The Locked Room
A Mystery
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4.5 • 34 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Pandemic lockdowns have Ruth Galloway feeling isolated from everyone but a new neighbor—until Nelson comes calling, investigating a decades-long string of murder-suicides that’s looming ever closer, in USA Today Elly Griffiths’ penultimate novel in the beloved series.
Three years after her mother’s death, Ruth is finally sorting through her things when she finds a curious relic: a decades-old photograph of her own Norfolk cottage—before she lived there—with a peculiar inscription on the back. Ruth returns to the cottage to uncover its meaning as Norfolk’s first cases of Covid-19 make headlines, leaving her and Kate to shelter in place there. They struggle to stave off isolation by clapping for frontline workers each evening and befriending a kind neighbor, Zoe, from a distance.
Meanwhile, Nelson is investigating a series of deaths of women that may or may not be suicide. When he links a case to an archaeological discovery, he breaks curfew to visit Ruth and enlist her help. But the further Nelson investigates the deaths, the closer he gets to Ruth’s isolated cottage—until Ruth, Zoe, and Kate all go missing, and Nelson is left scrambling to find them before it’s too late.
PRAISE FOR ELLY GRIFFITHS AND THE RUTH GALLOWAY SERIES
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel
Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award
Winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award
“Galloway is an everywoman, smart, successful and a little bit unsure of herself. Readers will look forward to learning more about her.” —USA Today
“Elly Griffiths draws us all the way back to prehistoric times . . . Highly atmospheric.” —New York Times Book Review
“Forensic archeologist and academic Ruth Galloway is a captivating amateur sleuth—an inspired creation. I identified with her insecurities and struggles, and cheered her on.” —Louise Penny
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Covid pandemic provides the backdrop for Edgar winner Griffiths's meandering 14th mystery featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway (after 2021's The Night Hawks), set during the first few months of 2020. Ruth is asked to examine a skeleton found at the site of a medieval cemetery near Norwich Cathedral. Meanwhile, her on-again, off-again lover, Norfolk Det. Chief Insp. Harry Nelson, is looking into the death of a part-time librarian. All signs point to the middle-aged woman's suicide, but Nelson isn't convinced of this, "because who puts a Weight Watchers' chicken and lemon risotto in the microwave if they're planning to kill themselves"? His investigation turns up the names of other local women—all seemingly happy churchgoers—who have recently died by suicide. Ruth eventually joins Nelson in the search for a connecting thread between the victims, which touches on such personal matters as relationship breakups, rapprochements, family reunions, loved ones in hospital with Covid, lonely lockdowns, and Zoom meetings. A surfeit of detail about the impact of the pandemic slows the crime solving. Established fans will best appreciate this one.
