I first started reading Elly Griffiths when I met her as she came to speak in Woodbridge in 2014, and I've been hooked on her writing ever since!

The Ruth Galloway novels are my favourites, but I've not read them in sequence and with Elly's output these days I feel I may never have caught up to be able to do so!

This is the 11th book in the series. This time Ruth's been invited onto a dig on the marshes because two bodies have been discovered, one many hundreds of years old, the other more recent. A cold case is opened and DCI Nelson is once again alongside Ruth professionally as well as personally.

Together they play their parts in solving the missing persons case of a 12-year-old girl called Margaret. Their work is made more challenging by the fact that they are both receiving letters seemingly from the grave - the messages echo missives they received when they met on their first case almost 10 years ago. If they find out who is writing to them, will this help them find the murderer of Margaret?

There are a fascinating array of characters playing their part in this intriguing and, at times, poignant case, and the cast list in the personal saga of Ruth and Nelson is also growing. In this story we are introduced to Nelson's new baby son, George while Ruth seems to be half-heartedly entering into a romantic liaison with Frank. But although Nelson seeks to invest in his family with Michelle, he is also becoming aware of the extent of his feelings for Ruth, and their daughter Kate. It's a complicated life!

In once again becoming enthralled by the lives of Ruth, her friends, colleagues and family, I'm longing to take time to return to the beginning of her story and to read the books in the order they were written, to trace this relationship with Nelson and the progress of her career and acceptance of motherhood. The books are perfect individually, but to return to them in order feels like it will add another dimension. Can't wait!