THE CHALK PIT by Elly Griffiths

With a title like THE CHALK PIT, I just had to pick up this award-winning book. Ten pages in and I couldn’t put it down. Book 9 in the Ruth Galloway series has elegantly plotted crime, smooth prose, and intense character development of both primary and secondary players.

Forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway is a 40-something single mother and university professor in Norwich. The father of her young daughter is Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Harry Nelson, who is happily married to a very forgiving wife who is aware of Ruth’s child. Although they pretend that it’s over, neither Ruth nor Nelson can quite shake their feelings for each other.

Not having read Books 1-8 didn’t matter. There was enough background given to understand Ruth’s job, her connection to Nelson, and a web of complex relationships that includes Ruth’s boss and Nelson’s crew of detectives. Basically, everyone has a complicated personal life that spills over into the crime investigation.

And it’s a doozy of an investigation, too. Thanks to a maze of old chalk mining tunnels, the ground below Norwich is the land of Swiss cheese. A sinkhole reveals part of the maze, while a builder discovers bones in another area. When Ruth is called in to examine the bones, she finds that they were boiled.

That’s right. BOILED.

Meanwhile, Nelson and his team are looking for a homeless woman who has disappeared. The homeless men who report her missing are found murdered.

Ruth and Nelson are thrown together to investigate and quickly hear rumors of secret societies and cannibalism. Are the missing women and murdered men connected to the spooky maze under the city or is Nelson grappling with multiple and unrelated cases?

As more women go missing, a friend who is a self-proclaimed Druid adds to the mix in an absorbing way. Local legends, ancient British history, and an earthy spirituality flavor the mystery.

Interestingly, most of the characters are staunch atheists who frequently fret about cultural and social issues. This made them well-rounded, albeit somewhat similar. But by the time Ruth worries that her daughter might hear a Conservative Party broadcast and another character refers to “wife” as the “w-word,” the fretting felt a bit tiresome.

Yet, THE CHALK PIT and the following books in the series are riveting, both for the dynamic crimes and the sweet torture of what will become of Ruth and Nelson’s relationship as it becomes ever more complex. As soon as I finished the book, I gobbled up the next 5 in the series.

Highly recommended.