A Room Full of Bones / Elly Griffiths

 

A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So far, I have really enjoyed all the books in this series. This one just cements my affection for them. I think their attraction lies in three main themes. First off, I really like Ruth Galloway as a main character. I like her professionalism and her determination to just get on with things. I'm not cut out to be a single mother (or a married mother, for that matter), but I can appreciate her efforts to raise Kate on her own, especially with all the judgement that seems to get loaded onto mothers. They seem to get blamed for everything that goes wrong with children and fathers get off scot free.

Each mystery provides a complete plot line and an interesting archaeological angle, but it is very much the relationships that keep me engaged in this series. Will Ruth stay single? Will Harry's marriage survive his wife's discovery that he is Kate's father? Will Harry and Ruth find a way to communicate about their child that doesn't ruffle everyone further? There are even the other police officers, whose private lives are starting to form part of the fabric of each book.

But one of the biggest draws is the whole theme of spirituality that is a pronounced undercurrent in each volume. Ruth's parents, the born again Christians, have provided Ruth something to rebel against and she has become a materialist. Show the proof or go away. Harry is Catholic and desperately wanted Kate christened, so much so that he made arrangements for the ceremony. In everyday life however, he's a hard headed pragmatist with no patience for mystical goings on. But both Ruth and Harry have Cathbad the Druid in their lives. Cathbad, who often seems to show up at just the right time to prevent disaster, who has an undying love of ceremonies around bonfires, and an annoying tendency to know just the detail that his friends are searching for.

I do love my genre fiction! I'm so glad that I discovered this series and I'm going to try to pace myself, not binge it. Just knowing that there's a new Ruth novel out there waiting is a pleasure in itself.


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