What do you think?
Rate this book
Ruth Galloway #4-6
A Room Full of Bones / A Dying Fall / The Outcast Dead
Enjoy three great mysteries from bestselling author Elly Griffiths' super-popular Dr Ruth Galloway series. Forensic archaeologist Ruth with DCI Harry Nelson mix brilliant detection with navigating their ever more complicated relationship.
A Room Full of Bones
It's Halloween night, and the dead are closer than ever for Ruth. She's attending a bizarre event at the local history museum - the opening of a coffin containing the bones of a medieval bishop. But lying beside the coffin is the body of the museum's curator. Soon the museum's wealthy owner lies dead too. These deaths could be from natural causes but Nelson isn't convinced. It is only a matter of time before Ruth and Nelson cross paths once more.
A Dying Fall
Dr Ruth Galloway spends a lot of time looking at death. But now death has found her, with the news that an old friend has died in a house fire. But her grief soon turns to suspicion of arson when she receives a desperate letter from her dead friend, sent the day before he died. He'd made a ground-breaking discovery that he was sure would change archaeology forever - and was petrified of the consequences. Ruth feels compelled to travel north to investigate, alongside Nelson who is also drawn into the case.
The Outcast Dead
Ruth has excavated a body from the grounds of Norwich Castle, which was once a prison. The body may be that of Victorian murderess Jemima Green. Called Mother Hook for her claw-like hand, Jemima was hanged for the murder of five children. But Nelson has no time for long-ago killers. Investigating the case of three infants found dead, one after the other, in their King's Lynn home, he's convinced that their mother is responsible. Then a child goes missing. Could the abduction be linked to the long-dead Mother Hook? Ruth is pulled into the case, and back towards Nelson.
A Room Full of Bones
It's Halloween night, and the dead are closer than ever for Ruth. She's attending a bizarre event at the local history museum - the opening of a coffin containing the bones of a medieval bishop. But lying beside the coffin is the body of the museum's curator. Soon the museum's wealthy owner lies dead too. These deaths could be from natural causes but Nelson isn't convinced. It is only a matter of time before Ruth and Nelson cross paths once more.
A Dying Fall
Dr Ruth Galloway spends a lot of time looking at death. But now death has found her, with the news that an old friend has died in a house fire. But her grief soon turns to suspicion of arson when she receives a desperate letter from her dead friend, sent the day before he died. He'd made a ground-breaking discovery that he was sure would change archaeology forever - and was petrified of the consequences. Ruth feels compelled to travel north to investigate, alongside Nelson who is also drawn into the case.
The Outcast Dead
Ruth has excavated a body from the grounds of Norwich Castle, which was once a prison. The body may be that of Victorian murderess Jemima Green. Called Mother Hook for her claw-like hand, Jemima was hanged for the murder of five children. But Nelson has no time for long-ago killers. Investigating the case of three infants found dead, one after the other, in their King's Lynn home, he's convinced that their mother is responsible. Then a child goes missing. Could the abduction be linked to the long-dead Mother Hook? Ruth is pulled into the case, and back towards Nelson.
- GenresMystery
786 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 25, 2020
64 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Elly Griffiths
75 books9,477 followersElly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly's husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece's head with the myths and legends of that area. Elly has two children and lives near Brighton. Though not her first novel, The Crossing Places is her first crime novel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 3, 2025
Three more ruth Galloway mysteries that I absolutely hoovered up.
I think I enjoyed the last one best, The Outcast Dead, because of the archaeological story about local legend Mother Hook. Mother Hook was a 'real' Victorian woman hanged for child murder, and much of the story is about the attempt by a TV producer to clear her of the crime - something of course which Ruth helps with. This is also the ocassion for Ruth's debut on TV, something which has a very positive effect on her career, and her first meeting with Frank, which further complicates her love life.
What is it that makes me keep coming back to this series one after another, foresaking all other books for the present? It's Ruth of course, she's a wonderful character, fun and subversive, clever, determined to get on with living her life on her own terms despite her abiding love for Nelson. She's a good person, and Elly Griffiths has created a near impossible challenge for her, to continue to be 'good' while wanting something she knows is wrong. It's so well done, I find that I am not at all sure, from book to book, which way I want things to turn out.
But it's not only that. The secondary characters in the series aren't at all secondary. You get so invested in their lives, and Griffiths cleverly focuses on one or the other in different books so that you get more and more insights into their motivations and personal lives. I wonder, quite often while I'm reading this, how much of it she knew when she started out writing the series, and how much of it developed as she herself delved deeper into their characters. I remember Val MacDermid saying of one of her characters (sorry, can't remember which) that if she'd known he'd still be with her six or seven books later, she would have made him a very different person.
But the other aspect of the series that I love is the way that Griffiths ties together archaeology and crime, past and present. It's not only that Ruth, as a forensic archaeologist, can help the police gather evidence, it's that she is also investigating other finds, and the parallels that are drawn between them are always fascinating.
Loved these three with a big love. Once again, had no clue about the endings, but I do enjoy that each of the stories is always neatly tied up - the crimes that is. The rest is why I keep going back for more.
I think I enjoyed the last one best, The Outcast Dead, because of the archaeological story about local legend Mother Hook. Mother Hook was a 'real' Victorian woman hanged for child murder, and much of the story is about the attempt by a TV producer to clear her of the crime - something of course which Ruth helps with. This is also the ocassion for Ruth's debut on TV, something which has a very positive effect on her career, and her first meeting with Frank, which further complicates her love life.
What is it that makes me keep coming back to this series one after another, foresaking all other books for the present? It's Ruth of course, she's a wonderful character, fun and subversive, clever, determined to get on with living her life on her own terms despite her abiding love for Nelson. She's a good person, and Elly Griffiths has created a near impossible challenge for her, to continue to be 'good' while wanting something she knows is wrong. It's so well done, I find that I am not at all sure, from book to book, which way I want things to turn out.
But it's not only that. The secondary characters in the series aren't at all secondary. You get so invested in their lives, and Griffiths cleverly focuses on one or the other in different books so that you get more and more insights into their motivations and personal lives. I wonder, quite often while I'm reading this, how much of it she knew when she started out writing the series, and how much of it developed as she herself delved deeper into their characters. I remember Val MacDermid saying of one of her characters (sorry, can't remember which) that if she'd known he'd still be with her six or seven books later, she would have made him a very different person.
But the other aspect of the series that I love is the way that Griffiths ties together archaeology and crime, past and present. It's not only that Ruth, as a forensic archaeologist, can help the police gather evidence, it's that she is also investigating other finds, and the parallels that are drawn between them are always fascinating.
Loved these three with a big love. Once again, had no clue about the endings, but I do enjoy that each of the stories is always neatly tied up - the crimes that is. The rest is why I keep going back for more.
January 11, 2024
Another very satisfying novel in the Ruth Galloway series. I enjoy the Norfolk setting and the archaeological subject matter, plus the characters are well-drawn. This story was fast-moving and held my interest throughout.
September 8, 2022
Re-read of books 4-6. This is a great series. I wish the author didn’t make the characters’ personal lives so complicated with several cases of hurtful unfaithful behavior by otherwise sympathetic characters. Great plots, settings, characters and I love the tie-in with archaeology and history.
November 14, 2025
Just loving this series!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews