The Locked Room: A Mystery

By Elly Griffiths

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780358694922

Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel; The Postscript Murders; and Bleeding Heart Yard. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.

Book preview

Prologue

At first, she thinks that he’ll be coming back. It’s all a mistake, she thinks. He can’t mean to leave her locked in the dark for ever. And it is dark. She doesn’t have her phone. Where did she leave it? There are blanks in her memory which scare her even more than the locked room.

She tries to pace it out. Eight paces forward, eight paces across. When she reaches a wall, it’s cold and clammy. There’s no window. The door is metal. She heard it clang behind him. She can’t remember entering the room. Did he drug her? She thinks, from the cold and damp, that she must be underground. She imagines earth above her head, fathoms of it. Is she in the basement of a house? Is anyone above her?

What did he say? That he’d be coming back later? Why can’t she remember any more than that?

Does he mean to leave her in the dark for ever?

1

Saturday, 22 February 2020

It feels strange being in the house on her own. When she was growing up here, her mother always seemed to be in possession, even – mysteriously – when she wasn’t actually present. Ruth remembers coming home from school and feeling guiltily relieved when the double-locked front door meant that Jean Galloway was out at her part-time job. But, even as Ruth turned on the TV and raided the biscuit tin, there was always the sense that Jean was watching her, not just from the black-and-white wedding photo over the set – Jean in an uncomfortably short sixties dress, Arthur surprisingly dashing in a thin tie and Mod suit – but from every corner of the neat, terraced house. And now, even though Jean has been dead for nearly five years, there’s still the same sense that she’s hovering somewhere on the edge of Ruth’s consciousness.

Maybe Jean is hovering because Ruth is currently in her mother’s bedroom going through a shoebox of photographs marked ‘Private’. Ruth’s father has gone away for the weekend with Gloria, his new wife. When they return, Gloria wants to redecorate so Ruth has offered to go through her mother’s belongings. Gloria (however much she likes her, Ruth can’t think of her as her stepmother) has been very tactful about the whole thing. She hasn’t changed anything in the house since she moved in two years ago, living with Jean’s clothes in the spare room wardrobe and Jean’s pictures on the walls. It’s only natural that she would want to redecorate a little and, frankly, the house could do with it. Now that she doesn’t live there, Ruth notices the peeling paintwork, the faded wallpaper, the outdated furnishings. Once these were just part of what made up her home but, looking at the place with Gloria’s eyes, Ruth can understand the desire to freshen things up a bit. And, if Gloria has managed to persuade Arthur to get rid of his comb-over, there’s no limit to her powers.

Ruth is alone because her sister-in-law Cathy has taken her daughter Kate to the zoo, reluctantly accompanied by Kate’s seventeen-year-old cousin Jack. Kate loves animals and has been looking forward to the treat all week. Ruth hasn’t been to London Zoo for years but she has a sudden vision of the Penguin House, an art deco marvel of curves and blue water. But didn’t she read somewhere that penguins were no longer kept there because it turned out not to be suitable for them? She has the uncomfortable feeling that zoos, especially in the city, aren’t suitable for any animals. She braces herself for a debate with Kate on this subject when she returns. Kate is a great one for philosophical debate. Ruth can’t think where she gets it from. Kate’s father, DCI Harry Nelson, is allergic to the word philosophy. See also: art, archaeology, spirituality, yoga and vegan.

So far the photographs in the shoebox have not lived up to their intriguing label. There are a few pictures of Jean when she was young, as a schoolgirl in plaits and as a young bank clerk in a dark suit. Ruth peers at the faded prints, trying to detect any resemblance to herself, or to Kate. Ruth has often been described as looking like her mother, but she has always thought this was just because they both had a tendency to put on weight. Now, looking at the young Jean, she thinks she can see a faint likeness to Kate in her direct gaze and defiant stance, even in pigtails. It’s a real sadness to Ruth that Kate never really got to know the grandmother whom, she now realises, she rather resembles in character.

A picture of a fluffy dog is a mystery. Jean always refused to have a pet and thought that Ruth’s acquisition of two cats in her late thirties was a sign that she had, in her words, ‘given up’. Next there’s a picture of an older Jean in a long white dress, like a nightdress. What on earth? Then Ruth spots the grim-looking building in the background. Her parents’ church. This must have been Jean’s second baptism, when she was ‘born again’. Ruth doesn’t share her parents’ faith and, when she was growing up, she had bitterly resented the church’s influence on their lives. Finding God seemed to mean that her parents lost touch with everything else. For the truly righteous, religion is a full-time job. But the years have softened Ruth’s stance and she was particularly glad that her father had the church’s support after her mother died. In fact, the Christian Bereavement Group is where he met Gloria.

She shuffles through several adult baptisms until there’s only one photograph left in the box. It shows three cottages surrounded by flat marshland. Ruth looks again. It’s her cottage! Her beloved, inconvenient home, miles from everywhere, facing the Saltmarsh, inhabited only by migrating birds and the ghosts of lost children calling from the sea. Jean always disliked the house. ‘Why can’t you live somewhere more civilised?’ she used to say, a south London girl born and bred. ‘Somewhere with shops and a proper bus service?’ Why on earth would Jean have kept a photograph, a rather scenic one too, of the despised cottage?

But there’s something wrong with the picture. The cottages are painted dull pink rather than white and are surrounded by a low hedge rather than a picket fence. The car parked in front of the last house looks boxy and strange. Ruth turns the photo over and sees, in her mother’s characteristically loopy handwriting: Dawn 1963.

Ruth was born in 1968. She looks again at the picture, taking in the sepia tones and the rounded edges. There’s no doubt about it. Her mother had a picture of Ruth’s cottage, taken thirty years before Ruth ever saw the place.

Ruth takes the shoebox of photos into her room and puts it by her case. She’s sleeping in her old childhood bedroom, barely big enough for a bed, bookcase and wardrobe. Kate has Simon’s old room which was bigger because he was older and a boy. ‘Boys need more space,’ Jean used to say, in answer to Ruth’s regular complaints. But Simon, unlike Ruth, was a neat, contained creature and would have fitted comfortably in the box bedroom. Ruth remembers that he never expanded to fill his room in the way that Kate has done over one night, clothes on the floor, open books on the bedside table. Ruth picks up the clothes, though she knows she should make Kate do it herself. Kate is eleven, after all.

Ruth has packaged her mother’s clothes into two bin bags, one for charity and one for recycling. There was nothing she wanted to keep. Arthur has already given Ruth her mother’s gold watch on a chain and her diamond engagement ring. Ruth keeps these in a wooden box with Kate’s pink hospital bracelet from when she was born (‘Girl of Ruth Galloway’) and a shepherd’s crown, a fossilised sea urchin meant to bring good luck. This last was a present from her druid friend Cathbad.

Looking through her mother’s belongings has made Ruth feel sad and restless. She needs some fresh air. The house is in a residential part of Eltham, rows and rows of Edwardian terraces and thirties’ semis, slightly smarter than in Ruth’s day but still presenting a rather grey and forbidding aspect. There’s nowhere very exciting to walk, unless you make the trip to the park or the cemetery. Ruth decides to go to the local shops. It’s a depressing little parade but it has a Co-op where she can buy a Guardian and a cake for tea. As Ruth walks, she thinks of taking this route with her schoolfriend Alison. When they were children, they went to the newsagents every Saturday to buy comics. Later, they both had paper rounds, slogging through the early morning streets delivering the South London Press. Later still, they lied about their age to buy alcohol from the sleazy off-licence on the corner. On impulse, as she passes this shop, now a Tesco Metro, Ruth takes a selfie and texts it to Alison. She’s not very adept at doing this and cuts off half her face but Ali will get the message.

When she gets back to the house, Cathy, Kate and Jack have returned from the zoo. Kate is full of information about tigers, sloths and an okapi called Meghan. Jack is quieter but, in between mouthfuls of cake, tells them a quite frightening number of facts about spiders. Cathy shudders but Ruth says that Cathbad apologises if he disturbs a spider’s web. ‘They are great works of art,’ he says.

‘Is that your wizard friend?’ says Cathy. She has refused cake because ‘it’s a five hundred calorie day’ but she’s not a bad sort really.

‘He’s a druid,’ says Kate.

‘What’s the difference?’ says Jack.

‘Druids are real,’ says Kate. She specialises in unanswerable replies which can sound rude if she’s not careful. Ruth is just about to plunge in with more questions about the zoo when her phone pings. It’s from Alison.

R U in Eltham?

Ruth types back ‘yes’ though she knows Kate wants to remind her about the ‘no phones at the table’ rule.

OMG. It must be a sign! School reunion tonite! U up for it?

Is she?

2

Nelson is looking at a photograph of a dead woman. This is not normally something that he would do at home, on a Saturday, but his wife, Michelle, has taken their youngest child on holiday to their native Blackpool and so he has the house to himself. He had decided on an afternoon of watching rugby and drinking beer, but this was spoiled by his German shepherd dog, Bruno, who stood in front of the television, sighing. Eventually, Nelson took Bruno out for a walk and, when they returned, Nelson didn’t seem to be able to recapture that Saturday afternoon feeling. He thought about Michelle and Georgie. They were visiting Michelle’s mother and Nelson was pretty sure that they would be at the Pleasure Beach today. It wasn’t Nelson’s favourite place and he spent several minutes worrying about safety harnesses and passing child molesters. Then he thought about Ruth and Katie in London. Ruth had said that she was packing up her mother’s belongings which must be a sad task. Nelson can’t imagine life without his mother, although he’s glad she lives two hundred miles away. But thinking of his mother makes him think of a conversation he had with her at Christmas and a decision he needs to make. He can’t think about that now, not with Bruno staring at him trustingly and Georgie’s toy garage in the corner of the room. So he takes refuge in work.

Samantha Wilson was found dead yesterday at six p.m. She was lying on her bed beside an empty bottle of pills. Her body was found by her adult son, Brady, who had called in to the semi-detached house in Gaywood when he became concerned at Samantha not answering her phone. There will have to be a post-mortem but all the signs point to suicide. And yet . . .

Samantha was fifty-two, Nelson’s age. She was divorced with two adult children: Saffron, a beautician, and Brady, a personal trainer. Samantha worked part-time at the local library. The scene was attended by two uniformed PCs who reported no signs of forced entry or struggle. The photograph, taken by one of the officers, shows a woman lying, fully dressed, on a flower-patterned duvet. Her face looks peaceful, her ash-blonde hair neatly arranged. Brady, who’d been too shocked for a proper interview, said that his mother had not seemed depressed or worried. This, in itself, is no reason to suspect foul play. Children, even grown-up children, don’t always know what goes on in their parents’ minds. No, what worries Nelson is the description of the kitchen. Sergeant Jane Campion has done a thorough job: Daily Mail on the table next to an empty coffee mug, vase of tulips, empty water glass upside down on the draining board, ready meal in the microwave. This last is what’s making Nelson wonder if the Serious Crimes Unit should be involved. Because who puts a Weight Watchers’ chicken and lemon risotto in the microwave if they’re planning to kill themselves?

His phone buzzes. Jo Archer. Why is Nelson’s boss ringing him at home?

‘Hi, Nelson,’ says Jo. ‘Look, it’s nothing to worry about.’

‘What isn’t?’ says Nelson, worrying.

‘I’ve been thinking about coronavirus.’

Even Nelson hasn’t been able to avoid hearing about the deadly flu that apparently started in China. The news has been full of cancelled flights, holidaymakers trapped on a cruise ship like some modern-day re-enactment of the Flying Dutchman. Nelson is sorry for anyone caught up in it, of course, but it does slightly confirm his view that it’s better to avoid holidays altogether.

‘Have there been more cases here?’ he asks. ‘In the UK?’

‘Thirteen more today.’

‘That’s still not that many though, is it?’

‘There’ll be more,’ says Jo, with what Nelson thinks of as ghoulish relish.

‘It’s just flu though, isn’t it?’

‘People die of flu,’ said Jo. ‘Remember the Spanish flu?’

‘I’m not that old.’ He knows Jo wants him to retire but this is ridiculous. Wasn’t the Spanish flu just after the First World War?

‘I think we ought to be prepared,’ says Jo. ‘I’m calling a meeting on Monday.’

Jo loves meetings. Nelson bets that she’ll conduct this one in a full hazmat suit, complete with Darth Vader mask. He thinks she’s overreacting but he can’t really say so.

‘I’ll be there,’ he says.

‘And we should tell everyone to carry hand sanitiser with them. I’ve ordered extra.’

Hand sanitiser. Jesus wept.

‘I’ve been thinking about the Gaywood suicide,’ he says. ‘Something’s not quite right about it.’ He explains about the microwave meal.

‘Maybe she just forgot to eat,’ says Jo. ‘I often do.’

One of the many differences between them.

‘So I think we’ve got enough ingredients to make our own bread for several weeks. We can grow potatoes, leeks and carrots in the garden. I wonder if we should get some hens?’

Judy looks at the jars of flour and yeast in the pantry. When they bought the cottage, she hadn’t even known what the little room off the kitchen was for. But Cathbad, she realises, was always secretly prepared for the apocalypse.

‘Do you really think it’ll come to that?’ she says. ‘Shops running out of things? There have only been a couple of cases in the UK.’

‘People always panic about food,’ says Cathbad. ‘Food and loo paper.’ They get their lavatory paper specially delivered from an ethically sourced company. Judy approves in principle but she wishes the boxes weren’t labelled ‘Who Gives A Crap?’

‘Are you panicking?’ she asks.

‘No,’ says Cathbad. ‘But I like to be prepared.’ And he does look quite happy, humming under his breath as he sorts jars of pasta. But all the same, despite the everyday noises of Michael playing the piano, Miranda watching TV and Thing, their bull terrier, whining gently from the hallway, Judy feels slightly jolted. Could this coronavirus thing be more serious than everyone thinks? She’s not a catastrophist but she does trust Cathbad’s instincts.

‘Super Jo has called a meeting for Monday,’ she says.

‘Good for Jo,’ says Cathbad. ‘What does Nelson say?’

‘He says,’ Judy consults her phone. ‘Jesus wept. What a lot of fuss about nothing.’

‘I’m afraid Nelson is wrong this time,’ says Cathbad. ‘I’m going to put a circle of protection around the house.’

‘Things must be serious,’ says Judy. She means it lightly but Cathbad says, almost to himself, ‘I just hope it’ll be enough.’

3

Cathy has to go home for her low-calorie meal, but Jack offers to stay and babysit Kate while Ruth is out. ‘We’ll get fish and chips,’ he says. Kate looks delighted.

‘Thank you,’ says Ruth. ‘I’ll drive you home when I get back.’ It’s a good excuse not to drink.

Alison says they’re meeting in a pub in Blackheath. ‘There’ll be a few people from our year. Paul Edwards. Dave Rutherford. Kelly Prentis. Kelly Sutherland as was.’

‘Is Fatima coming?’

‘She said she’d try but I think it’s hard. With work and the kids.’

Fatima was the third of their triumvirate at school. Ruth vaguely recognises the male names but she definitely remembers Kelly Sutherland, who was the acknowledged queen of their year, cool and fashionable with a boyfriend who waited for her outside the school gates on a motorbike. Ruth doesn’t think they ever exchanged more than two words together. Also, she still can’t understand why women change their names when they get married.

Alison, like Ruth, has never been married. At school, Ruth, Alison and Fatima were ‘the clever ones’, collecting prizes every year and studying in the library when their contemporaries were experimenting with drugs behind the gym. The Three Amigas, they called themselves. At a plate-glass comprehensive in the eighties, it wasn’t assumed that most people would go on to university. By the time they took their A levels, the three girls were part of an elite group who had special lessons on completing UCCA forms and applying for grants. Full grants still existed in the eighties; Ruth couldn’t have gone to university without one. Ruth and Alison had been at primary school together, Fatima joined them in the third year of secondary, noticeable for her elegance (which transcended her inevitable nickname, ‘Fatty’) and for being one of the only black students. Eltham was a multiracial area but this wasn’t yet evident in Ruth’s school. Eltham was later to become infamous for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a young black man killed by white thugs as he waited for a bus, but, even in the early eighties, there was a racist undertone to daily life that Ruth might not have noticed if it hadn’t been for Fatima. ‘They mean eloquent for a black person,’ Fatima explained when collecting a debating prize. ‘They’re surprised I’m not speaking patois.’ In fact, Fatima’s father, Reginald, had the poshest voice Ruth had ever heard. He was a doctor, something that even impressed Ruth’s mother.

Ruth went to UCL to study archaeology, Alison to Bristol to study English and Fatima to Edinburgh to study medicine. Ruth and Alison both won prizes at the final assembly but it was Fatima who was Student of the Year in 1986. Fatima is now a GP in north London, married with two children. Alison did a post-graduate degree at Columbia and lived in New York for over twenty years, teaching and working as a freelance journalist. She is now back in London, but Ruth hasn’t seen her since a hasty drink after Jean’s funeral. Ruth had been very touched when Alison turned up at the church.

Ruth finds a parking space near the pub. Alison says she’ll meet her outside. ‘It’s awful going into a bar on your own.’ Ruth had thanked her but she thought that, if Alison really feels self-conscious about going into a south London pub, then she must have changed. This was the woman who had lived on her own in Manhattan, after all.

When Ruth first sees Alison, standing huddled in a red, fake-fur jacket under the twinkly fairy lights of the Black Lion, she thinks that her friend hasn’t changed at all. Same short hair, same glasses, although these have trendy black frames, unlike the battered specs of childhood. They hug and go into the pub. The Eltham Park reunion is in a private room upstairs and Alison says she needs a drink first. It’s only when Ali takes off her coat that Ruth realises that she has changed. She looks diminished somehow and, close up, her face is gaunt and lined. Was Ali always this small? Ruth is only five foot five, yet she seems to dwarf the figure beside her.

Ruth buys red wine for Alison and lime and soda for herself.

‘To us.’ They clink glasses.

‘You look well, Ruth.’ Ruth feels underdressed. She didn’t bring any smart clothes with her so is wearing jeans and a blue jumper that’s slightly too big for her. She did wash her hair though; it’s still damp at the back.

‘So do you,’ she says.

‘Thank you,’ says Alison. Then, ‘I’ve lost quite a lot of weight.’

So that’s it. Alison isn’t shorter, she’s thinner. Without the coat, she is twig-like, her head with its oversized glasses almost too big for her body.

‘I went to Lean Zone,’ says Alison. ‘I lost three stone.’

‘Great!’ says Ruth. She knows this is what you are meant to say when someone has lost weight. After all, ‘Have you lost weight?’ is universally considered to be a great compliment. Ruth never feels that it is, though. Partly it’s the word ‘weight’, so solid and uncompromising. Also it’s the implication that the speaker feels that this diminution is devoutly to be wished, if not long overdue.

‘I just wanted to feel healthier,’ says Alison, almost defensively.

‘That’s great,’ says Ruth again. ‘I really must lose some weight.’

‘I’ll send you a link to the website,’ says Alison. Which wasn’t the answer Ruth wanted.

‘Shall we go and join the reunion?’ she says.

For one panicky moment, Ruth thinks that she doesn’t know anyone in the room. There seem to be middle-aged men everywhere, grey-haired or balding. To her surprise one of these old men – these dads – immediately comes up to talk to them.

‘Ruth?’

Ruth still doesn’t recognise him. It’s Alison who says, ‘Daniel? Daniel Breakspeare?’

‘Danny. Yes.’

Ruth looks dumbly at the bald man in a suit. In the sixth form Daniel Breakspeare had been her boyfriend. They went out together for almost a year. Her mother had liked him and never failed to tell Ruth that he’d ‘done very well for himself’ since school. He’s a plumber, Ruth seems to remember, and now runs his own company. That explains the suit and the Rolex watch protruding subtly, but not modestly, from Danny’s shirt cuff. Ruth wouldn’t have been able to pick him out in a police line-up.

‘How are you, Ruth? I didn’t know you were back in London.’

‘I’m just here for the weekend. Do you live in London?’

‘Yes. In Blackheath. Just around the corner from here.’

Jean would be very impressed. For most people living in Eltham, Blackheath is the promised land. Alison says that she’s living in Clapham after years in the States. She and Daniel chat about New York (‘one of my favourite cities’ says Daniel) and Ruth finishes her lime and soda with an embarrassing sucking noise.

It’s a couple of seconds before Ruth realises that Daniel has left Manhattan and is addressing her. Alison has drifted away to talk to another grey-haired group.

‘Are you married, Ruth?’

‘No, but I’ve got an eleven-year-old daughter.’

‘Lovely age. I’ve got two grown-up daughters and now I’ve got a baby. It’s a nightmare going through all those sleepless nights again.’

The grown-up daughters and the new baby remind Ruth of Nelson but she’s willing to bet that Daniel’s new baby is the result of a new marriage. Sure enough, Daniel says that he met Ruby a few years ago and it was a ‘whirlwind romance’. The name alone tells Ruth that she’s in her twenties. Or her eighties.

‘I met your mum in Waitrose a few years back,’ says Daniel. ‘Actually, it must be six or seven years ago now. She said you were famous. Appearing on TV, writing books.’

Ruth loves the way Daniel name-checks the upmarket supermarket in case she should imagine he shops at Morrisons. But she’s touched to think that Jean stood next to the fresh sushi and the cheese of the week and showed off about her daughter.

‘I’m an archaeologist,’ she says. ‘I teach at a university in Norfolk and I’ve written books about bones. Nothing anyone would actually read.’

‘You always were clever, Ruth. You and Alison and . . .’

‘Fatima. She’s a doctor now. My mum told me that you were very successful too.’

Daniel laughs. ‘Mums, eh? How’s yours? I always liked her.’

‘She died five years ago.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ says Daniel. And he does sound it. He was always very kind, Ruth remembers. He hadn’t been bad-looking in the old days either. She would have slept with him if she hadn’t been terrified of getting pregnant and being trapped in Eltham. As it was, they had done what was euphemistically called ‘everything else’. She thinks of this now and knows that she is blushing. Luckily the upstairs room is very dark.

‘My dad died last year,’ says Daniel. ‘He was in his eighties but it was still a shock. I don’t think you can ever be prepared.’

‘I think that’s right,’ says Ruth. There’s a brief, but not uncomfortable, silence, as if they are both acknowledging the fact that they are older and their parents are dying.

‘That’s why I’m in London, really,’ says Ruth. ‘I’ve been sorting out my mum’s stuff. My dad has married again and they want to redecorate.’

‘That must have been tough,’ says Daniel.

‘It was,’ says Ruth. ‘And mysterious too.’ She starts to tell Daniel about the box marked ‘private’ and the strange photograph but suddenly there’s a glitter of gold and someone shouts, ‘Danny! Darling!’

A woman

Reviews for The Locked Room

[Sheena Gurbakhash · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Captures lockdown perfectly. The series wouldn't have been complete without a lockdown book. The mystery of apparent suicides is a fitting backdrop to all the other action. This one really gets personal with the cast of characters we've come to love.

[herlurie2416 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This may be my favorite Ruth Galloway book so far. It is light on the actual archeology, which was a little disappointing and is the reason for only giving it 4 stars. But that has to be weighed against the fact that it is set during the early days of the pandemic. It captured those feelings of disbelief and later fear so well. I am in the US, so it was interesting to read a little bit about how the UK handled things. The book focused a lot on the internal lives of the characters and less on the actions. I think it is a true reflection of how we all sort of closed in on ourselves during that time.

I do wish there had been more about the potential plague pits and more of a comparison between that time period and ours. I feel like that similarities and differences would be something that Ruth would be keenly aware of and would think about during the long days and nights of lockdown. And I really wanted them to find a plague pit and have more digging and research to do when lockdown ended.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Note: Spoilers for previous books in this series.This is the 14th book in the excellent Ruth Galloway crime series. It begins in February, 2020, just before COVID takes hold in Great Britain. Ruth Galloway, 52 and a forensic archaeologist, is now head of the archaeology department at the (fictional) University of North Norfolk. Ruth’s mother has been dead for five years, and she is now going through her mother’s things while her father and his new wife are away for the weekend. In a box of pictures, she finds something odd: a picture of her own cottage from 1963 (before Ruth was even born) with the legend “Dawn 1963.”Ruth lives in that cottage with her daughter Kate, now eleven, but her mom never said anything to her about familiarity with the place before Ruth bought it, causing her to launch her own investigation of the history of the cottages. There are three cottages in a group, and the one next to hers has just been rented out to a nurse named Zoe who looks to be about Ruth’s age. Ruth is especially glad to have the company when the country goes into lockdown. Meanwhile, the Serious Crime Unit of the Norfolk Police, headed up by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, who happens to be Kate’s father, is dealing with a series of alleged suicides that Nelson is convinced are suspicious.Harry and Ruth have a complicated relationship. Harry is married with two adult daughters (Laura and Rebecca). Harry and his wife Michelle had another (unexpected) baby a little more than two years before, a boy named George. All of Harry’s children are fond of one another. Michelle allows Harry to see Kate but insists that Harry only see Ruth in a professional capacity. Everyone must learn to cope with the new post-COVID situation. Ruth has to teach on Zoom, Kate has to learn at home, and Nelson has to try to solve crimes without doing interviews except at a distance.Two startling events put a wrench in the works: Cathbad, close friend to both Ruth and Nelson, gets a serious case of COVID and it is possible he might not make it. And Zoe not only turns out not to be who she purported to be, but she goes missing.Evaluation: I enjoy this series a great deal because the main characters are all complex, likable and funny. Yet there is still plenty of page-turning tension and a lot to learn about archeology and history in the Norfolk area. This book ends, like so many of them, with developments in the characters' personal lives that will have readers champing at the bit for the next installment.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my first Ruth Galloway book, but I am excited to go back and read the rest of the series! The Locked Room is set during the pandemic, and Ruth is going through old photos at her dad's home when she finds one of her cottage taken years before she owned it. Some suspicious deaths are made to look like suicide are happening and the women all are of a certain age and demographic. Someone goes missing. Meanwhile someone is trapped in a locked room. How does all this connect? Interesting take on a mystery set during Covid and lockdown. Other characters-Judy and Cathbad (local druid) and Nelson, the father of Ruth's daughter.

[sandyamcpherson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another saga in terms of Ruth, Kate, Nelson and police inquiries. Written in the pandemic setting when it first started in 2020. An interesting situation viewed from my Canadian perspective. There were surprising reveals in Ruth's family history which added a new dimension to these Galloway mysteries. Somehow the author has adroitly regained some freshness to the plotline in this series, so Bravo, Elly.

[ccayne_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Pandemic, miracle?, relationships trump crime, family discovery/mystery, Nelson cliffhanger

[brianewilliams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a brilliant suspense story which moves at a brisk pace. DCI Nelson is confronted with a series of sudden deaths, which appear to be suicides. One of them, however has the victim being found in her bedroom which is locked from the outside. Noteworthy is the portrayal of life during the early days of the covid pandemic: the uncertainty and disruption is well-presented. There's a large cast of characters, many are carryovers from earlier books in the series. This book can be read as a standalone despite being the 14th in the series.All in all, an entertaining mystery story with a satisfying conclusion.

[ffortsa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I must have liked it because I read it cover to cover in one day! But there isn't much archaeology here. What was spooky to me is that it landed me right back in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic in New York, applauding the 'essential workers' and improvising masks. Amazing how it all came back in a great whoosh.Sorry to say that I figured out the villain very early, and wanted to scream at the police to pay attention. Sheesh what an obvious clue. But maybe that's because I knew it was a mystery story and not real life, and clues are not to be ignored. The problem was I didn't really believe the modus operandi. I hear this is to be the last book in this series. If so, the ending is fitting if tantalizing.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This series is a favorite of mind and this is another good one. The “Locked Room” refers to a locked room murder which begins the story and the lock down of Covid 19. Ruth has a new neighbor who has rented the cottage next to hers and they’ve become friendly. She’s a nurse, and Nelson, of course, does a background check on her and discovers a troublesome past. Now that Covid has closed everything down, people are isolated. Ruth has a couple of strange students that are worrisome because of their interest in a ghostly “Grey Lady” who roams around walking through walls. This story revolves around Ruth, Nelson and their circle of friends and families while trying to solve the mysterious murder and some missing persons while dealing with Covid realities.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Locked Room opens in February 2020, which immediately alerts readers to what lies ahead. Realizing it would be odd to skip past this year in the lives of Ruth Galloway, Harry Nelson, et al, author Elly Griffiths addresses the pandemic with realism and sensitivity. After encountering a suspicious death, the characters are faced with lockdown restrictions and the accompanying uncertainty about how best to comply (or not). The mystery is uncomplicated and a bit weak, but it would be difficult to write about a more complex case set during a time when people were largely confined to their homes. The virus is ever present, in ways some readers might find difficult. The personal lives of the characters take center stage, and significant developments for both Ruth and Nelson leave us with a promise of more to come.

[rosalita_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The latest entry in Griffiths' series about forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway opens with Ruth in London helping her father clear out her late mother's things so his new wife can redecorate. The chapter's timestamp of February 2020 tells the reader what Ruth does not yet know — the COVID-19 pandemic is about to send all of them into lockdown. How on earth is there going to be a mystery, let along an investigation and a resolution, in the midst of such societal disruption?Griffiths handles that conundrum with her usual skill, using the pandemic to explore the reactions of many of the familiar characters from past books to forced isolation. Of course the police, led by DCI Harry Nelson, are essential workers and not forced into lockdown, though they have to cope with social distancing and reduced opportunities for the whole team to gather. It's unusual for the central mystery not to revolve in some way around one of Ruth's excavations or examinations of discovered remains, but in this case Nelson and his team are faced with a series of apparent suicides whose details don't quite add up. Social distancing also doesn't manage to prevent major developments in the relationship between Ruth and Harry, though once again we are left with a bit of a cliffhanger in this ongoing B-story even as the main case is tidily wrapped up. On the one hand, I kind of want this storyline to resolve sooner rather than later; on the other hand, Griffiths has so deftly invested all of the characters with nuance and complexity that I'm at a loss to know which resolution I would prefer.This is one of my favorite series, and I'm happy that this entry lives up to expectations, even as some of the conventional methods of investigation are upended by the realities of the pandemic lockdown. Hopefully by the time the next book is published, the pandemic won't loom quite so large — in the real world as well as the fictional.

[purpledog-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am always excited about a new book from Griffiths! This has become my favorite mystery series and Griffiths, once again, shows why she is at the top of my list. Great characters and realistic crimes, written with great attention to detail makes for the best reading. Finished this one in just two sittings despite work and other chores encroaching on my time. If you have not read this series, you don't know what you are missing. Highly recommend!

[tottman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 14th Ruth Galloway mystery from Elly Griffiths, The Locked Room, starts just as Covid is making its way around the world in 2020. Ruth is going through her dead mother's things when she comes across an old photograph of the cottage in which Ruth now lives with "Dawn 1963" written on it. She and her daughter Kate retreat to the isolated cottage to ride out the pandemic. The isolation is made a little less lonely by a new next-door neighbor, Zoe.Detective Chief Inspector Nelson is investigating a series of women's deaths that appear to be suicide, but may not be. When one of the cases turns up a link to an archeology discovery that Ruth is linked to, he turns to her for help. Nelson soon develops suspicions of new neighbor, Zoe, which are only heightened when she goes missing. The race is on to unravel the mystery of the women's deaths and making sure that no one else dies, all while navigating the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and lockdown rules.This is a fun mystery that fully explores how the pandemic has affected not only daily lives but crimes and crime-solving. The exploration of parallels between covid and the plague, particularly in the Norfolk setting, is also fascinating. There is almost equal time spent on exploring the impact of the pandemic as there is on the mystery of the dead women. The isolation, the uncertainty, and the impacts on work, school, family, and friends -- particularly if they are struck ill -- all weigh heavily on the narrative.The mystery of the women's deaths is very nicely played out. There is very little evidence of murder, but their general good spirits and other tenuous connections leave enough crumbs to require some ingenious policing to follow the trail. The strong characters and their complicated relationships with one another combined with interesting archeology and folklore add to a mystery both difficult and fun to solve. The puzzle of Ruth's mother and her connection to the cottage is added flavor. The long history between the characters lends extra meaning for fans of the series, but there is more than enough explanation provided to allow new readers to jump right in. A fun entry in a series that is still going strong.I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elly Griffiths is the author of one of my absolute favorite mystery series - the Ruth Galloway Mysteries. The latest entry (#16) is The Locked Room. This series is character driven and those characters are what make this series so very, very good. The lead is Ruth, a forensic archaeologist in the beautiful Norfolk area of England. She's head of her department at the University and often consults with the police on cases. She, her eleven year old daughter Katie and Flint the cat live in an isolated cottage on the Saltmarsh 'where the sea and the sky meet'. (I would love to live in that wee cottage!) I really enjoy Ruth. I think it's because she isn't a 'cookie-cutter' protagonist. She is a single mother looking at her fifties. She's a bit of an introvert, highly intelligent, empathetic and tolerant. Griffiths has not endowed her with super sleuth abilities, rather she comes off as an actual person - unabashedly and happily herself. The supporting players are just as well drawn. I quite like Cathbad, the self proclaimed Druid. Griffiths gives each and every player a personal story line that moves forward with every new book. I always feel like I'm settling in with old friends when I pick up the latest. Faithful readers will agree - the yes/no/maybe so relationship between Ruth and a member of the local constabulary is a big part of that character driven narrative!Now in addition to fab characters, Griffiths always comes up with great crimes for the Norfolk police (and Ruth) to investigate. In this latest, there's a skeleton found on a construction as well as number of women whose deaths may or may not be suicide. And Ruth comes across a mysterious photo that's too close to home. Covid has also just been added to the mix. The mysteries are well devised and not easy to suss out. There's always a satisfying ending to the books....with the door left open for the next book.I chose to listen to The Locked Room. The reader was Jane McDowell, a narrator who has performed this series in the past. I appreciate the continuity. She has a calm, well modulated, pleasant voice that suits the character of Ruth. and matched the mental image I had created. She captures the subtle nuances of Ruth with her voice. McDowell's diction is quite clear and the speed of the reading is just right. She provides different voices for the supporting players. She has interpreted and presented Griffith's work wonderfully. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I become much more immersed in a tale when I listen. I highly, highly recommend this character driven mystery series. You could certainly read this book as a stand alone, but do yourself a favor and start with the first book, The Crossing Places.

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a disappointment. I liked the thread about the photo Ruth finds of her cottage in her mother's belongings, but not much else about the book really. I'm not yet at a point where it entertains me to read about characters at the beginning of the Covid pandemic and the first lockdown, but I suppose that is a personal thing. There was no real archeology in this book, and the plot made no sense at all to me. Since this is fictional, all the deaths Nelson found suspicious and every one Ruth encountered were immediately recognized by Nelson to be linked (and of course they were), but I didn't see why he leaped to any of the conclusions he did.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This Ruth Galloway installments drops the reader in the middle of the Pandemic and we get a close up look of how a single mother juggles lockdown, home schooling of her daughter, managing her architectural students via zoom classes and tutorials, a dear friend who falls victim to covid, all those other not so fun things that so many have experienced and endured for 2 plus years. There is a lot going on on this story, the unraveling of a family mystery, the re-ignition of Ruth’s relationship with DCI Nelson, a few questionable students who may be up to nefarious activities or they may just be lost and looking for help, several mentions of the plague, a few too many unexplained suicides, a new neighbor with a past and several ambiguous references to “The Grey Lady”. A whole lot going on.The problem with the Ruth Galloway series is how well they are conceived and written. It is so hard once you open the book to put it aside until you have finished. Not a complaint as I happily look forward to the next installment. Thank you Mariner HarperCollins for a copy.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For me, reading a Ruth Galloway novel is like meeting up with an old friend. This one is set in 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Ruth's classes are cancelled and go onto Zoom, schools are closed. Just before this event a skeleton is found in Tombland and it raises the possibility that there may have been plague pits in Norwich near the Cathedral.Nelson begins investigating cases of unexpected deaths among women who have been attending slimming groups. Ruth becomes friendly with Zoe who has moved in to the cottage next door to hers and then Zoe disappears.Nelson's wife Michelle is away visiting her mother and he and Ruth take advantage of that fact.I read with interest the way English society deal with Covid, the restrictions and lock downs put into place. This gave the story an extra relevance.And then Cathbad is struck down with Covid.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Is it too soon for books set in the pandemic? Ordinarily I might think so, but one of the strengths of this series is that the characters are contemporary and are facing many of the same problems we do. Ruth is back, and it was nice to spend time with her and everyone else, even as reliving lockdown was quite an intense experience. Plague themes as deftly woven throughout, and some interesting developments continue to… develop.

Advanced Readers Copy provided by edelweiss.

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The only bad thing about turning the last page on a Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery by Elly Griffiths is knowing that you have an interminable wait for the next one, and The Locked Room is no exception. While some readers wish to avoid books that deal with the pandemic, I like seeing how different parts of the world cope. For instance, I wasn't aware that during lockdown the British would stand on their doorsteps at a certain day and time each week to clap and show their support for carers. And that's not the only thing I learned, which is par for the course in an Elly Griffith mystery. I learned the background of the "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" nursery rhyme and was reminded once again that I really want to read more about the historical figure, Julian of Norwich.There are some serious things happening to the cast members that fans of this series have come to know and love, and the mystery itself is a humdinger, filled with such excellent misdirection that I was led straight down the garden path. (I love it when that happens.) Nelson is investigating a series of deaths that, although initially thought to be suicides, just don't add up. For instance, why was one woman's room locked from the outside? And why would someone kill themselves right after putting dinner in the microwave to heat?For me, the most chilling aspect of The Locked Room was something that I'd never considered-- how poisons within relationships can rise to the surface during something like lockdown. How fortunate I am to be highly compatible with-- and happily married to-- my husband!Even if you're new to this series, don't be surprised if you read The Locked Room and have a tear in your eye at the overuse of exclamation points at the end. Among her fans, Elly Griffiths is well known for working her very special kind of magic.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my great discoveries last year was the wonderful series of novels by Elly Griffiths featuring Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of the Archaeology Department at the University of North Norfolk, based in King’s Lynn. I read thirteen of them last year, along with six novels in her other sequence featuring Edgar Stephens and Max Mephisto, but came wanting more, and found myself eagerly waiting the publication of this latest instalment. I have been especially struck by the way that Elly Griffiths seems so prolific, seeming to publishing a new book in one or other of her series, without at all compromising the quality.I am pleased to say it didn’t disappoint at all, and displayed the high calibre of the rest of the sequence.. Ruth’s life continues to be complicated, as she strives to balance the demands of her work with her role as single parent to daughter Kate (who is rapidly developing into a finely drawn character in her own right), and her complicated private life.Another factor is the work she does to help the local police force, who draw upon her forensic archaeology skills whenever old bodies are discovered (which seems to be a regular occurrence).I don’t propose to say too much more about this book – my review would fail to do it anything like justice. It is as enjoyable and entertaining as all of its predecessors: reading it left me with that dilemma of enjoyable books whereby I was simultaneously keen to see what happened, while reluctant to finish it too quickly.Now I just have to face the wait for the next volume.