She's shy and reticent about accepting praise. She is highly intelligent, empathetic and tolerant. Griffiths has not endowed her with super sleuth abilities, rather she comes off as an actual person - unabashedly and happily herself. Her only worry is making sure her daughter Kate is happy as well. There's a large cast of supporting characters, including the local DCI Harry Nelson and a number of other well drawn, engaging players. The relationship between Nelson and Ruth is complicated and is one of the most intriguing storylines. My favorite after Ruth is Cathbad, a self proclaimed Druid. He's enigmatic and he seems to see and recognize things that the others don't. A wonderful little sense of the mystical is woven throughout this series. The setting is also a large part of the books. Griffith's descriptions have had me exploring Norfolk online. I think I would enjoy living in her little cottage in the Saltmarsh, 'where the sea and the sky meet.'The Night Hawks are a detectorist group who come upon a body - one recent and one very old. I am fascinated by the items that are found in the ground in Norfolk - the historical element of the books is quite informative and interesting. The mystery in each and every book is well plotted. This latest had me guessing to the end - I was quite surprised by the whodunit.This series is so good on so many levels. But it is the characters that are the main draw for me. Griffiths always leaves the door open with a little teaser for the next book. For those that have read previous entries - it's a cliff hanger! I highly, highly recommend this character driven mystery series. You could certainly read this book as a stand alone, but do yourself a favor and start with the first book, The Crossing Places.

[cathyskye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The books in Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series always seem to be brushed with a liberal amount of fairy dust, and although the pandemic seems to have knocked off some of that magic this time around, The Night Hawks is still a book capable of making readers forget the outside world.Ruth is back home and learning just how much paperwork a university head of department has to deal with and how much diplomacy is often required. Her new lecturer, David Brown, has a pet theory that Neolithic immigrants came to England bringing with them a disease that wiped out the native Britons. He'll talk about it at length to anyone who'll listen. Ruth knows that this particular theory needs to be kept under wraps, not only because it will portray Neolithic Britons as people of color (gasp!) but it will also bring out the anti-immigrant nutters. All this could be disastrous for funding.Meanwhile, DCI Harry Nelson has his work cut out for him, and it's not just those two cases he and his team are working on. The women in his life seem to be expecting a lot from him. Michelle, Ruth, his three daughters... but more importantly the women he works with. Judy is doing her usual exemplary work, but it's his boss, Jo, who's really pushing him to retire-- and Nelson. Does. Not. Want. To. Griffiths keeps readers guessing with the two investigations Nelson and his team are working on, and I love how she weaves in the legend of the Black Shuck, but for me, the focus is always on Ruth and Nelson. Sometimes it's just tiny details like Ruth watching Young Montalbano on the telly when she's got a spare hour or two to herself. But in The Night Hawks, Nelson grabs a lion's share of my attention. He's finally beginning to wonder how long he can go on living two lives, and he finds advice from a surprising source. Now all we have to do is wait to see what he does with that advice. Bring on the next book quickly, please!(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)

[firstreader-313058 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the 13th in the Ruth Galloway series, and finds Ruth called to the scene of dead body washed ashore. Ruth, a forensic archaeologist, is not normally called to unattended deaths, but because historical coins and a human bone were found near the body, she is asked to handle the treasure trove. The detective inspector in charge of the investigation is an ex-lover with whom she had a child, Kate. When two more bodies are discovered in an old farmhouse, murder/suicide is suspected. The alleged suicide note claims there is a dead body in the garden. Ruth is again called to a crime scene, this time the Black Dog Farm. On her way home from the scene, she sees a specter in the road, a massive black dog with red eyes known in local folklore as the Black Shuck…Griffith has written a complex mystery with many threads needing to be pulled together. Her characters are multifaceted, and the book is as much about Ruth and Nelson as it is about the crimes in the storyline.While this is the 13th book in the series, you need not have read the first 12 books to enjoy this one. Griffith’s writing is excellent, and she moves the story along at a spritely pace. Her descriptions of the remoteness and wildness of coastal Norfolk will have you keeping a night-light on as you read far into the night.If you like your mysteries to be character-driven with elements of phantom dogs and other elements of folklore, you’ll enjoy this book.My thanks to Houghton and NetGalley for an eARC.

[vanessa_menez-453497 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk.

The dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.

Dr Ruth Galloway is called to investigate a hoard of Bronze Age weapons found by local metal detectorists. But the search takes a sinister turn when the detectorists begin to fall fatally ill and an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm—could it be an ancient curse?

This is my first Ruth Galloway book, but there is enough description of the characters and their past in the plot, so I didn’t feel like I missed much.

The plot flows smoothly with some intriguing elements, some of which are quite hard to believe. Apart from the main plot and investigation, I really enjoyed getting to know all the different characters. Each of their stories was so fascinating and made this book an even more enjoyable read!

Thank You NetGalley and Quercus Books for this ARC!

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

action, law-enforcement, England, murder, murder-investigation, druid, archaeologist, archaeology, lore, family-dynamics, friendship*****The archaeology professor and the DCI. The second in command and the Druid. Norfolk and detectorists searching at night for a Bronze Age hoarde but come upon a recently deceased body instead. But it's only the first. An apparent murder-suicide at a farmhouse results in the DCI getting the archaeologists in to excavate the garden. Gripping tale full of lore as well as good police work and archaeology. This is the first I've read in this series, but it certainly will not be the last.I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via NetGalley.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.This was everything I love about this series: Ruth's sardonic humour, Cathbad's 'out-there-ness', the Nelson/Ruth/Michelle dilemma. For the first 80% I was thinking this was the best one yet - it was well-plotted and fast-paced. However the ending felt rushed and relied too much both on things the reader couldn't have known and on the perpetrators being mentally unbalanced. I also had to go back and check the order of events at the beginning to double-check that the chronology providing the essential motivation worked: I think it does (we just find out about things in a different order), but my confusion threw me out of the story. Ruth's new colleague David was an intriguing character and I hope he continues to drive Ruth mad in the next instalment.

[loried_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was thrilled to be able to read an advance copy of The Night Hawks. Once again, Elly Griffiths has outdone herself. The Ruth Galloway series gets better and better. Readers will be happy to see the beloved characters from previous books return, and the circumstances were unique and interesting. I liked the addition of the detectorists. It was fun to see Ruth coping with her new professional responsibilities as well as her new colleague. I also liked following the continuing staff changes in the police department and its internal politics and pressures.I couldn't put the book down, as much as I wanted to savor reading it. The mystery compelled me to read it quickly, and, of course, I wanted to see what was happening in the personal lives of the characters. I can't wait to read the next one. I highly recommend this book and the whole series- it's my absolute favorite!