The Dark Angel: A Mystery

By Elly Griffiths

In this highly atmospheric mystery, Ruth Galloway—whom #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny calls “a captivating amateur sleuth”—has her summer vacation disrupted by a murder in a medieval Italian town where dark secrets are buried as deep as bones. When archaeologist Angelo Morelli asks Ruth Galloway to come to the Italian countryside to help identify bones found in picturesque Fontana Liri, she jumps at the chance to go—and brings her daughter along for what she assumes will be a working vacation. Upon arriving, Ruth hears murmurs of Fontana Liri’s strong resistance movement during World War II, and begins to sense that the townspeople are harboring an age-old secret. But how, if at all, could this chapter in history be connected to the human remains that Angelo has unearthed? Just as she’s getting her footing in the dig, DCI Nelson appears, unexpectedly and for no clear reason. When Ruth’s findings lead her and her crew to a modern-day murder, their holiday turns into anything but as they race to find out what darkness is lurking in this seemingly peaceful place. . .and who may be on their trail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780544750531

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

First Mariner Books edition 2019

Copyright © 2018 by Elly Griffiths

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.

marinerbooks.com

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Quercus

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Griffiths, Elly, author.

Title: The dark angel / Elly Griffiths.

Description: First U.S. edition. | Boston ; New York : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. | Series: A Ruth Galloway Mystery ; 10

Identifiers: LCCN 2017057874 | ISBN 9780544750326 (hardback) | ISBN 9781328585202 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Galloway, Ruth (Fictitious character)—Fiction. | Women forensic anthropologists—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths. | FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.

Classification: LCC PR6107.R534 D37 2018 | DDC 823/.92—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017057874

Cover design by Martha Kennedy

Cover photographs: (skull) © Joe Clark/Tetra Images/Corbis; (candelabrum) © Gil-Design/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Author photograph © Sara Reeve

v12.0721

For Andy

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

No hungry generations tread thee down;

The voice I hear this passing night was heard

In ancient days by emperor and clown:

Perhaps the self-same song that found a path

Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,

She stood in tears amid the alien corn;

The same that oft-times hath

Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam

Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

—JOHN KEATS, ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE

Author’s Note

Ruth and other archaeologists in this book use the phrase ‘before Common Era’, or BCE. This refers to the time before the birth of Christ, previously depicted as BC. ‘Common Era’ describes the time after Christ’s birth, or AD. Most universities and museums now use this terminology so I thought that Ruth would do the same.

Prologue

‘This grave has lain undisturbed for over two thousand years.’ Professor Angelo Morelli speaks directly to the camera. ‘This countryside has been the scene of invasion and battle from the Neolithic times until the Second World War, when the German troops fought Italian partisans in the Liri Valley. In all that time, this body has lain under the earth. Now, we are going to exhume it.’

He pauses and smiles into the lens, knowing that his boyish charm—dark curls lifting slightly in the breeze—is the real reason why so many viewers tune in to his show ‘The Secrets of the Past’ (I Segreti del Passato) every week. And it is a magical moment. The whole production team seems to hold its breath, even the birds are silent and the Italian sky is high and blue and still. The camera swoops into the trench in front of the professor, showing the layers, sharply defined: topsoil, subsoil, bedrock. The site has been the focus of intense archaeological attention for weeks, but the skeleton at the bottom of the trench is still covered with a fine layer of earth because Angelo Morelli is determined that the final moment of excavation should be shown live on television. He is therefore extremely irritated to hear the shrill tones of a mobile phone shattering the tense silence.

‘Someone answer that,’ he snaps.

The ringing continues. Then, the production assistant says, timidly, ‘I think it’s your phone, Professore.’

Embarrassed, Angelo digs in his pocket for his iPhone. He is too vain to wear his glasses on television so he holds it at arm’s length. Then he brings it closer. The team watch as he stares, rubs his eyes and stares again. The word on the screen is ‘Toni’, the name archaeologists have given to the skeleton (presumed, rather typically, to be a man) because he was found on Saint Anthony’s day. The phone stops ringing and, in a daze, Angelo swipes the notification to return the call. And, to his amazement, he hears a phone ringing beneath his feet. Seizing a trowel, Angelo jumps into the trench and starts to scrape away soil. The skeleton emerges, bones embedded in the earth, lying face down. The ringing continues. Someone says, ‘It’s under the earth.’ And there it is. Next to the skeletal hand, an iPhone 6. Slowly, almost fearfully, Angelo picks it up. ‘Professor Morelli’, reads the incoming call alert on the screen.

He cancels the call, then his phone beeps loudly. It’s a text message—from Toni.

‘Surprise!’ it says.

1

The confetti is still blowing in the street. Ruth watches as Clough and Cassandra get into the white Rolls-Royce—Cassandra laughing as she shakes the pink and yellow hearts from her hair—and drive away. They’re an unlikely pair, no-nonsense policeman DS Dave Clough and beautiful actress and daughter of local aristocrats Cassandra Blackstock—but they met in the course of work and fell in love. And to prove it, they’re getting married. Bully for them, thinks Ruth, although that sounds bitter even to her own ears.

Mr and Mrs Blackstock-Clough are on their way to a reception at Blackstock Hall. Ruth should be on her way there too—next to her, Kate is positively hopping with excitement and anticipation—but all she wants is to get back to her little house on the salt marsh, shut her door and sleep for a week. But Cathbad and Judy are approaching, with Michael and Miranda skipping between them, like an advertisement for family values. Ruth plasters on a cheerful, I-love-weddings smile.

‘Have you got your car?’ says Judy. ‘If not, there’s space in ours.’

‘It’s OK,’ says Ruth. ‘I’ve got my car.’ There’s no way she’s going to risk being stuck at Blackstock Hall, a crumbling stately home in the middle of the Norfolk marshes, without her own transport. ‘I’ll see you there,’ she says, keeping on the smile. Her cheeks are hurting now.

The car park is full so she has to wait before she can get her car out. As she stands, holding Kate by the hand, Nelson drives past in his Mercedes, Michelle at his side. Nelson is frowning at the other cars and doesn’t seem to notice her, but Michelle smiles and waves. Ruth waves back. With any luck, Michelle won’t want to stay at the reception long. She is pregnant, after all.

Within a remarkably short time, most of the guests have left. Ruth’s red Renault and a sporty black jeep affair are almost the only cars left.

‘Hurry up,’ says Kate. ‘We might miss the cake. Uncle Dave is going to cut it with a sword.’ Uncle Dave is what Kate calls Clough, who is quite a favourite with her. Ruth dreads to think what might happen if Uncle Dave gets his hands on a ceremonial sword.

‘They won’t cut the cake for ages yet,’ she says. ‘There’ll be other food first.’

‘Will there be prawns?’ asks Kate suspiciously.

Almost certainly, thinks Ruth. She is sure that Cassandra will have put together a sophisticated menu, in defiance of Clough’s often-stated preference for pie and chips. But she knows that Kate dislikes prawns ‘because they have whiskers’.

‘The food will be lovely,’ she says. ‘Let’s go now.’

As Kate climbs into her car seat, a voice behind them says, ‘Ruth.’

Ruth turns. It’s Tim Heathfield, the detective sergeant who used to be on Nelson’s team but has now moved back to Essex. Ruth has always liked Tim, who is both intelligent and sensitive, but she wants to talk to him about as much as Kate wants to eat a prawn vol-au-vent. Because she knows the reason Tim left Norfolk. Tim was in love with Michelle, and what with Ruth being in love with Nelson, it all makes things rather tricky.

She forces herself to turn and smile. ‘Hello, Tim. How are you?’

‘I’m fine,’ he says. ‘How are you? Kate’s growing up fast.’

‘I’m six,’ says Kate from the car, determined not to be left out of the conversation.

‘Are you going to the reception?’ says Ruth. The jeep must belong to Tim, she thinks. It’s like him, handsome in an understated way and tougher than it looks.

‘No,’ says Tim. ‘I promised Cloughie that I’d come to the wedding but I couldn’t really face the reception. Blackstock Hall doesn’t hold the best memories for me.’

Ruth can understand that. Tim once shot a man at Blackstock Hall, saving Nelson’s life and probably Ruth’s as well. She can see why he wouldn’t want to go back there. She’s not exactly looking forward to it herself.

‘I’m staying in King’s Lynn overnight,’ Tim is saying. ‘And I wondered if we might be able to meet up for coffee tomorrow. I’d like to ask your advice about something.’

Ruth wonders how long it takes to emigrate. There is nothing she wants less than to have a cosy chat with Tim.

‘That would be great,’ she says. ‘Why don’t you come to the house? It might be difficult to get a babysitter. Say eleven o’clock?’

---

The reception is in full swing by the time Ruth arrives at Blackstock Hall. The austere grey house has been transformed into a glittery bower full of fairy lights and flowers. There is a marquee on the lawn and a string quartet playing in the entrance hall. Ruth compliments Sally, Cassandra’s mother, on the décor.

‘Oh, it was all Cassie’s idea,’ says Sally, in her vague way. ‘But we’re planning to open the hall as a wedding venue, so if you know anyone who’s getting married . . .’

But Ruth’s friends are all mired in domesticity or getting divorced. Only her gay friends are still getting married. She smiles and moves on into the marquee where she sees tables laid with a multitude of glass and cutlery, all signs that a long and formal meal is expected. This means hours of eating and drinking and speeches and little chance of a quick getaway. At least she is at a table with Cathbad and Judy and their kids, miles from Nelson. She sees place cards for Tanya, another DS on Nelson’s team, and her partner, Petra, too. Tanya will not be pleased to be seated at a table full of children.

Kate is delighted to be next to Michael, who is younger than her and perfect for indoctrination. She immediately regales him with a description of prawns. ‘They have little black eyes and long, long whiskers.’

Michael’s face crumbles. ‘I don’t want . . .’

‘It’s all right, Michael,’ says Cathbad. ‘There won’t be prawns. I’ve looked at the menu. Anyway, we’ve both got the vegetarian option.’

Ruth looks at the menu in the middle of the table and feels slightly sick. All those courses. When will she be able to escape? She can’t even drink because she’s driving. She takes a sip of her water and discovers that it’s elderflower, musty and slightly perfumed. She puts her glass down.

‘Are you all right?’ asks Cathbad, who is sitting next to her.

Ruth doesn’t want to have a heart-to-heart with Cathbad because there’s a danger that she will actually tell him what’s in her heart. Luckily, at that moment, Cassandra and Clough come into the tent, to a chorus of ‘Congratulations’ from the band and the cheers of the guests.

Kate stands on her chair and Ruth doesn’t have the energy to tell her not to.

‘Cassie looks like a fairy princess,’ she tells Ruth.

‘She really does,’ says Ruth. She has failed to pass on her republican principles to her daughter.

---

It’s past nine by the time Ruth finally drives away across the marshes. It’s still light, the sky all soft pinks and blues, the sea an azure line against the horizon. Kate is quiet in the back and Ruth thinks that she’ll be asleep before long.

It hadn’t been too bad really. Cassandra’s father made a heartfelt, though mercifully brief, speech and Clough had surprised them all with a witty and emotional tribute to his bride. For Ruth, the best—and worst—moment had been when he had thanked, ‘the boss, the one and only DCI Nelson.’ Nelson had raised his hand, looking embarrassed, but all the police officers in the room had cheered lustily. Ruth thinks that Nelson is in danger of becoming popular, partly because he is known to be at loggerheads with his boss, Superintendent Jo Archer. Super Jo herself, stunning in a bright red dress, had watched serenely from the table she shared with sundry Blackstock relatives. When Ruth left the marquee she had been dancing rather suggestively with cousin Roger.

At least Nelson and Michelle hadn’t danced together. After Clough and Cassandra had circled romantically to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’, various other couples had taken the floor, including Cathbad and Judy and Tanya and Petra. Ed sang about people finding love in mysterious ways and Ruth watched as Nelson leant forward and whispered something to Michelle. She smiled and shook her head. Ruth had turned away, not wanting to be caught staring at them.

Cathbad was a surprisingly good dancer and also did turns with all the children. He asked Ruth, too, but didn’t object when she said no, thank you. Ruth was rather touched that Clough also came over to ask for a dance. ‘Thanks, Dave,’ she said, ‘but I’m quite happy watching. Go and dance with your wife.’

Clough looked over to where Cassandra was dancing with PC ‘Rocky’ Taylor, holding her long skirt out of the reach of his size twelves. Sally was holding Clough and Cassandra’s baby son, Spencer, who stretched out his arms to his mother as she passed.

‘I’ve got a wife,’ he said. ‘How about that?’

‘Congratulations,’ said Ruth. ‘You’re a lucky man. And she’s a lucky woman, of course.’

She has never wanted to be a wife. Just as well really.

They are home now. Kate has fallen asleep and is very grumpy at being woken. ‘Look,’ says Ruth cajolingly, ‘there’s Flint waiting for us.’ Flint, their ginger cat, is sitting in the window, looking at them accusingly, but his spell is strong enough to get Kate out of the car and into the house. Inside, the answerphone is flashing. For a moment, Ruth thinks it is her mother, whose barbed messages have punctuated all her adult life. But her mother died six weeks ago. Ruth presses play. A deep, sexily accented voice fills the room.

‘Hello Ruth. This is Angelo Morelli . . .’

2

Angelo Morelli. Ruth remembers a conference twelve years ago. A hotel in Rome looking out on Trastevere: terracotta rooftops, Vespas roaring over the cobbles, a floodlit fountain. Ruth had just split up with her live-in boyfriend, Peter, and had been giddy with freedom and with the miracle of having wrested this overseas trip from under Phil’s nose. Angelo was an archaeologist from Rome University, an expert on the Romans. He had studied in America, she remembered, and spoke perfect English, though with that heartbreakingly sexy accent. And one evening, after a seminar on the Etruscans, the fountains and the frescoes had got too much for them and they’d ended up in bed. It had only been one night and Ruth remembered that, in the morning, she hadn’t even felt embarrassed. They’d had a civilised breakfast in the Piazza de Santa Maria and gone on to a lecture on dating ceramics. She didn’t even know if Angelo had a girlfriend or not. He hadn’t been married, though. She’d checked that much. She had always vowed never to sleep with a married man, until she met Nelson and all the rules changed. She and Angelo had kept in touch for a while—those were the days of postcards and letters—but Ruth hasn’t heard from him in eight years. And now there’s a message from him on the phone.

‘Mum.’ Kate is holding a long-suffering Flint in her arms. ‘Can I take Flint to bed with me?’

‘You can take him upstairs,’ says Ruth, ‘but he won’t stay.’

After falling asleep in the car, Kate is annoyingly wakeful. She puts Flint on her bed, he gets off immediately and Kate chases him around the room until he takes refuge on top of her wardrobe. She then demands a Josie Smith story. All this time Ruth is longing to get downstairs, have a glass of wine and listen to Angelo’s message again.

Eventually, Kate lets her go and snuggles down with her cuddly chimpanzee and a story tape. Ruth pours herself a glass of red so quickly that it spills on the floor, then goes into the sitting room and presses ‘play messages’.

‘Hello, Ruth. This is Angelo Morelli. Do you remember me? So long since I’ve seen you and you’ve become famous. I have a proposition for you. Call me.’ And he leaves a number. Ruth stays in the dark, drinking her wine and thinking about Italy.

---

Tim arrives promptly at eleven the next day. Ruth is glad that she asked him to come to the cottage: it’s a beautiful morning, the tide is out and the salt marsh is a magical place of purple sea lavender interspersed with glittering streams and the occasional limpid, blue pool. Ruth and Tim sit on the bench in the front garden, watching Kate construct a ‘summer house’ for Flint out of old Amazon boxes.

‘He’s upwardly mobile,’ says Tim, ‘now that he’s got a second home. It’ll be surfing holidays in Cornwall next.’

‘Our next-door neighbours are weekenders,’ says Ruth. ‘This is their summer house. I think that’s where Kate got it from—they babysit sometimes. And I don’t think Flint has any intention of moving into his new home.’

Flint is watching Kate from his vantage point on the roof, and when she tries to tempt him down he simply moves further up.

‘He’s stuck, Mum,’ says Kate.

‘No, he isn’t,’ says Ruth. ‘Cats never get stuck.’

‘She’s growing up fast,’ says Tim.

‘Yes. It doesn’t seem possible that she’ll be going into year two in September.’

They are silent for a few minutes, drinking their coffee. It all seems very relaxed and friendly—the sunshine, the child playing at their feet—but Ruth feels tense and unsettled. She feels sure that Tim hasn’t come round to discuss Kate’s growth spurt. And, eventually, Tim speaks, looking out towards the marshes and avoiding eye contact.

‘Have you heard that Michelle’s pregnant?’

‘Yes,’ says Ruth.

‘The thing is,’ says Tim, and falls silent again.

Ruth bears it as long as she can, then prompts, ‘The thing is?’

‘The thing is, Ruth,’ says Tim, speaking in a rush now, ‘there’s a chance that the baby could be mine. I don’t know who else to tell. I thought you might understand because . . .’

There’s another silence. Ruth takes a gulp of coffee but her mouth remains dry.

‘Because Michelle told you about Nelson and me,’ she says.

‘Yes,’ says Tim. ‘I’m sorry, Ruth, but I feel like I’m going mad here. There’s no one I can talk to about this.’

‘Have you talked to Michelle?’

‘Yes. But she says that she wants to give their marriage another go. Things haven’t been good since Kate . . . well, since Kate was born, and she says this is their last chance.’

Ruth has a flashback to the days when they first found the henge on the beach. When the authorities had wanted to remove the timbers, local druids (led by Cathbad) had clung desperately to the wooden posts as the sea surged around them. Michelle is clinging just as desperately to her marriage. Ruth respects her for it.

‘I thought your affair with Michelle was over,’ she says.

‘It was,’ says Tim. ‘It was over before it began, really. I moved away so that we wouldn’t be tempted any more. Then, I don’t know, we got in contact again. Just emails and WhatsApp messages at first. But then, in May, I came to Norwich and we met at a hotel and . . .’

What had Ruth been doing in May? Teaching at the university, trying to juggle work and motherhood, trying not to think about Nelson. Then, in June, she had been drawn into one of Nelson’s cases as he hunted a killer in the tunnels below Norwich. In June, Ruth’s mother had died. And, in June, Ruth and Nelson had rekindled their affair, just once, in the bedroom a few metres from where she and Tim are sitting.

When she speaks, it sounds as if her voice is coming from a long way away. ‘And you think the baby might be yours?’

‘Well, the dates add up but, then again, she was sleeping with Nelson too. She never made any secret about that.’ Ruth has, over the years, tried to convince herself that Nelson and Michelle don’t have sex any more. But, deep down, she has always known that this isn’t true. Something keeps that marriage together, something besides being the parents of grown-up children, because, apart from that, they seem to have little in common. She rather fears that this something is intense physical attraction.

‘What are you going to do now?’

‘What can I do except wait? After all, I’ll know pretty quickly if the baby is mine.’

Ruth looks at Tim, who often used to describe himself as the only black policeman in Norfolk. While this isn’t quite true, there’s no doubt that Tim’s ethnicity will make a DNA test unnecessary. What must Michelle be thinking now? Ruth remembers her looking rather pale and wan when she saw her in July, but she’d put it down to morning sickness. What must it feel like to have this uncertainty hanging over her for nine months? And Nelson? Does he suspect? He’s suspicious by nature—he’s a policeman, after all—and it is unlikely that his thoughts haven’t strayed towards Tim. Then again, Nelson has a pretty strong belief in his own potency. He has fathered three children and has probably never doubted the paternity of this fourth baby.

‘I’ve always wanted children,’ Tim is saying. ‘People talk about women feeling broody but never about men.’

Time to bring the conversation to an end if Tim’s going to start one of those ‘men have feelings too’ speeches. Ruth stands up. ‘Sorry, Tim, but I have to get going soon. We’re meeting some friends for lunch.’

Kate looks up from her boxes. ‘Are we?’ she says in surprise. ‘Can we go to Pizza Express?’

---

Nelson has never really got the hang of Sundays. When he was a child, it was a day dominated by church. His mother, Maureen, was (and is) a devout Catholic, and Nelson passed through all the religious staging posts—first holy communion, altar boy, confirmation—without ever really asking himself whether he believed in the holy Catholic church, the forgiveness of sins, the communion of the saints and life everlasting amen. He doesn’t go to Mass now but he thinks that he probably does believe in God, if only because it would be just like Maureen to be right all along. But Sunday remains a day when you feel that you should be doing something special, something else. In Nelson’s twenties and thirties, Sunday football had filled the gap, but he thinks he’s too old now and doesn’t want to end up with dodgy knees like all his footballing contemporaries. Michelle and the girls have always seen the day as a chance to worship their own god, that of conspicuous consumption, but Nelson hates shopping and visits to places like garden centres bore him rigid. Michelle always makes time to cook the traditional Sunday roast, although usually for supper rather than lunch. Nelson usually ends up walking the dog, doing some vaguely penitential work in the garden, eating a huge meal and falling asleep in front of the TV. He supposes that that’s honouring the Sabbath, in its way.

Today, Michelle says she feels tired after the wedding and wants to stay in bed. Not that they had stayed late at the reception. Nelson had left as soon as he decently could, but not before he’d seen Ruth and Katie making their way out of the marquee, Katie hanging back but Ruth looking as if it was only politeness that stopped her from running. He’d wanted to go after them, to ask if they were all right, but he knew that he couldn’t. He’d been forced to stay for another hour, watching his junior officers make fools of themselves on the dance floor. He’d asked Michelle if she wanted to dance but she’d said no. This pregnancy is more draining than the others—not surprising, as she’s twenty years older. Laura, their eldest daughter, is twenty-four. She studied marine biology at Plymouth (a mystery to Nelson) and then seemed to have an extended holiday, working as a travel rep in Ibiza. To her parents’ relief, Laura has now decided to train as a teacher. She is living at home before starting a PGCE at the University of East Anglia in September. Rebecca is twenty-two. She did media studies at the University of Brighton and still lives there. Katie is six and, although Michelle knows that she is his daughter, Laura and Rebecca do not. For this reason, although Michelle very generously allows him to have contact with Katie, she cannot really be part of the family. Nelson knows that this state of affairs can’t continue for ever.

Nelson decides to take Bruno out for a long walk. The dog, a young German Shepherd, needs a lot of exercise and neither Laura nor Michelle are very keen on this aspect of dog ownership. But Nelson enjoys it. He thinks of Bruno as his dog and he can tell that the animal feels the same way. ‘German Shepherds are one man dogs,’ the famous police-dog handler Jan Adams once told him, ‘one person dogs anyway.’ It’s nice to know that he’s popular with someone anyway.

He drives to Sandringham, the queen’s country house, which is set in miles of woodland and heath, open to everyone. Nelson doesn’t have strong views about the monarchy: he’s glad they’re

Reviews for The Dark Angel

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wonder if my tolerance for this series has run its course. What I started it for (the North Norfolk location) is entirely missing in this edition, being mostly set while Ruth is on holiday in Italy, She's invited out by a fellow archeologist (and former one night stand), Angelo, to discuss some bones he has found that are buried in an unusual position, face down. It all get somewhat far fetched, with Angelo thinking his life is being threatened, while there is an earthquake, a murder in the village and we never actually get to the bottom of the burial. Nelson arrives after the earthquake, with Cathbad in tow and they get involved in the case as well. On the home front, Michelle has a scan for the baby and a villain from Nelson's past reappears to cause havoc. Part of me thinks the whole relationship angst is overdone, just talk about it and get it into the open and be done with it. Who knows where the puzzle pieces will fall, but quit with the navel gazing. I feel this has somewhat lost its way. I have one more borrowed, I may quit after that one.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the tenth novel in the Ruth Galloway series and I consider it one of my favorites.First thought is that this is the first book in the series to really surprise me and shock me. For that alone it gets 4 stars. I had to race through the latter part of the book and felt like I should go back and read parts at a more normal pace. So I did that a couple weeks later. I had ideas where this story might go based on the ending of the prior book and I was very wrong. This series sure has hooks in me now.I went back and re-read much of this book. It is different than the other books in the series because the setting is not primarily on the Norfolk coast, but instead in Italy. The mysteries in here had me wondering throughout the book. I'll confess to not really trying to "solve" the mysteries, but instead just enjoyed the narrative. We get inside the heads of various characters and see things that we have not seen before. The tension builds well in this story as well as the relationships between the characters. Regular readers of the series will be surprised.

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While there's a lot of the things that Ruth Galloway readers love in this book -- continuing evolving character relationships, interesting archaeology, and murder intrinsically linked to the past -- it wasn't the strongest book. I feel a bit ambivalent to the Italian setting, annoyed with the who-done-it, and really, really over the ever painful romantic entanglements. Clearly I need to slow down my reading of the series, because I need a little time to miss the characters before returning to their endless tangle.

It's not terrible, it just didn't blow me away.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another installment of Ruth Galloway's adventures in old bones, young children and mixed emotions. This time, just as she is feeling the need for a holiday while processing the fact that her erstwhile lover's wife has turned up pregnant, an old colleague (and one-night stand) calls on her to come to Italy and "help him with some bones". So off she goes, with her best friend and both of their little children (ages 6 and 4), on a business-and-pleasure trip to sunny Italia. Which turns out to be much hotter than she remembers, yet filled with ominous shadows. Historic ancient rivalries, remnants of WWII partisanship, and a murdered priest make for few care-free days. Meanwhile, back home, Nelson has his own worries and the other women in his life (wife Michelle and daughter Laura) face some troubling issues as well. Even his dog, Bruno, isn't spared a few bad moments. Lots of entertainment value in this series.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr Galloway is a great character: fiercely independent, intelligent and resourceful but, lest that makes her sounds dismayingly serious and pious, she also has a strong sense of humour, and a strong atheist side. She is head of Forensic Archaeology at the (fictional) University of North Norfolk, based at King’s Lynn, and lives with her daughter Kate in a cottage by the sea. Over the years, her academic role has brought her into contact with the police, helping their enquiries whenever bodies are discovered underground. The contact has gone beyond the purely professional, however, and Kate’s father is DCI Harry Nelson, head of the local CID, although he remains married to his beautiful wife, Michelle. There are other awkwardly tangled relationships within Ruth’s world. One of her closest friends is Michael Malone, more commonly known as Cathbad, who is a leading figure among the local druid community. I realise as I type that how bizarre it must seem to anyone reading this who is not familiar with the books. It does, however, make perfect sense within the world of the books. For all his oddness, and almost universal failure to observe prevailing convention, Cathbad is a wonderfully drawn character, and utterly plausible. He lives with Judy Johnson, a Detective Sergeant on Nelson’s team, and they now have two children. Shona, Ruth’s closest female friend, is in a relationship with Phil, head of the Archaeology department and consequently Ruth’s boss.While the basic premise of each of the novels is fairly similar – a body is found at either an archaeological dig or a construction site, prompting consideration of whether the remains are safely to be considered historical or, if more recent, a police investigation is required – each book stands out on its own merits, and there is never any suggestion of Griffiths employing a formulaic approach. In this instance, Ruth is invited to Italy to help a former colleague who has encountered some interesting features about a body found in a site that he has been excavating, This particular case is slightly out of the normal round of archaeological digs because it has been followed by a television crew. It transpires that Ruth’s archaeologist friend has become rather a star, having appeared in several previous programmes. It is in this capacity that he has invited Ruth to attend so that she can offer her expert opinion. What she doesn’t know at first is that foremost among the irregularities is a mobile phone found with the body. Welcoming a chance to visit Italy again after many years, Ruth accepts the invitation and makes arrangements to go, taking Kate and her friend Shona (along with Shona’s young son) with her. Right from their arrival Ruth , although struck by the beauty of her surroundings, is aware of a sense of undefined menace,I won’t say anything further about the story beyond this basic scene setting. As always, Griffiths develops the story with great care. One of the great joys of this series is how plausible everything is. She depicts the setting, both physically and emotionally, with great detail, lending a comforting robustness. I know nothing about archaeology, but am entirely happy to accept everything that Griffiths, or at least Dr Galloway, tell me about it.For various reasons (perfectly rationally within the purview of the story), DCI Nelson and Cathbad also find themselves in Italy, immersed in the unfolding story, unaware that another story, equally dramatic, is unfolding back in Norfolk.I have found in the past that some detective series peter out after a few instalments, generally because the principal protagonists are simply too flimsily or incompletely drawn to sustain frequent exposure to the reader’s scrutiny. This series is one of the few that is not just managing to keep going, but seems to become stronger with each new instalment.

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the cleverest constructs that I have come across in a crime story. What appears to be the main act of villainy turns out to be a throw away and a side crime becomes the main event. I am in such admiration of this because I, as the author intended, was feeling smug. I had worked out the perpetrator soon after the half way stage: I was smug. My self congratulation reached an impossible pinnacle as I was proved to be correct and then... I was amazed as the story came to its end. Once more, I had totally failed to follow the very real, if well hidden clues as to the denouement. BRILLIANT. I wish I could award six stars!

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel takes Ruth out of her familiar setting of North Norfolk, and potentially we have a story uncomplicated by her relationship with Harry Nelson.Ruth hasn't told Nelson that she and Kate are having a fortnight in Italy so she can give some advice to a friend at the University of Rome. However an earthquake in the area Ruth is staying in, together with media reports of injuries, sends Nelson to fly to her side, much to her surprise. And then the local priest is murdered. The earthquake causes damage to the local church and bones that have been long buried are revealed.So now I have caught up with the novels in this series that I had missed out on reading. The events of this novel have filled in the details of events I had half known about.Excellent reading!

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I liked the plot: an archaeologist prepares to dig up the skeleton of "Toni", but Toni has a cell and he gets a call from the skeleton while filming the t.v. episode on the explanation of Toni's history.An earthquake unearths the skeleton of a man who was murdered during WWII and as the local priest knows the confession of the murderer, he is then murdered.What I abhor is the main male character is is a right-out rotting wanker: DCI Nelson is married to (pregnant) Michelle and they have two daughters. DCI Nelson also has an on/off affair going with archeologist Ruth as well as a 6 year old daughter with her, whom he insists on having a relationship with.Ruth walked away from Nelson, but they recently came back together; so, Michelle began an affair with Tim, a younger police office (whom they all know) and is most likely the father of Michelle's baby (stay tuned for up-coming revelations).Without informing Nelson, Ruth & her daughter go to Italy in order to help with the excavation and evaluation of Toni. When Nelson finds out Ruth has gone he pitches a fit, because you know he is entitled to have two women under his thumb. While in Italy, there is an earthquake; and DCI Nelson, without being asked jumps on a plane with the "Druid", Cathbad (another jerky-boy) and runs to Ruth's side using his worry about his daughter as an excuse.Meanwhile, DCI Nelson's family is being watched by the guy who threatened Nelson after being arrested for burning down his own house, thus murdering his wife & 3 children in it.... Nelson knows this guy is dangerous & confronts the guy, but he still leaves Michelle behind.The entire group: Ruth, Michelle, Nelson, Cathbad, Phil, Shona, & Cathbad's wife are just one big group of unhappy dysfunctional adults enabling each other's double-standards.So this is it for me. In fact had I known it was a Nelson book before I'd gotten interested in Ruth's adventures in Italy, I'd have put it down.

[obi2015 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ruth Galloway,a forensic archaeologist,goes to Italy at the request of a Italian colleague (and a former one-night stand). Bones have been found at an excavation that raise a lot of(historical)questions. While Ruth stays in a medieval village in the Lazio region,she is confronted with the strange behaviour of certain characters and of course,murder.This is the 10th book in this series and as with all series,the quality is somewhat variable. The mystery of the Dark Angel feels like a frame story to the story of Ruth's relationship with the father of her daughter,a married D.I.,who's wife is pregnant but perhaps not by him(on/off,on/off, I want you,no,I don't....)Perhaps closure of this particularly relationship might be a good thing for both the characters and for the storyline.

[siri51 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tenth mystery solved - made a nice change to be set in Italy but still involve all the main characters - Kate is becoming an engaging six year old!

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This chapter in the "Life and Times of Ruth Galloway" was largely set in Italy. For me, I found the mystery quite contrived and Nelson's participation rather strange, even nonsensical. The side story of Mickey Webb invading the house while Nelson was in Italy was admirably suspenseful. However the events that arose from that situation raises the question, what the heck was the point of having Tim in the series? 'Nuff said. Onto The Stone Circle.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This one wasn't great. Nelson didn't have a case to investigate. Ruth was in Italy, and spent most of her time registering how hot it was. The idea that her presence would incite an Italian television company to resume filming was unlikely, and I don't understand why her colleague would ask her to help him find out who was trying to kill him. The plot concerning a possible collaborator in WWII was not that gripping and seemed to me not enough of a motivation for murder. Even I am a bit tired of Michelle/Tim/Nelson/Ruth now. I need more of Kate and Cathbad and more actual police work.

[pennykaplan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth is called by an old archaeologist friend to investigate bones found in a medieval Italian hill town where dark secrets are buried as deep as Roman archaeology finds. Meanwhile, back in Norwich, the author conveniently kills off a character in one of the love triangles. Not really fair.

[ffortsa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ruth is invited to Italy to work with a former colleague on a Roman dig.But nothing at the dig and in the local town is as it seems, of course. Back home, Nelson is warned that a villain he has put away, and who vowed to get revenge on him, has been put on parole. When he goes to find Ruth and Kate after news of an Italian earthquake, Michelle calls Tim.Griffiths cuts back and forth between Norfolk and Italy and we pursue the plotlines in parallel until they resolve. As has become a bit common in her books, the ending gives each main character a separate spotlight. Sometimes it feels like the multiple endings of one of Beethoven's symphonies.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elly Griffith's Dr. Ruth Galloway series is hands down one of my favourites. The Dark Angel is the 10th book in the series.Ruth is a forensic archaeologist who often works with the police, in addition to her teaching at a local university. This time round, Ruth is invite to Italy by a former colleague who needs her expertise. Ruth decides to make a holiday of it, taking her daughter Kate as well as her friend Shona and her son. The town is small and is seeped in history, much of it involving the war resistance years. This is where the mystery comes in. I always enjoy learning from Ruth (much of the cases are fact based) and appreciate Griffith's plotting.But I have to admit, it's the characters and the personal storylines that keeps me eagerly awaiting each new entry.Griffiths has created a wonderful protagonist in Ruth. She comes across as an actual person, not a super sleuth. She's a single parent at 40 plus, messy, introverted but highly intelligent and curious, shunning the spotlight. She's not beautiful in a conventional sense, but has that 'something' that draws people to her. Kate's father is the married Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson. The evolution of his and Ruth's relationship has kept me quite enthralled from the beginning. With Harry's acknowledgment of Kate as his daughter, things have become even more entangled. Griffiths has added some twists to this storyline that I could not have predicted. And while things are always tied up in the end in regards to the mystery, the personal lives of everyone always gets a little more complicated. This is true for not just the lead character, but for the supporting players as well. (Cathbad, the enigmatic self proclaimed Druid, is my favourite.)The Dark Angel was another excellent entry in this series.

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The latest entry in Griffiths' superb series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway. Normally we encounter Ruth in Norfolk, digging up bones and helping DI Harry Nelson and his crew solve crimes. But this outing finds Ruth in Italy, soaking up the sun while assisting a fellow archaeologist with his Italian television program on Roman ruins.Ruth has her own personal reasons (revealed at the end of the last book) for wanting to get out of Norfolk just now, and so with daughter Katie and friend Shona and her son Louis in tow, they settle into an apartment in the hill town of Castelli d'Angeli. Old secrets come unburied along with some bones, and result in a fresh murder for Ruth to puzzle at. When Harry and Cathbad show up for reasons that are best discovered as you read, we've got ourselves a real whodunit.I thoroughly enjoy this series, so much so that even though I knew a paper copy was coming my way from Beth (via Mamie by way of Katie who I think got it from Suzanne) I still leapt at the chance to borrow the ebook from the library when it came available. Patience has never been one of my virtues.If you're tempted to dig into this series, it's best to start at the beginning with The Crossing Places to fully savor the complicated entanglements the characters find themselves in as the series goes on. And if you're caught up, be aware that this one ends in a tiny cliffhanger that will have you waiting impatiently for the next installment.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’ve been reading Ruth & Nelson from the beginning and this book is one of the best in the series. Ruth is a little depressed dealing with the death of her mother and worry over her father plus her feelings for Nelson, now that Michelle is pregnant. Tim confides in Ruth that he’s been having an affair with Michelle and the baby could be his and so she jumps at an opportunity to go to Italy and help out in an ancient excavation and asks Shona and her 4 yr old Louis to go along with her and Kate. Mysterious things start happening – strange village people, mysterious stalkers in the night, earthquake, power outages, and a priest’s murder. Nelson sees the earthquake on TV and immediately flies to Italy and Cathbad tags along. More strange happenings and a scary intruder back home at Nelson’s house before it’s all resolved. Anxiously awaiting the next book.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Note: Spoilers for previous books in this series.This is the tenth book in the Ruth Galloway Mystery Series. Ruth Galloway, 46, is a self-described overweight forensic archeologist at the (fictional) University of North Norfolk, who occasionally works with Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, 48, of the Norfolk Police. Since Ruth is an expert on bones, the two teamed up to solve several crimes, and Ruth became seconded to the Serious Crime Unit, which is headed by Nelson.Nelson works at 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.Although Harry is married with two adult daughters (Laura, 24 and Rebecca, 22), Ruth and Harry share a daughter, Kate, 6. Harry’s wife Michelle allows Harry to see Kate but insists that Harry only see Ruth in a professional capacity. Harry’s first daughters do not know about Kate. Nor do they know that Michelle had her own affair, with Tim Healthfield, a detective sergeant who used to be on Nelson’s team but has now moved back to Essex. But Tim and Michelle have been back in touch, and Tim knows Michelle, 46, is pregnant again, and the baby might be his. Nelson has some fear of this himself, even though Michelle told him (dishonestly) that she and Tim “never consummated” their relationship. Time will tell, however, since Tim is black. Before Michelle’s announcement, Nelson had been considering leaving her for Ruth. “But now things were back where they were, only with added tensions.”Members of Nelson’s crime team are also recurring characters. Judy Johnson, one of Nelson’s detective sergeants, is married to Cathbad, a druid, and a friend of Ruth’s. Judy’s partner David (Cloughie) Clough is getting married as this book begins. When Ruth returns home from the wedding, she finds a phone message from a fellow archeology professor, Angelo Morelli of the University of Rome. They met years ago at a conference. Angelo asks her to come to Italy and check out some unusual bones he found while digging in the Liri Valley, not far from Rome. He has a place for her to stay, at his late grandfather’s apartment in Castello degli Angeli, in Lazio, and he says she can bring Katie, her BFF Shona, and Shona’s son Louis with her and make it a (working) vacation.Ruth is enchanted by the beauty of the area and the charming people she meets, such as the local priest, Don Tomaso. At a fair in town square, Don Tomaso encourages Ruth to eat more:“You must eat,’ says Don Tomaso. ‘You young women are too thin.’ It’s almost enough to make Ruth become a Catholic.”Meanwhile, back in King’s Lynn, Micky Webb has been released from prison after serving ten years for having his wife and children killed. Nelson is the one who put him away, and Webb swore he would get even with Nelson one day. But now he claims he “got religion” in prison and is a new man.Nelson goes to check on Micky and his new wife, Louise, an evangelical, who speaks about God “as if he’s God Smith who lives next door.” Nelson warns Micky he is watching him, and Micky swears on his new-found faith and dedication to forgiveness.At the same time, Nelson finds out from Phil that Ruth and Katie are out of the country and is upset: “Anything could happen to them. To his child. To Ruth.”When Nelson hears there has been an earthquake in the area where Ruth and Katie are staying and he can’t reach Ruth on the phone, he, along with Cathbad, fly out there to check on them.Thus they have a bit of a vacation together, although it involves beach time, which makes Ruth feel self-conscious, especially vis-a-vis svelte Shona:“Pull yourself together, she tells herself, fat is a feminist issue. Just because she doesn’t conform to society’s ideal of what a woman should look like, it doesn’t mean she should feel ashamed, she should celebrate her curves. All the same, she wishes she’d brought a wrap of some kind.”The author does a nice job showing the contrasting worldviews of Ruth and Nelson. Ironically, at the beach, Nelson looks at Ruth and thinks:“He’d been surprised by how good Ruth looked in her swimming costume. He’s noticed before that the fewer clothes Ruth wears, the thinner she looks. In the severely cut costume, she looks curvaceous rather than overweight. . . [And as for Shona] 'The bikini she has on doesn’t look as if it would survive proper swimming anyway. Ruth is wearing a far more sensible costume.'”Then a murder occurs in the village, and Ruth is the one who finds the body. Both she and Nelson collaborate to find the perpetrator.Back in King’s Lynn, Nelson's daughter Laura accompanies her mother for a scan to check on the baby, and it seems as if all is well. But trouble finds them nevertheless, and the tension builds in both countries simultaneously in a frightening denouement.Evaluation: I really enjoy this series, with its well-drawn characters who seem very much like real people. Both Nelson and Ruth have wonderfully wry senses of humor, much more in evidence in this book than in some of the preceding books. I also love that one comes away from these books learning a great deal more than how to commit a murder. And after each book, I am always left with the feeling that I can’t wait for the next one.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the last several months I have read an inordinate amount of novels set in Italy. Was surprised to find in this book, which is set in England, that I would once again be traveling to Italy, in particular Castello degli Angeli. A town slowly dying, all it's young people moving to Rome for employment opportunities. It is also a town with a long memory, memories and tragedies from the second World War.Ruth is called to Italy when an old friend finds bones and needs a bone expert. Wanting to get away from home, due to the emotional turmoil caused by the ever changing situation with Nelson. She takes Kate, and Shonna and Louis travels with them. Things will develop in Italy, unexpected situations, but things will also happen back home.I enjoy this very character oriented series, the mix of characters, including a druid. It is interesting, I always learn something new pertaining to archeology and past civilizations. The personal developments and changing relationships are also enjoyable, though I admit to wanting to shake Nelson in more than one situation. For some reason, with this series, I feel as if I am actually a character in the story, than a reader watching from afar. ARC from Edelweiss.

[rowingrabbit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 starsWhen I started reading this, I couldn’t help but think about how far these characters have come. There’s a personal story arc that has evolved at a snappy pace from the beginning & it shows no sign of slowing down here. As the book opens, we find Ruth in a bit of a funk. Nothing like going to a wedding to make you reflect on your life as a singe mom. Especially when the father of your daughter is there with his pregnant wife. So when the chance to check out old bones in Italy comes along, Ruth packs up Kate & runs away. Angelo Morelli is a charismatic Italian archeologist with a problem. Someone is messing with his dig site & his head. He need some publicity to bolster interest & funding so calls old friend Dr. Ruth Galloway. In short order Ruth arrives in the beautiful small town of Castello degli Angeli with Kate, best friend Shona & her son. But from the start, it’s clear not everyone is happy about her visit.There are several plot lines that emerge from the Italian side of the story. A mysterious immigrant named Samir, the local cleric anxious to talk to Ruth & a mystery from WWll involving Angelo’s grandfather. Back in King’s Lynn, Nelson gets news a convicted killer has been released. He’s responsible for putting the guy away & remembers his threat to get to get even. Probably not a good time to dash off to Italy.A large part of the book, much more than previous ones, is devoted to the entangled love lives of Ruth, Nelson, Michelle & Tim. At times, it felt like the author is getting ready to tie up some long standing story arcs in the next instalment & uses this book to clear her plate. The ending certainly takes care of one aspect…..lordie, I did NOT see that coming. The result (for me) was the plot lines dealing with mystery & archeology were underserved. I desperately wanted to know more about Angelo’s grandfather time in the resistance & learn Samir’s history as I found him an intriguing character. These are glossed over & the whole Italian side of the story kind of fizzles down to a neatly tied up resolution. There’s a lot more going on back in Norfolk but Ruth & Nelson are absent for all of it. We also spend significant time listening in on the inner thoughts of our 4 star-crossed lovers as each considers their situation. So…not my favourite in the series. I love Ruth. In many ways she is an every-woman who you can relate to & I enjoy that the focus has always been on her strength & intelligence instead of her appearance. When an author gets to the tenth book in a series, you can’t expect every one to be a 5 star read so personally, I’m going to consider this one a small bump in the road & look forward to catching up with the gang in #11.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Dark Angel, Elly Griffiths' tenth Ruth Galloway mystery, is a little light on the mystery and a little heavier on the personal lives of the characters-- but since I find this particular cast among the very best (and most interesting) in crime fiction, I don't particularly mind. It was really good to see Ruth in a completely different setting, to see that she did get out and about, see new places, know other people, before settling down in King's Lynn with her work and eventual motherhood. But-- wouldn't you know it-- she overpacks for this holiday and manages to bring her troubles with her.The mystery, weighted as it is in the Italian Resistance movement during World War II, is an interesting one, but there's so much going on in the characters' lives that it did take a bit of a backseat. There are developments in Ruth's life, and I like how we are now getting another point of view on proceedings, that of Nelson's daughter Laura.I love Elly Griffiths' atmospheric settings and her mysteries that always have a foundation in archaeology, but if you're a character-driven reader like I am, you're going to love the cast in this series. A Ruth Galloway mystery always feels like a "slice of life" to me. I enjoy this series so much that I can't wait for the US edition to be released; I buy the UK edition so I can get my hands on it quicker. For those of you who have much more patience than I, you'll be able to get your hands on The Dark Angel in mid-May. For those of you who aren't acquainted with Ruth and Nelson and the rest of the gang, please start with the first book, The Crossing Places-- and don't be surprised if you find yourself looking for the rest of the books in the series once you've finished it.