When the end of January comes a celebration is in order and what better way to celebrate than reading The Last Remains, the new book in the Ruth Galloway series by the fabulous Elly Griffiths, as soon as it is published (see my blogs on the Ruth Galloway series, The Lantern Men, The Stranger Diaries, The Postscript Murders and The Night Hawks, The Locked Room and Bleeding Heart Yard)?

The will-they, won’t-they between detective Nelson and archaeologist Ruth should be over, now that Nelson’s wife Michelle has moved out and gone to live in Blackpool. But somehow things are more complicated, as Ruth weighs up her future and tries to decide if she wants to live with Nelson full-time and co-parent their daughter. Meanwhile her academic department is threatened with closure and tempting job offers are coming from as far afield as Sweden.

Along with all of that there is of course a murder to solve, when a body, identified by Ruth as modern, is found bricked-up behind a wall in a former cafe in King’s Lynn. It turns out to be a Cambridge student who went missing in 2002 and was a friend of Ruth and Nelson’s friend Cathbad. Cathbad is still recovering from nearly dying of Covid and surely cannot be a suspect after all this time?

As things come to a head Ruth is once again plunged into a dangerous spot with her daughter Kate. Will help arrive in time and will Ruth finally take the plunge and fully commit to Nelson? All will be revealed.