The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffiths
Genre; Crime
In the next Ruth Galloway mystery, a vision of the Virgin Mary foreshadows a string of cold-blooded murders, revealing a dark current of religious fanaticism in an old medieval town.
Known as England’s Nazareth, the medieval town of Little Walsingham is famous for religious apparitions. So when Ruth Galloway’s druid friend Cathbad sees a woman in a white dress and a dark blue cloak standing alone in the local cemetery one night, he takes her as a vision of the Virgin Mary. But then a woman wrapped in blue cloth is found dead the next day, and Ruth’s old friend Hilary, an Anglican priest, receives a series of hateful, threatening letters. Could these crimes be connected? When one of Hilary’s fellow female priests is murdered just before Little Walsingham’s annual Good Friday Passion Play, Ruth, Cathbad, and DCI Harry Nelson must team up to find the killer before he strikes again.
My thoughts:
I’ve finally caught up with the full series of Ruth Galloway novels after starting from the beginning only last year I think it was (or not long before that) with the most recent offering from Elly Griffiths, with Woman in Blue.
I love the Ruth Galloway novels. I love that Ruth is down-to-earth and not superhuman. My favourite character though has to be Cathbad. The usually cloaked, druid.
These novels are filled with wonderful, character driven stories rather than plot driven and that’s what keeps me turning the pages and picking up the books and The Woman in Blue is no different. The lives of the cast of characters are in turmoil as they investigate the deaths of similar looking women and hateful letters to a female priest.
As well as the characters lives, this novel features religious fanaticism which makes for some interesting reading as Griffiths really does her homework before writing, without it looking as though it’s been homework or sounding like an info dump. It flows through the narrative and draws you in and holds your interest.
All in all, another great Ruth Galloway novel. If you enjoy the series, you won’t be disappointed with this one. It is very character-led though, so it is a series I’d recommend reading from the beginning.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my copy.
Now to continue with another series…
Margot Kinberg says
I like this series an awful lot, too, Rebecca. Ruth is, as you say, a straightforward, down-to-earth character, and I like what we learn about archaeology and anthropology from her. And yes, Cathbad is a fantastic character, too. Glad you enjoyed this.
Rebecca Bradley says
I love character driven series. It’s what draws you back to the series, so as far as that’s concerned, Griffiths had got it nailed.
crimeworm says
I’m like you – need to catch up. I’ve only read no.1 so far, but I got no.2 out. Maybe it’s about time to crack it open. Jane Casey’s another one I need to catch up on – I’m only at no.3. Decisions, decisions…
Rebecca Bradley says
I know what you mean. It’s why I decided to focus on one series at a time. And now I need to decided on which series I’m going to finish now. There are four names in the running!
Jacqui Murray says
Thanks for this review. I got away from Griffiths’ books because of one only. It sounds like I need to give them a second chance.
Rebecca Bradley says
From reading several reviews of her books in this series I do think you either enjoy them or you don’t. Though some I have enjoyed more than others. I think if you’ve gone off the series it might not be for you, but this did seem to be one of the good ones again.
Kay says
Absolutely one of my favorite series – ever. I love the characters and the setting and the legends and the fact that Ruth doesn’t care that she’s not skinny. I love Cathbad and I love little wee Kate.
Rebecca Bradley says
It is a great series isn’t it. And yes, she’s so normal. The thing with catching up with the series now is that I have to wait with everyone else for new books to come out!
Clare Chase says
Great review – thanks, Rebecca! I love this series too. Like you, I only discovered it relatively recently, and read the books out of order. Reading them in turn would have been best, but there was a certain fascination in going back to book one, and seeing what lay behind the situations in later stories!
Rebecca Bradley says
Ah, I couldn’t do that. I’d get so stressed out. With character led series it’s the characters I’m actually following the series for so I do get obsessed about the order. I remember starting the Patricia Cornwell series when she was already about 13 books in and that really took some catching up! Also the first couple of books were really dated!
Alex says
My review of this goes up tomorrow. I was lucky enough to have a copy to read over Christmas. There are few better ways of spending the festive season.
Rebecca Bradley says
It is a great book, a great author, to be able to snuggle down with in the well deserved free time at Christmas.