Elly Griffiths 2 for 1: A Room Full of Bone & A Dying Fall

Ellie Griffith's 6th book is coming out this month and I thought to myself, "Wait, what?? When did books 4 and 5 come out??"  I've reviewed books 1-3 here on this blog, because I rather like her books here are the links in order:  1. The Crossing Places 2. The Janus Stone 3. The House at Sea's End.


I read these two books back to back and here are some observations.  There's a scene that can almost be taken word for word from one book right out of the other.  They both talk about how Ruth is trying to leave the house, but her home phone is ringing.  Her home phone never rings since all her friends and family all have her "mobile" number, but something tells her to answer it anyway.  I thought I had mistakenly started reading the wrong book, the two passages were so similar.  Secondly, I don't think Ruth eats anything other than pasta.  She's always cooking pasta, eating pasta, serving pasta.  She's always complaining about being overweight, maybe try laying off the pasta.
 Mix it up a bit Ruth, try a salad.  Go crazy and eat a hamburger, just as long as there's no pasta involved.

About the books individually, A Room Full of Bones tells the story of the discovery of the body of a medieval Bishop.  The people involved with the discovery seem to be dying off at an alarming rate.  Does it have something to do with the Bishop or does it have something to do with the museum hoarding the bones of Aborigines.  A group called the Elginists are becoming increasingly threatening about getting the bones of their people back to their homeland and are wanting Ruth to help them with their quest.

A Dying Fall is all about King Arthur and the possibility that his bones may have been discovered by a colleague of Ruth's.  However, he was killed shortly after his discovery, but not before he could get a message out to Ruth asking for her help.  It seems he came across some revelations about King Arthur that would completely rewrite the history books and the local hate groups shut him down before he could make his findings known.

Despite my observations, I love Elly Griffiths' books.  Ruth is one of my favorite literary characters.  She's kind of like the Indiana Jones for middle aged working moms.  The next book, The Outcast Dead, is out and I will definitely be reading it for sure!!