The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
The Night Hawks is the 13th instalment in Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway mystery series and was eagerly awaited by her many fans. Myself included. Reading one of these novels is like catching up with an old friend or having your favourite meal in a much loved restaurant. You know exactly what you are going to get, and you know you will enjoy it. Perfect pandemic reading!
Ruth has returned to the University of North Norfolk – now as department head. It is a position she has long desired but is finding it a challenge to work with the man who has her old job, while she negotiates her new role.
After living away from DCI Harry Nelson Ruth is once again in close contact when, shortly after her return, there is a body found on the beach. A group of metal detectorists, called the Night Hawks, have found the body while searching for a Bronze Age hoard. While this investigation proceeds, there is yet another murder, this time a husband and wife – in what may, or may not, be a murder suicide.
There are many possible perpetrators – from any number of the Night Hawks, to the victim’s adult children in the case of the dead couple. The man on the beach is a bit more of a mystery, and the cause of his death is slow to be revealed.
We follow the days of the investigation as Ruth and Nelson go about their daily lives, their jobs, their concern for their daughter’s welfare. Will they, or won’t they, be tempted to resume their affair? Always a messy question without a satisfactory answer.
As always there is a very dramatic scene when Ruth, or Nelson, or a family member may be in serious danger of death. But we are quite confident that they will survive to appear in yet another instalment of this comforting series, in a year or so!