Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1963. But can they find the killer despite lockdown?'GALLOWAY NOW SEEMS AS REAL AS MARPLE AND MORSE' The Times'INTENSELY ATMOSPHERIC AND GREAT' India KnightRuth is in London clearing out her mother's belongings when she makes a surprising discovery: a photograph of her Norfolk cottage taken before Ruth lived there. If you’ve been looking for a well spun yarn that is both relevant and entertaining, you can’t go wrong with Elly Griffiths’ The Locked Room.**THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**Ruth Galloway and DCI Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid rears its ugly head. By the time we reach the climax, Griffiths has effectively ensnared us in her web, and we are delighted to be there, waiting with bated breath for the shocking finale. Even the pandemic itself adds a palpable layer of suspense to the tale. Just as we tug at one thread of the story, we get tangled in another as victims, motives, and suspects pile up. There is much to admire here, including just how complicated this mystery is. As such, readers will be hard pressed to put this book down. Each of them has something they’re struggling with, from Ruth’s complicated relationship with her mother to Nelson’s attempt to juggle the women in his life. Her characters are vibrant, complex, self-aware and authentic, and we can’t help but cheer them on both personally and professionally. From the first page to the last, she reminds us why this series is so beloved.

The Locked Room may be Griffiths’ fourteenth Ruth Galloway mystery, but this series only gets better with time. But are they vanishing because of the pandemic or is something more sinister afoot? As they draw closer to the truth, even more people disappear. But how are these women connected? When he discovers that the link may be the mythic plague pits in Tombland, he breaks pandemic protocol and pays a visit to Ruth, hoping she can shed some light on the subject. Thankfully, they seem to hit it off fairly quickly, which is something new for Ruth.Īt the police station, Nelson and his team look into the deaths of several women who seemed to take their own lives. Meanwhile, COVID-19 is just beginning to make the news, and as she tries to make heads or tails of it and how it will affect her life, she meets the friendly new neighbor who moves into the cottage next door just before everyone is told to shelter in place.

It strikes her as particularly curious since her mother had never seemed to like her cottage to begin with and never understood why she wanted to live on the salt marsh of Norfolk. While going through her mum’s things, she discovers a picture that was taken of her cottage in 1963, which was long before Ruth bought it and even preceded her own birth.

The locked room griffiths