Due to recent events, my reviews are very erratic these days. It isn't something that is going to change anytime soon. I am having a very hard time dealing with things and having any focus at all to read and review. The only reason this one is up today is because a rough draft was already written the weekend before I found my Mom. Make sure you
check out the full list of reading suggestions at Patti Abbott’s blog.
Fifth in the Ruth
Galloway series opens with eighteen-month-old Kate answering the phone
in that special way familiar to many parents. After that brief moment of
levity, the mood turns somber, as Caz has called. Ruth and Carol, who always went
by “Caz” back in their university days and still does, haven’t spoken in years.
A friend of theirs and
seemly invincible with a great future, Dan Golding, has died in a fire. He was
working at Pendle University, which happens to be one of the new startup
universities that seem to be everywhere these days. Pendle University would be far
removed from Cambridge and Harvard, which is what they all expected. Caz does
not know that much, but is able to tell her that Dan Golding died in a house
fire that may have been caused by bad electrical wiring.
The shock of his
death is soon compounded by the arrival of a letter from Dan. Already upset,
his written request to call him about his discovery of bones that could be of
the legendary “Raven King” shakes her to the core. What he was afraid of, as he
says in the letter, she does not know. Is it possible that that fear played a role
in his death?
Within days, she is
contacted by the Department Chair at Pendleton University, Clayton Henry, and
is invited up to Lancashire to examine the bones. Not only can Ruth and Kate
have a summer holiday of sorts in Lancashire, she can examine the bones and see
where DCI Harry Nelson grew up. Her friend, Cathbad is not only great with
Kate, but is eager to go with them and is very willing to entertain and take
care of Kate while Ruth does her job. By late July, Ruth, Kate, and Cathbad are
off on what, overall, should be a fun trip. Instead, it becomes highly
stressful and downright harrowing summer holiday.
A Dying Fall: A Ruth Galloway Mystery is an intense and gripping read. While
the main storyline briefly explained above is far more complicated there are
several complicated secondary storylines are also present in the work.
Characters continue to evolve, as do relationships and situations, and provide
much of the secondary storylines in this read. They do not take away the
increasingly dangerous mystery at work in the primary storyline and instead
work to enhance it. The result is another very good read in a series that is
highly recommended.
The Crossing Places (Reviewed 12/26/15)
The Janus Stone (Reviewed 11/18/2016)
The House at Sea’s End (Reviewed 12/2/2016)
A
Room Full of Bones (Reviewed 12/30/2016)
A Dying Fall: A Ruth Galloway Mystery (you are here)
A Dying Fall: A Ruth Galloway Mystery
Elly Griffiths
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
March 2013
ISBN# 978-0-547-79816-5
Hardback (also available in paperback,
audio, and eBook formats)
400 Pages
$26.00
Material obtained via the Plano Public
Library System to read and review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
Sounds like a humdinger! Sorry about your mom, Kevin. I've been boycotting Facebook of late, and am not up on news of my friends.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Matt. Been thinking of closing out my FB account. Just too much crap. Wife says this is not a good time for me to be making decisions.
ReplyDeleteGood book and good series.