"The Last Remains" by Elly Griffiths

Firstly, a warning. If you haven't read any of the Dr. Ruth Galloway mysteries before - DO NOT READ THIS BOOK YET. It is the fifteenth book in the series and should be read after all the others. The characters and their relationships have developed over the years, so to get the most from these wonderful books, they really must be read in sequence.

Ruth Galloway and Harry Nelson must be one one of the longest unresolved "will they/won't they" plotlines in detective fiction. Their daughter Kate (or Katie, or Hecate) is now at secondary school - yet at the close of "The Locked Room" they still hadn't sorted out their personal lives. So this novel has been eagerly awaited - not only because we were told that they would finally settle their situation (hurrah!), but that also this would be the last in the series (boo!) - at least for a while.

The book is as beautifully written and pacey as always. The main characters are very well-established, so that whilst they are placed (of course) in some difficult situations, their behaviour is always consistent with how they have behaved in the past. 

Whilst this is probably not the last time we shall hear from Ruth, there is a real sense throughout that this is the end of this part of her story. Many references are made to characters and events earlier in the series - notably from "The Crossing Places" - the first of the books. Some of the new characters are similar types to some in "The Crossing Places". Many loose ends are being tied up.

There's quite a lot going on. A skeleton is found bricked up in a cafe being renovated in King's Lynn. Ruth quickly identifies the body as modern, and Nelson and his team are called in. It turns out to have been a young women who was known to Ruth's friend Cathbad. At the same time the university have decided to close her department, and she becomes involved in the campaign to save it. And all the while, the two of them are grappling with their feelings for each other. All these matters are finally resolved. The denouement that we have all been waiting for comes right at the very end - but I'm cerainly not even going to hint at what it is.

For those of you that have read the earlier works in the series - I don't need to make a recommendation. Of course you're going to read it. For those of you that haven't - do yourselves a big favour. Read "The Crossing Places" and enter the enthralling world of Ruth Galloway. As for me - I'm going to be relying on Edgar Stephens and Harbinder Kaur for a while.