The Woman In Blue

February 29, 2016
The discovery of a woman’s body dumped in a ditch near the village of Walsingham kick-starts Griffiths’s satisfying eighth Ruth Galloway mystery set in Norfolk, England (after 2015’s The Ghost Fields). Det. Chief Insp. Harry Nelson, who heads the Serious Crimes Unit, learns that the victim, Chloe Jenkins, was receiving treatment at a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Meanwhile, Ruth, a forensic archeologist, receives a plea for help from an acquaintance, Hilary Smithson. Hilary, an Anglican vicar, tells Ruth that she has received threatening letters from someone who’s against women joining the priesthood. As the hunt for Chloe’s murderer begins, a second body turns up, and Nelson—with Ruth’s aid—searches for a link between the two crimes. They share a personal story, too, and their uneasy relationship adds a domestic element to the unfolding drama. Griffiths expertly conveys the mysteries of a particular brand of Christianity that’s drawn to physical manifestations of spirituality, ancient relics, and the stubbornly corporeal. Agent: Rebecca Carter, Janklow & Nesbit.

December 1, 2015

Because medieval-quaint Little Walsingham is famously the site of religious apparitions, Ruth Galloway's druid friend Cathbad takes the blue-cloaked woman he sees standing in a windy cemetery one dark night as a vision of the Virgin Mary. Then a woman wrapped in blue cloth is discovered dead. Griffiths's The Ghost Fields was a Top Ten LibraryReads pick.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016

Famous for religious sightings, the medieval town of Walsingham is a holy site in both the Catholic and Anglican traditions. So when Cathbad, a druid and a friend of forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, spots a lovely figure dressed in blue in the cemetery next to the house where he is cat-sitting, he is reminded of the Virgin Mary. The next day, the woman is discovered strangled in a ditch; she is identified as Chloe Jenkins, resident of a nearby rehab facility. Ruth becomes involved in the murder investigation when her friend Hilary Smithson, archaeologist-turned-priest, receives threatening letters. She and DCI Harry Nelson, the father of her child, are hard pressed to uncover the truth. VERDICT The eighth book in the series (after The Ghost Fields) does not disappoint. Griffiths's well-crafted narrative and solid character development make for a gripping procedural. [See Prepub Alert, 11/16/15.]

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.