The Chalk Pit: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 9

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The Darent Valley Path follows the course of the river for 31 km, from Sevenoaks (near its source in the Greensand Hills) to the River Thames at Dartford. Jesus Christ!' Nelson explodes. 'There's a bloke dead on the front steps and none of you have noticed. 'Clough turns, his mouth open. 'Aftershave Eddie? But he's asleep.'

On the British Geological Survey’s map, chalk is represented by a swathe of pale, limey green that begins on the east coast of Yorkshire and curves in a sinuous green sweep down the east coast, breaking off where the Wash nibbles inland. In the south, the chalk centres on Salisbury Plain, radiating out in four great ridges: heading west, the Dorset Downs; heading east, the North Downs, the South Downs and the Chilterns. The North Downs Way runs for 246 km along the length of the North Downs (with two sections at its eastern end), from Farnham in Surrey to Dover in Kent. Eighteen years after arriving at the University of North Norfolk and still going it alone in the Forensic Archaeology department, Dr Ruth Galloway has acquired quite a name for herself with two television appearances and frequent involvement in her capacity as an expert seconded to the Serious Crime Unit of Northumbria Police. As a single mother to six-year-old Kate with married (to someone else) no-nonsense northerner DCI Harry Nelson and her isolated cottage on the breathtaking Saltmarsh Ruth is busy juggling working life with motherhood. In The Chalk Pit Ruth is called in following architect Quentin Swan’s plans to build a subterranean dining experience underneath the Guildhall and his surveyor finding evidence of human bones. As Ruth deduces that not only are the bones fairly recent in age, less than fifty years and possibly less than ten, the dull shine has connotations of pot polishing (boiling in a metal container) and together with the cut marks has sinister overtones of cannibalism. With the city of King’s Lynn built on a network of old chalk mining tunnels DCI Nelson is forced to consider that Ruth’s discovery could present a possible murder inquiry. Naturally Ruth isn’t short of a male academic expert keen to share an opinion with her as is regaled with the stories of the supposed underground societies from UNN geology lecturer and Quentin Swan’s wife’s ex-husband, Dr Martin Kellerman. Might there be some truth to this speculation? When he’d finished with his laptop, Farrant pointed downhill. “If you stood here during the Anglian Glaciation you would have seen an ice sheet coming right up to the base of the chalk scarp there.” One of my top five series, a series that I wait impatiently for the next offering. Adore the mix of archeology, police procedural and the personal lives of these oh, so interesting characters. The pace is always swift, and the plot intriguing.He said capital punishment was the law of the land. “It is murder,” he said, “and there are no circumstances in which it can be justified.” On the 29 April 1924, Edward Williams was hanged at Long Bay Gaol. While Louisa — Ley’s wife — had moved to London in the early 1940s, he still spent much time with Maggie Brooks. But in the year after the end of the war, he came to suspect his 66-year-old mistress was having an affair with 35-year-old barman John Mudie. In reality, Maggie and John Mudie had barely met. I just love the way Elly Griffiths blends history and archaeology and some actual places into her narratives. This story focuses heavily on homelessness, the rough sleepers, and some of the trials they have to endure.

Fork right at the sign, taking the permissive bridleway into the wood. This climbs steadily and gradually curves round to the left, eventually levelling out at the top of the wood. Keep ahead at a set of path junctions, ignoring two footpaths off to the right and one down to the left.Ss Peter and Paul, Shoreham dates from Norman times and has many interesting features, all described in an informative Visitor's Guide. They include an outstanding wooden rood screen spanning the width of the building and some fine stained glass windows, including one by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Burne-Jones. Thomas makes use of several poetic techniques in ‘The Chalk Pit’. These include alliteration, caesura, enjambment, and simile. The first, alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. For example, “briar and bramble” in line seven and “smoked and strolled” in line forty-three. Rich in atmosphere and history and blessed by [Griffith's] continuing development of brilliant, feisty, independent Ruth...A Room Full of Bones, like its predecessors, works its magic on the reader's imagination." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch

Now it appeared that Ley used the Puddifoot controversy against himself to make it look like he was the victim of a vicious Labor smear campaign. At one of his rallies he made a startling claim. He said a dust cloud which comes up in the summer means that residents can't open their windows and their cars are covered, while the noise of large skip lorries and waste sorting machines is causing "pandemonium". Tim Oliver and the Surrey Conservatives must immediately investigate this potentially dangerous mineral recycling plant now," he said. The audio performance was, once again, great. She changes voices and intonations convincingly, and the narration never gets in the way of the story. Five stars to the audiobook version.I closed the cover of The Chalk Pit with a smile on my face, and a sense of anticipation for what is to come in The Dark Angel, the next in the series.