When a curator is found murdered, Ruth Galloway and Detective Inspector Nelson track down links between the murder, Aborigine skulls, and a drug-smuggling operation that forces Ruth to question her loyalties.

In this highly atmospheric mystery, Ruth Galloway—whom #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny calls “a captivating amateur sleuth”—has her summer vacation disrupted by a murder in a medieval Italian town where dark secrets are buried as deep as bones. When archaeologist Angelo Morelli asks Ruth Galloway to come to the Italian countryside to help identify bones found in picturesque Fontana Liri, she jumps at the chance to go—and brings her daughter along for what she assumes will be a working vacation. Upon arriving, Ruth hears murmurs of Fontana Liri’s strong resistance movement during World War II, and begins to sense that the townspeople are harboring an age-old secret. But how, if at all, could this chapter in history be connected to the human remains that Angelo has unearthed? Just as she’s getting her footing in the dig, DCI Nelson appears, unexpectedly and for no clear reason. When Ruth’s findings lead her and her crew to a modern-day murder, their holiday turns into anything but as they race to find out what darkness is lurking in this seemingly peaceful place. . .and who may be on their trail.

Forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway investigates her most heart-stopping caseto date after an old university friend and fellow archeologist is murdered inan arson attack.

In a chilling entry to the award-winning Ruth Galloway series, she and DCI Nelson are haunted by a ghost from their past, just as their future lands on shaky ground. DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters. They are anonymous, yet reminiscent of ones he has received in the past, from the person who drew him into a case that's haunted him for years. At the same time, Ruth receives a letter purporting to be from that very same person--her former mentor, and the reason she first started working with Nelson. But the author of those letters is dead. Or is he? The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

A vision of the Virgin Mary foreshadows a string of cold-blooded murders, revealing a dark current of religious fanaticism in an old medieval town in this Ruth Galloway mystery. When Ruth’s friend Cathbad sees a vision of the Virgin Mary—in a white gown and blue cloak—in the graveyard next to the cottage he is house-sitting, he takes it in his stride. Walsingham has strong connections to Mary, and Cathbad is a druid after all; visions come with the job. But when the body of a woman in a blue dressing-gown is found dead the next day in a nearby ditch, it is clear Cathbad’s vision was all too human—and that a horrible crime has been committed. DCI Nelson and his team are called in for the murder investigation and soon establish that the dead woman was a recovering addict being treated at a nearby private hospital. Ruth, a devout atheist, has managed to avoid Walsingham during her seventeen years in Norfolk. But then an old university friend, Hilary Smithson, asks to meet her in the village, and Ruth is amazed to discover that her friend is now a priest. Hilary has been receiving vitriolic anonymous letters targeting women priests— letters containing references to local archaeology and a striking phrase about a woman "clad in blue, weeping for the world." Then another woman is murdered—a priest. As Walsingham prepares for its annual Easter re-enactment of the Crucifixion, the race is on to unmask the killer before they strike again...

Looking for a new mystery series to suck you in? Dive into the inaugural novels of the captivating Ruth Galloway mysteries with this starter pack. Archaeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway turns amateur sleuth once Detective Chief Inspector Nelson calls her for help when a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach. Gone are the days of digging up artifacts and living alone with her cats—Ruth is pulled into the world of shadowy murders, resurfaced bones, historical mysteries, twisted secrets, and a dash of romance. THE CROSSING PLACES Join Dr. Ruth Galloway in her first foray into the world of forensic archaeology when a child’s bones are found on a beach. Ruth is called in to help decipher whether they are the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing a decade ago and whose abductor continues to taunt Detective Chief Inspector Nelson with bizarre letters containing references to ritual sacrifice, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson receives a new letter—exactly like the ones about Lucy. Is it the same killer? Or a copycat murderer, linked in some way to the site near Ruth’s remote house? THE JANUS STONE It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand? THE HOUSE AT SEA’S END Just back from maternity leave, forensic archaeologist Ruth is finding it hard to juggle motherhood and work when she is called in to investigate human bones that have surfaced on a remote Norfolk beach. The bones—six men with their arms bound—it turns out, date back to World War II, a desperate time on this stretch of coastland. Elly Griffiths’s work has been praised by the Associated Press as “must-reads for fans of crime fiction.” The e-book includes The Crossing Places, The Janus Stone, and The House at Sea’s End.

Forensic archeologist, Dr. Ruth Galloway is back--this time investigating a gruesome World War II war crime.