Although I have read other books by Elly Griffiths, this is my first in the Ruth Galloway series. I appreciate there is quite a back story for all the main characters, but it does not detract from this and can satisfactorily be read as a stand alone.
The tale has a gentle pace combining archaeological digs, Norfolk folklore and modern day deaths to be investigated. All intertwined and well told and involving the relationships between the main characters.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Elly Griffiths/Quercus Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

EXCERPT: 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 help.

ABOUT 'THE NIGHT HAWKS (RUTH GALLOWAY MYSTERIES #13)': Dr Ruth Galloway returns to the moody and beautiful landscape of North Norfolk to confront another killer. A devastating new case for our favourite forensic archaeologist in this acclaimed and bestselling crime series.

The Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists, are searching for buried treasure when they find a body on the beach in North Norfolk. At first Nelson thinks that the dead man might be an asylum seeker but he turns out to be a local boy, Jem Taylor, recently released from prison. Ruth is more interested in the treasure, a hoard of Bronze Age weapons. Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.

Nelson is called to an apparent murder-suicide of a couple at the isolated Black Dog Farm. Local legend talks of the Black Shuck, a spectral hound that appears to people before they die. Nelson ignores this, even when the owner's suicide note includes the line, 'He's buried in the garden.' Ruth excavates and finds the body of a giant dog.

All roads lead back to this farm in the middle of nowhere, but the place spells serious danger for anyone who goes near. Ruth doesn't scare easily. Not until she finds herself at Black Dog Farm...

MY THOUGHTS: I love this series. It definitely should be read as a series to fully appreciate the ongoing and evolving relationships between the characters.

Ruth is back at UNN, in the top job - head of department - and Frank has returned to America. Her daughter, ten-year-old Kate, is back at her old primary school in her last year before moving on to secondary school. Nelson is under pressure from his boss, Superintendent Jo Archer (Super Jo), to retire. Avoiding her is Nelson's main form of exercise. Cathbad is still raising his and Judy's children and is a practicing Druid. Judy is Nelson's 2-i-c, a DI now who is definitely a woman of two halves. She is an excellent police officer, thorough and dedicated to her job. In her personal life she doesn't much enjoy mixing with other people outside her and Cathbad's tight circle of friends.

The location of this mystery is Blakeney, a name which means Black Island, a place Cathbad describes as 'odd', having 'a lot of psychic energy', and home to the hyter sprites, little spider-like creatures that are said to live in tunnels underneath Blakeney and kidnap children.

Black Dog Farm, said to be home of the Black Shuck, a gigantic black dog with glowing red eyes who is the harbinger of death, has a tragic past, and is now the site of another tragedy.

Elly Griffiths can certainly do atmospheric. Her detailed telling of local legends and the way she weaves them through the fabric of her plots is nothing short of masterful. They add an extra creepy dimension to the already spooky house setting. Add in a dysfunctional family and the stage is set for a gripping and engrossing story that swept me along and had me chafing at the bit to get home from work and finish my read, to find out who was behind these killings and just what their motivation was.

If you have been following my reviews for this series, you will know that my ratings are usually closer to 5 than 4. But there is a loose thread in The Night Hawks left dangling, concerning the dead Doctor's secret room, the activities that were conducted there, and the records contained within. It seemed to me that this was left unfinished and deserved a little more attention than it received from the police.

An excellent addition to the series, that introduces a couple of new characters to the mix. I enjoyed Elly's author's note at the end, and Ruth's biography.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5


#TheNightHawks #NetGalley #ellygriffithsauthor @ellygriffiths

#contemporaryfiction #crime #familydrama #murdermystery #detectivefiction

THE AUTHOR: Elly 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.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/2021/02/08/the-night-hawks-ruth-galloway-mysteries-13-by-elly-griffiths/

The Night Hawks is the thirteenth book in the Ruth Galloway series and I will say what I have been saying about the previous books: Ruth and DCI Nelson’s complicated relationship is still interesting and entertaining, Cathbad is my favourite character, the plot is suspenseful and gripping and the list of suspects is long and well-built and I never figure out the truth until it is revealed.

Let’s start by talking about the mystery. A body is found on the beach of Norfolk by the Night Hawks, a group of metal detectorists who search for treasure during the night. Not only they found a body, but also ancient weapons and skull and that’s why DCI Nelson calls Ruth on the scene. While Nelson starts the investigation, he is called to another murder scene at Black Dog Farm, locally famous for its legend of the Black Shuck, a huge dog that it is a sign of impending death.

On the personal side, we see Ruth facing the fact that her daughter Kate is now ten years old, a few years short of becoming a teenager, and she already spends much time on her phone, goes to many birthday parties and sleepovers. In the meantime, DCI Nelson is trying to avoid his boss, Super Jo, who is pressuring him to retire, and he struggles with his loyalty to his wife and his family and his love for Ruth and Kate.

The Night Hawks is another win from Elly Griffiths. I loved the dark atmosphere and the sense of dread coming from Black Dog Farm that gave the story a chilling horror movie element. The story is riveting and captivating and, as usual, the incredible cast of characters kept me glued to the pages. Highly recommended!

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!

The latest book in the Ruth Galloway series and as usual never fails to delight. Full of twists and turns and I enjoyed the developing relationship between Ruth, Nelson and Michelle. Was good to see characters from previous books come back to help out.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus books for an advance copy.

This is book number 13 in the Ruth Galloway series.
Although it is part of a series this book can be read out of order or as a standalone novel, as the author weaves the necessary background information into the story. I can safely say this as I have only read a couple of books from this series.
I found this an engrossing mystery thriller and I was drawn in from the first chapter. The book held my attention from start to end and gave me a few late nights reading.
I would have no hesitation in recommending thus book.
I am now on a mission to read the series from the beginning.

Ruth Galloway returns to Norfolk with a promotion and a new colleague she can't warm to.
Almost immediately she is contacted to consult on an unexpected beach find by a group of metal detectorists. This group of enthusiasts have also found a more recent corpse nearby; was he an asylum seeker who has come to grief or something else? What's happening on that isolated farm?
Nelson is still resisting retirement and blocking Judy's chance of a local promotion and failing to resolve his complicated family life. Ruth is still exhausted by the daily grind and correcting everyone who gets her daughter's name wrong.
Cathbad remains a druidic constant in community life, linking the metal detectorists, local historians, police and archaeological experts together.
Despite the rollocking plot and sense of real peril, this series remains warm and wryly funny. Norfolk's bleak coastal beauty continues to draw the reader in and the characters are completely realistic, all just trying to make it to home time.

A body is discovered by a group of night time metal detectorists called The Night Hawks. It’s not long before a second is uncovered. That one is older than the first and DCI Nelson can only think of one person he can call - Dr Ruth Galloway.
Nelson is also investigating a murder-suicide at the remote Black Dog Farm, which he also needs help with after reading the suicide note saying ‘He’s buried in the garden’. Another job for Ruth!
The duo soon are embroiled in two strange cases that lead back to Black Dog Farm, with a dangerous invisible enemy and tales of a giant dog called the Black Shuck.
Ruth and Nelson will have to have their wits about them if they want to solve the two crimes and stay alive at the same time.
Another wonderful novel by Elly Griffiths.
I personally think this might be the best in the series so far.
Elly has that wonderful knack to keep the reader guessing with her great plots, brilliant characters and well researched storylines. Her writing is intelligent, thoughtful and heartfelt.
Another fantastic book from the finest of writers. Outstanding.

I love Elly Griffiths's books, particularly her Ruth Galloway series, so I was thrilled to receive an early copy of The Night Hawks. It is a wonderful gothicky murder-mystery, with a nod to The Hound of the Baskervilles, and it's my favourite so far.

Ruth has returned to Norfolk after being offered the role of Head of the Archaeology Department at the university. She is suffering from slight imposter syndrome, not helped by a particular member of staff undermining her at every turn, but she is still DCI Nelson's expert of choice whenever a body is found. In this case, a young man has been found washed up on the beach at Blakeney Point by a group of metal detectorists called The Night Hawks. At first DCI Nelson believes the man drowned accidentally, but then more murders are discovered at the nearby Black Dog Farm - named for the legendary Black Shuck, a harbinger of death...

The Night Hawks is a fabulous traditional murder mystery, with humour and emotional conflict dished up alongside a fiendishly clever plot. Elly Griffiths takes care to write believable characters you can thoroughly engage with and care about. Ruth has finally landed her dream job, only to be undermined by an irritating mansplainer at every turn. She and DCI Nelson are still involved in their will/they won't they relationship, and fans will be delighted that Cathbad makes an appearance. I loved the gothic edge - a spooky old farm and a legendary ghostly dog. There's even buried 'treasure' - and bodies! I gave up trying to work out who the murderer was and just thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Although this book is number 13 in the series, you don't need to have read the others. Elly explains everyone's backstory deftly and succinctly before getting on with business. The Night Hawks is one of my favourite reads this year. Why isn't it a TV series yet?!!



Thank you to Elly Griffiths and Quercus for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Get ready for lots of twists and turns as you get enticed into the latest offering from Elly Griffiths.

As a grim discovery is made on the beach, remains of a much older person are also found. As the investigation gets underway forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway is called in for her expert opinion, but as the case progresses, the bodies begin to pile up and the list of suspects seems to grow!

This is well written and a fantastic instalment in this successful series. It really will keep you guessing right up until the end. The way it included history of the area in which it was set was really interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and would certainly read other books from this well known author.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and most importantly the author, for the chance to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.

The Night Hawks is the thirteenth instalment in the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries series and is an excellent and captivating addition to Griffiths' oeuvre. There’s nothing forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway hates more than amateur archaeologists, but when a group of them stumble upon Bronze Age artifacts alongside a dead body in North Norfolk, 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.

This is a scintillating, enthralling and engrossing mystery thriller from one of the best in the game at creating intense and atmospheric crime novels. Right from the opening pages you are immersed in the story and begin to really care about the characters as they fight to uncover the truth. It has a slow-burn feel, and a ripped from the headlines plot with plenty of drama, danger, twists and expert use of misdirection. The archeological aspects have been fully researched and it's clear Griffiths knows exactly what she's talking about, therefore, bringing an air of realism and authenticity to proceedings using this knowledge to pen a believable and compulsively readable tale; it's odd to admit this slant involving archaeologists just going about their work is compelling but i find that it really is. Action-packed, expertly plotted and entertaining from the very beginning, this is an adrenaline-pumping, plausible and gritty thrill ride I highly recommend to those who enjoy intelligent, exhilarating and intriguing stories rich in storycraft. Griffiths continues to craft beautifully woven mystery-thrillers and I am pleased the series is still going strong.

It's always cause for celebration when a new Elly Griffiths novel comes out! The Night Hawks is the lucky thirteenth instalment in Griffiths' archaeologically-themed Dr. Ruth Galloway series, and is just as gripping as her legion of fans have come to expect.
A group of "Night Hawks", amateur but registered metal detectorists, come across the body of a young man, while searching for coins in the dunes of the Blakeney National Nature Reserve.
Dr. Ruth Galloway has returned from Cambridge to head up the archaeology department at the University of North Norfolk, her former boss Phil Trent having retired. She's called in by D.C.I. Harry Nelson to consult when an apparently Bronze-age skeleton is unearthed, together with a hoard of ancient weapons, not far from the current crime scene. Within days, a police officer who was a first responder at Blakeney Head has died suddenly and an apparent murder-suicide occurs at a Norfolk farmhouse, two of the "Night Hawks" again happening on the scene. How are the deaths connected, or is the presence of the same witnesses purely coincidental?
Elly Griffiths' plotting is of a superlative standard, as usual. The Night Hawks has a complex, multi-layered plot with many seemingly separate narrative threads, all drawn cleverly together for a thrilling and satisfying conclusion. There's plenty of archaeological material for Ruth to get her trowel into, in addition to themes involving medical ethics, dysfunctional families and local legend.
The main character, Dr. Ruth Galloway, is well-developed and three-dimensional, balancing the challenges of single parenthood with a demanding career. In many ways, she's pleased to be back in familiar territory at UNN, albeit in a management role, with all that entails. She, 11-year-old Kate and Flint are all pleased to be living back at their Saltmarsh cottage. However, a new colleague is antagonising her and her relationship with D.C.I. Nelson, who's also Kate's father, continues to be somewhat prickly.
The wonderful Cathbad, Ruth's multi-talented druid / intuitive friend, plays an important supporting role throughout The Night Hawks, his personality leaping off the page in every scene in which he appears.
While The Night Hawks would be an engrossing read as a standalone, reading as a continuation of the series is especially rewarding, given the wonderful cast of recurring characters and their evolving relationships.
Highly recommended for all readers who enjoy intelligent character-based mysteries and psychological dramas.
My thanks to the author, Elly Griffiths, publisher Quercus Books and Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this title.

And here it is, the latest entry in the series that has cheered up Jan or Feb for so many years now. The Night Hawks is the 13th in Elly Griffiths’ Dr Ruth Galloway series: each one has been a wonderful, involving, engrossing crime story – and also has taken us along in the lives of, first, Ruth, archaeologist and academic extraordinaire, and Harry Nelson, (‘no-one in Norfolk, apart from his wife, calls Nelson ‘Harry’’) the policeman who finds her cases to solve (well, sometimes she finds them for herself). And then also their circle of friends and colleagues and connections: Cathbad and Judy, and Katy, and Phil and Shona, Michelle and the daughters, and a welcome return of Cloughy.

And there’s a new addition: David Brown, a new lecturer working with – or for? – Ruth and SUCH a recognizable type – incredibly annoying and pushy, but somehow getting away with it.

The plot concerns metal detectorists who call themselves the Night Hawks, who have stumbled across a body on a North Norfolk beach.

‘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.’

As well as the present-day body, a hoard of metal implements turns up, and then an older body, something more in Ruth’s line. And so the investigation is off – the two teams carefully look at what is going on with the two different bodies and plots.

It turns out that Cathbad – resident druid – sometimes goes out with the Night Hawks:

‘He says that they’re genuine questing souls’ says Judy.

Nelson thinks ‘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.’

One of the (many) things I love about this series is that although there is no doubt at all that Ruth is protagonist and heroine and key character, with Nelson a close runner-up, Griffiths is able to get into the heads and thoughts and words of all her characters, and makes them all equally funny and convincing and interesting.





The long relationship between Ruth and Nelson could sound cliched, but it is not: it is done with incredible sensitivity and conviction. Ruth is not some putupon mistress who yearns for her married lover; Nelson is not some cheating husband or neglectful dad. They are all, including Michelle, people with imperfections trying to make the best of a difficult situation. Mind you, that’s not to say that we’re not all waiting each time to find out where Elly Griffiths will take the plotline next – my own fear is that she ever settles it for good then she will stop writing the series, which would be AWFUL, so I am (mostly) happy with the long-term lack of resolution.

[The only consolation if she ended the story would be that Griffiths also writes the Brighton series, the Justice series for Young Adults, and now has started up a third, featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur - you can find posts on some of these if you click on the Griffiths tag below]

It's a complicated plot, with the extremely sinister Black Dog Farm at the centre of it, and a family with more secrets, violence and hatred than even your usual crime book. It is tense and involving and, as always, very funny at times.





I always end up quoting from the books a lot:

She can never remember people’s names [at the schoolgate] and, when she can, she worries that it’s because she’s recently arrested them.

And:

‘All the family are fishermen. Except my uncle. He’s the black sheep.’

‘What does he do?’ says Nelson.

‘He’s a policeman.’

If you've never read these books - lucky you. You've got such a series of treats ahead of you...

A year ago when I covered the previous Ruth book, I discovered what a rich source Pinterest was for great archaeologist looks, so am sharing some more with you now… you can look back at the earlier post for more.

This is a great read that was once again made me feel part of the story, as I live in Norfolk.
The Night Hawks, a group of amateur archaeologists are out one night looking for items when they discover a body.
Ruth is asked to take a look and Nelson at first thinks that Taylor's death is accidental drowning, but a second death suggests murder.
There’s also the large black dog being spotted in the area which people are saying is the legend Black Shuck.
Ruth gets drawn deeper into the investigations and it’s clear there’s danger around Black Dog Farm.
This is a great mystery thriller.
Thanks to Quercus books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Elly Griffiths, whose real name is Domenica de Rosa, has created an endearing heroine in the person of Ruth Galloway, an English archaeologist who, over the course of a dozen novels, has managed to find herself at the centre of murder mysteries where the corpses are considerably more recent than the ones she normally excavates. She is a senior lecturer at the fictional University of North Norfolk, and the novels are set in and around the north and west of Norfolk. Griffiths uses real locations like King's Lynn, Blakeney and Sheringham, and has also constructed a reliably entertaining cast of supporting players, principally Ruth's once-upon-a-time lover, a refreshingly old fashioned married police detective called Harry Nelson. They have a child, Kate, who lives with Ruth, while Harry remains more-or-less happily married to Michelle, with whom he also has children.

In the thirteenth book in the series, The Night Hawks, we have the characters who long time readers of the series will recognise, including the middle aged druid who calls himself Cathbad. His real name is Michael Malone, but he can usually be relied upon to bring to bring a touch of the supernatural - imagined or otherwise - to the proceedings. The Night Hawks in this tale aren't remotely sinister, despite their name. They are group of men whose hobby is traversing the ancient Norfolk landscape with their metal detectors, searching for buried artifacts. They operate at night, because it is quieter and they are less likely to be disturbed.

They get the story started with a classic Elly Griffiths trope - the finding of a Bronze Age hoard, including an ancient skeleton, alongside a body that is much more recently deceased. While the older gentleman can wait his turn to be studied and catalogued, the young man's body is whisked off to King's Lynn for the attention of the police pathologist.

Shortly after the grim discovery, the police are called to a remote farmhouse a few miles inland, where there are reports of gunshots being heard. This time, there is no doubt about the identity or the cause of death of two dead people found inside Black Dog Farmhouse. Dr Douglas Noakes and his wife Linda are dead from gunshot wounds, and it appears to be a clear case of murder-suicide. This clear cut diagnosis becomes rather more tenuous when questions are raised about firearms technicalities, despite an apparent suicide note being found.

The plot becomes pleasantly complicated from this point on. The late Dr and Mrs Noakes had two children, from whom they had become estranged, but was the separation bitter enough to provoke murder? Noakes was not a GP, but a research scientist, and it seems that he had been working with a Cambridge lab developing vaccines. Was this why one of the rooms at Black Dog Farmhouse was kitted out like a doctor's surgery, complete with bed? The dead young man - the twentieth century one - is eventually identified as Jem Taylor, a 25 year-old from Cromer, who had only recently been released from prison.

There is another murder. This time the victim is a member of The Night Hawks, a retired teacher with connections to several of the people in the story. He has been battered over the head with a lump of rock, and his death further complicates matters.

Elly Griffiths has great fun by introducing some 'spookery' by way of a local legend - that of Black Shuck. Tales of a ghostly hellhound are spread far and wide through English folklore, and this Norfolk version is equally menacing. Like all literary amateur sleuths, Ruth Galloway's involvement with active police investigations is pretty implausible, but delightfully so. The odd relationship between Ruth, Harry Nelson and his wife makes for an intriguing read, and added to the impeccably researched location details, The Night Hawks provides a thoroughly enjoyable and gripping few hours of entertainment.

Well, this was certainly packed full of murder! Which I very much enjoyed.

This was the first Ruth Galloway novel I’ve read but I don’t think it will be the last. It was fast-paced but didn’t miss a beat and despite dipping in mid-series with no prior knowledge of the characters, I was able to read it as a complete standalone. A well-written crime mystery with a plot that is intelligent and engaging.

Oh, and I love Cathbad!

Thank you for the ARC.

The Night Hawks has a great cast of characters, and many are written in such a way that you are kept guessing until the end as to what their true personality is.

The main characters, Dr Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson, will be familiar to Elly Griffiths fans. But if you haven't read any of them before, you can still pick up this book and enjoy it as a standalone novel.

I liked the fact that the book pulls you into the characters very quickly, and you are soon interested in their back stories, conflicts and so on. Descriptions of the landscape of Norfolk, switching between being beautiful and desolate, are also great to read.

So I enjoyed the writing in the book before even considering the plot! The plot is centred on a group of metal detectorists, the Night Hawks of the title, who discover a dead body on the beach while out metal detecting at night.

Two more bodies are discovered at a farm house soon afterwards, in what appears to be a murder-suicide of the couple that lived there.

As the book progresses, the reader learns more about the links between these people, and various of the metal detectorists involved in the Night Hawks too. There are many revelations that I did not expect, particularly regarding the character of David, who is a new recruit of Ruth's at the local university.

At first, I didn't feel as "gripped" as I have done when reading other books. But as it developed, I did find myself becoming more interested in both the characters and the plot.

The book is a really enjoyable read and well written, and I can imagine that many people who have not read any of Griffiths' other Ruth Galloway books would be inspired to take a look after reading The Night Hawks.

Dr Ruth Galloway is back in her cottage in Norfolk and is ready to start work after receiving a promotion. It is not long, however, before paths cross with DCI Nelson when a body is found washed up on the beach by a group of metal detectorists known as the Night Hawks. Thought to be an unfortunate asylum seeker, this theory is soon quashed when he is identified as Jem Taylor, a local man who has recently been released from prison. A second incident is declared when the bodies of a man and woman are found at Black Dog Farm. Initially believed to be a murder-suicide, evidence later puts this in doubt and when the body of a large dog is found buried in the garden, talk begins of the Black Shuck, a legendary dog who is seen as the harbinger of death…


The thirteenth book in the Ruth Galloway series sees Ruth back where she belongs but this time she is now the head of department after the previous incumbent, Phil, has taken retirement. Long time readers of this series will find some of Ruth’s comments about grants and funding amusing as she realises after all her years of berating Phil for similar comments, she is now saying the same things! It is these small things that make me love this series so much, the characters feeling like old friends who I look forward to catching up with every year! New character, David Brown, is an interesting addition to the mix. A new employee at the university, Ruth isn’t sure what to make of him and neither are we as readers. He is definitely someone I would like to see in subsequent books as he definitely has the potential to replace Phil as Ruth’s sparring partner!


As has been the theme throughout the series, we see Ruth’s complicated relationship with DCI Nelson impacting on both her personal and professional life. We have gone way past the ‘will they, won’t they?’ aspect of their lives, but Elly Griffiths still manages to keep us guessing as to what will happen between them. The ending of this book, in particular, has left me wondering what is on the horizon.


The setting of the Ruth Galloway books has always been one of their strengths and the coast and countryside of Norfolk has again provided a superb backdrop to the plot. It was easy to visualise the murder scene at the desolate Black Dog Farm, the eerie atmosphere giving credence to the legend of the Black Shuck. This also gave us the opportunity to enter the world of everyone’s favourite druid, Cathbad, who finds himself involved with the Night Hawks on their excavations.


Elly Griffiths never lets me down and The Night Hawks is another superb book in this series. I hope it won’t be too long before we find out what happens as a result of the final scene!

In this, the thirteenth book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series, we have a smattering of Norfolk legends including a menacing black dog to spice up the seemingly open and shut case of a murder suicide in a remote house.

DCI Harry Nelson is never one to leap to the obvious solution to a death and certainly not now when his superior is mentioning the dreaded retirement word at every turn. He's already engaged Ruth's help with a bronze age burial site and so the fated pair continue their merry dance whilst the rest of the team look on.

I love this series, the characters really are outstanding and Elly Griffiths weaves a wonderful tale each and every time.

I've got Elly Griffiths to thank for lots of sleepless nights over the years. Whenever I pick up a novel by her the narrative grabs me so completely that I can't put it down until I've read the very last word. And then the plot keeps going round and round in my mind as I think of all the things I should have been able to work out for myself.
All the regulars are here: Ruth, Nelson, Cathbad, Flint, Thing, Kate and the others. They are all like old friends to me now.
Elly Griffiths gets better and better. I can't recommend this book highly enough.