Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Hello fellow Crime, Mystery & Thriller readers! This discussion is about A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths your discussion leader is Sheri.
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about spoilers

Please note: If you have not finished reading the book spoilers are permitted in this discussion from the start.
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Summary

Combine a splash of Alan Bradley with a pinch of Kathy Reichs and you have a gripping new Ruth Galloway Mystery -- a good-hearted mystery series with a dark edge.

Set in Norfolk, England, A Room Full of Bones embroils, once again, our brainy heroine in a crime tinged by occult forces. On Halloween night, the Smith Museum in King's Lynn is preparing for an unusual event -- the opening of a coffin containing the bones of a medieval bishop. But when forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway arrives to supervise, she finds the curator, Neil Topham, dead beside the coffin. Topham's death seems to be related to other uncanny incidents, including the arcane and suspect methods of a group called the Elginists, which aims to repatriate the museum's extensive collection of Aborigine skulls; the untimely demise of the museum's owner, Lord Smith; and the sudden illness of DCI Harry Nelson, who Ruth's friend Cathbad believes is lost in The Dreaming -- a hallucinogenic state central to some Indigenous Australian beliefs. Tensions build as Nelson's life hangs in the balance. Something must be done to set matters right and lift Nelson out of the clutches of death, but will Ruth be able to muster herself out of a state of guilt and foreboding in order to do what she does best?

Hi everyone. We were left with a sort of cliff hanger last time. Let's delve into this one and see how things end up.

Stand by your man Michelle.

Does it seem to anyone else that Ruth doesn't seem all that interested in the mystery. She's leaving most of the physical and intellectual inquiry to the police and seems reluctant to participate in the investigation at all. Maybe a little post partum depression? Or just tired from being a single parent?

Sheri, you have made a valued point. I have wondered why I do not engage with this series. I believe it might be that Ruth is not a strong character and does leave most of the investigation to Nelson. Is Elly Griffiths trying to make this series stand out on its own and not follow the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs?

Not my favorite.