Nothing like revealing something you kind of expected, then turning everything on its head. The twists near the end were in turn anticipated, then shocking. Once again Elly Griffiths has brought together an intricate web of homely truths, lost legends, and societal shamefulness to give another exciting mystery. But maybe I saw it at once because subconsciously I remembered the blurb. I was going to say that Ruth’s finding of the picture of her house tipped me off immediately as to part of the puzzle, simply because of the age of her mother. As I recall it, that is not revealed till a long way through the book. I take issue with the blurb, though, for indicating he remembers the neighbour as Dawn Lancaster. And his feelings about Ruth are as mixed up as ever. He’s funny, but nothing stops him doing his job. In the Locked Room, Nelson of course, is taking the ‘overreaction by politicians’ line. Elly has revealed (end April) she has it, and several of my friends have it, too. It’s strange how looking back two years is somehow already a historical event, even though people are still going down with Covid. Even if you didn’t experience the English approach (Wales, Scotland and N Ireland differed in certain details in their control regimes), you will recognise the constraints and the reactions. One of the best things about the Locked Room is the way it takes you back to the start of Covid restrictions. When the deaths continue, Nelson vows to take Ruth and Kate to live with him. He breaks curfew to visit the cottage to find Ruth chatting to her neighbour, whom he remembers as Dawn Lancaster, a carer who was once tried for murdering her employer. It’s only when he links them to an archaeological discovery that he thinks of Ruth. He’s investigating a series of suicides that could be the work of a serial killer. Nelson, meanwhile, has no time to be bored. Happily the house next door is rented by a nice woman called Sally, who they become friendly with while standing on their doorstep clapping for carers. Ruth and her daughter are locked down in their cottage, attempting to continue with work and lessons, but, in reality, becoming lonely and frustrated. Ruth returns to Norfolk determined to solve the mystery, but then Covid-19 rears its ugly head. The only clue is written on the back of the photo: Dawn, 1969. Her mother always hated the cottage, so why does she have a picture of the place? As she died three years ago, Ruth can’t exactly ask her, and her father denies all knowledge of the picture.

Ruth 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. But can they find the killer despite lockdown? Ruth and Nelson are on the hunt for a murderer when Covid-19 rears its ugly head. The fourteenth novel in the acclaimed and bestselling Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries.

The locked room griffiths