The Woman In Blue
The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 8
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4.2 • 79 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The murder of women priests in Norfolk's spooky shrine town of Walsingham draws forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway into a thrilling new adventure.
'Ever-more ingenious detective stories with a powerful sense of place' The Times
When Ruth's friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, in a white gown and blue cloak, in Walsingham's graveyard, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all; visions come with the job. But when the body of a woman in a blue dressing-gown is found dead the next day in a nearby ditch, it is clear that a horrible crime has been committed, and DCI Nelson and his team are called in for what is now a murder investigation.
Ruth, a devout atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend asks to meet her in the village, and Ruth is amazed to discover that she is now a priest. She has been receiving vitriolic anonymous letters targeting women priests - letters containing references to local archaeology and a striking phrase about a woman 'clad in blue, weeping for the world'.
Then another woman is murdered - a priest. As Walsingham prepares for its annual Easter re-enactment of the Crucifixion, the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
