Ruth Galloway is an archaeology professor who sometimes consults for the police. Set in England, this series is a cross between a cozy and a police procedural and makes for a good read. When a young woman is found strangled near a church cemetery, questions are raised. What does the death have to do with the Virgin Mary, female Church vicars and the past.?

I finally, after about a week, when I normally read a book in a day, finished The Woman In Blue. This is the second book I've read in the series. While I liked The Lantern Men a bit more, have decided this is not a series I want to continue with.

There isn't much character development, though one relationship has some finality. The mystery takes a back seat to daily life, friendships/relationships and religion. Religion (or lack thereof) was a big part of both books I read and I'm not sure why. I expected Ruth's profession to play a role like Aaron Elkin's Gideon Oliver. No, not at all in this one despite some references to relics and barely, none on the page, in The Lantern Men. It would have been easy to write Ruth out of this. Not a good sign for a main character. I also completely forgot about the murderer when the reveal was made. Since that was the case, there was no way for the reader to follow the clues to figure it out. It was just presented with the flimsiest of reasons.

The writing and story didn't make me care about the characters and the mystery was uninteresting and unsupported by the writing. There's a death unrelated to the murderer as well and I was like, "Why?" No one even thinks it could have been murder, why not?

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I wasn’t enamoured of the last Ruth Galloway mystery I read, The Ghost Fields, though the previous one, The Outcast Dead, was one of my favourites. My moue of disappointment with The Ghost Fields didn’t deter me from plunging into another Ruth Galloway, The Woman In Blue. Griffiths’s Norfolk-set mystery series is one of my great comfort reads and I’ll never miss a one. I read many series (my favourite being, as you may well know by now, C. S. Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyrs), but the Ruth Galloways, though not cozies by far, offer a true comfort escape. Maybe it’s because Ruth reminds me of yours truly: living on her own for years, with a gourmandesque penchant for overeating, content with her books, work, and cat, Flint. Now somewhere along the way, Ruth manages (be warned, spoilers ahead, if you’re not up-to-date on the series) to have a tender, not-icky, one-night-stand with my second favourite series character, DCI Harry Nelson, fall in love but retain her proud independence (Nelson is married to the ethereally beautiful Michelle) and the result: the know-her-own-mind, mulish Kate, Ruth’s daughter, five in The Woman In Blue. Ruth teaches at North Norfolk University, has a vain peacock of a dislikeable boss, and is, in each book, embroiled, in her capacity as a forensic archaeologist, in a police murder investigation and once more, is close to her unrequited love, DCI Harry Nelson.

Griffiths peoples her narrative with a group of loveable characters. It isn’t enough that I practically glow with affection for Ruth and Harry. No, I love their friends and colleagues too, Harry’s massive, candy-bar-eating sergeant, Clough, affectionately, “Cloughie”; Ruth’s glamorously beautiful BFF, Shona; her friend, Cathbad, a druid; the irrepressible Kate; Cathbad’s wife and adorable kiddies; I can go on and on. Suffice to say, Griffiths has created characters whose work is important and they do it well. Her portrait of their professional lives, and the crime they solve in each novel, is balanced with glimpses into their personalities, lives, and relationships.

Griffiths’s best mysteries are the ones which are deeply immersed in lore, legend, ritual, and history. The Woman In Blue falls into this premise and makes it one of the stronger of the series. It’s set in Little Walsingham, Norfolk. (I googled it and it looks adorable and now I yearn to visit some day.) It’s a town known for its deep roots in the Catholic past and the subsequent transition to the Church of England. It opens, appropriately, with Cathbad, the druid, and former Catholic, who has a deep respect for the the things in heaven and on earth not known in our philosophy. Cathbad is house-sitting for a friend and caring for his aloof cat, Chesterton. One night, when Cathbad emerges from the ancient cottage, he sees a woman in blue. Given Walsingham’s fame for Marian worship and dedicated sites, Cathbad at first believes he’s had a vision of the Virgin Mary. Turns out, the next day, that what he saw was a beautiful young woman, a patient at a nearby addiction recovery clinic, now dead – murdered.

In the meanwhile, Ruth hears from an old uni friend, now a woman priest, who’s in Walsingham for a theological conference, and wants to meet Ruth. Hilary shares some nasty letters with Ruth, letters that threaten her with God’s wrath for having taken on a man’s role, that of female priest. With Chloe Jenkins murdered and Ruth’s friend under threat, Cathbad, Ruth, Harry, and his team are reunited once more to seek a killer who’s targeting beautiful women and possibly resentful of their incursion into ecclesiastical positions.

Griffiths is a thoughtful writer and her best books are not what I call mystery procedural: interviews, interviews, interviews, the detective serving like a puzzle solver. I find these quite tedious. The unfolding of Harry’s case, with due interference from Cathbad and Ruth, is coupled with Harry’s thoughts and considerations, as well as Ruth’s. What do they think about? Faith for one. Harry is a lapsed Catholic and Ruth came from a family of rigid evangelicals. And yet both are moved by the ritual they experience in Walsingham: they don’t have a revelation, or conversion, but they recognize the power of religious faith and the mystery at the heart of human experience. Even if they don’t believe, they consider the limitations of their own understanding.

At the same time, Ruth and Harry are people who want to right wrong and bring justice. They also ponder their relationship, nonexistent physically but still emotionally potent (they often also avoid thinking about what this potency means; obvious to this reader they belong together). Harry is a straight-and-narrow man, can’t believe he slept with Ruth, but responsible and stalwart. He wants to protect and preserve his marriage, but he also acknowledges that Ruth means something to him. And he loves their daughter Kate, “Katie” to him, a lovely tug-of-name-war he has with Ruth. Ruth admitted a long time ago (read “books” ago) she’s in love with Harry. She’s independent and strong and doesn’t dwell in self-pity. She gets on with her work, her daughter, her friends, her deep intellectual life. I think that’s why Harry is so taken by her. I don’t know if Griffiths will ever bring them together, but they’re perfect for each other.

Lastly, the novel’s last quarter was terrific; it’s worth it to read for that reason. The crime’s resolution (and there is a second murder too, another woman, if not “in blue”, close enough a connection to the Virgin Mary) takes place during a passion play, dramatic, moving, and with full team presence: Harry and his sergeants, Ruth, Cathbad. The novel’s dénouement, post-crime-solution, takes place during an Easter service, again, with all the characters I love present, a tender moment between Ruth and Harry, the consideration of mystery and miracle, and the genuine affection, nay love, the characters share. I loved every second I could eke of reading during two quite harried, zoom-filled work weeks. With Miss Austen, we say Griffiths’s Woman In Blue offers “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Elly Griffiths’s The Woman In Blue is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It was released in May 2016 and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, via Edelweiss+.

I am going to have to go back and read the other books in the series. I love an everyday hero as lead character in a mystery.

I have read every book in this series. Ruth is a great character, very much her own person, imperfect, but accepting of her flaws including her conflicted feelings for Harry Nelson..

Mystery and police procedural set in Walsingham. The book description given is not really what this particular book is about.

Briefly, and without spoilers, a woman is found murdered in a ditch close to an old church graveyard where she was seen by Cathbad, one of the recurring characters in this series, while he was housesitting at the cottage attached to the church. She was wearing a white nightdress and blue robe, but she is not a vision of the Virgin Mary, but a patient at a nearby drug treatment facility. Nelson and his team are investigating when a second murder follows. Both victims were blonde. In addition, a group of female priests is visiting the area for a course and one of them is an old schoolmate of Ruth's. Hilary is receiving threatening notes because the writer doesn't think there should be female priests. Is the killer the sender of the notes? Nelson has his hands full to solve this case. Meanwhile, the story line continues from previous books as Ruth struggles as a single mother to Kate and Nelson deals with some marital problems.

I am not positive, but I think I've only read one other book in this series and I think it may have been the second book. So this 8th was quite a fast forward as far as relationships and events that developed. I didn't feel too lost, but I hesitate to say this is just as good if read as a standalone or if this is the one you pick up first. I wish I had read them all in order! The reason I went back to this one is because I also have The Dark Angel (#10) to read and review.

I like the writing and the interplay between the characters. The fact that Ruth is an archeologist who sometimes works with the police on cases is also very interesting though she didn't really figure much into this particular book. Loved all the details about the history of Walsingham, discussion about religion, pilgrimage and such. I look forward to another episode. I'd like to start from the beginning but I don't know if that will happen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the E-book ARC given to me for review back in 2016. Sorry it took so long!

5 Stars

Review on Goodreads and Amazon

Review

So, I know my life has been C-R-A-Z-Y when I miss an Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway Mystery. Apparently, I have missed a couple. The Woman in Blue Reminded me how much I love and have missed this series.

The Woman in Blue showed the perfection in writing and storytelling that have proceeded its previous series books. Once I was able to pick this book up, I couldn't put it down no matter how hard I tried and ended up finishing it in a couple of hours.

There is a reason why this series is my number one recommend of British mystery writers and this title is a primary reason why. I seriously can't figure out why it hasn't been picked up for television yet with its uniqueness in characters and storyline.

Arc from Netgalley for review.

Another great installment of the Ruth Galloway series.

The Woman in Blue is the eighth entry in the Ruth Galloway series, and probably my least favourite. I was really looking forward to this book as this author is a favourite of mine, along with Billingham, and I couldn't wait to continue the adventures of Ruth, Harry, and Cathbad. Unfortunately, there were some things that really set me on edge in this one, and I couldn't seem to get past them and just enjoy the story.

As always though, I liked the setting. Set in an old medieval town, I liked the descriptions of the buildings and the surroundings; and since Little Walsingham is famous for its religious apparitions, it seemed like it had the perfect ambiance for a good little murder/mystery, with all of the political and religious wrangling that would entail. What I didn't count on was the close-mindedness of both Harry's and Ruth's characters to the religious fanaticism and beliefs of others, and how annoying and irritating it was in this book. To be honest, at times, Ruth's tone was pretty condescending, and it got old, fast. I was almost ready to go back and listen to her whine about her weight again rather than listen to her put down those who believe. And considering the mystery was about threats against female clergy and a murder that was connected to those threats, the anti-religion attitude got really annoying, and I would have just rather read about the investigation. It's not that I'm against Ruth and Harry's beliefs, and the author has been very open in previous novels about them, but that's as far as it went, while in this novel the tone changed quite a bit, almost with a condemning voice. Maybe I was just being more sensitive than usual, but I tend to think that if you're investigating a crime, you should always keep an open mind about someone else's beliefs.

The plot itself never really got off the ground the way the other books did, and I never got invested into the story. Although there were a lot of twists and turns, it wasn't too difficult to pick out the murderer. I wonder if the author got too caught up in trying to portray the religious fanaticism of some of the characters in this book while trying to ensure the reader that her main characters were not like them that the actual plot kind of got away from her. That and trying to ensure that Cathbad retains his ever-present open mind, which I much preferred.

The Woman in Blue is one of those books that I'm sure will have mixed reactions such as I had; either people will really love it or will question Ruth's annoying behaviour. For die-hard fans of this series, I would recommend you skip it and wait until the next one comes out as will, of course, read it, as I'm not yet ready to give up on this series. I usually enjoy the characters tremendously, and the plot enormously, but this one just didn't interest me like the others, which is a shame as I really liked the setting.