You gotta understand, I love this series

Ruth Galloway is such a sympathetic character, not perfect, not beautiful, but intelligent and resourceful, determined and straightforward. She struggles to balance her life as a single mom with her job as a forensic anthropologist. This story continues her inquiries into the history of her North Norfolk home,along with a contemporary mystery that parallels the historical investigation. As with any book that is driven by character more than action, I am very pleased to have visited with Ruth for a spell. If you like Deborah Crombie, or Louise Penny, you'll be happy with this series by Elly Griffiths.

12 people found this helpful

Jane

I really miss Jane McDowell's narration of the Ruth Galloway mysteries. Her Irish accent for Cathbad is much better for the character as well as the Northern accent voice for Nelson. Hopefully she will return to this series in the near future.

6 people found this helpful

The best Ruth Galloway book yet!

What aspect of Clare Corbett’s performance would you have changed?

Corbett's male voices were colorless and one-dimensional, and I cringed any time I knew Kate was about to speak (not all children shriek that loudly). Also, who told her that Americans sounded like she voiced Frank and Dani?

Otherwise, a solid performance.

Any additional comments?

Elly Griffiths' writing has improved vastly from her early books to this one. I've been bingeing on Ruth Galloway, reading them in order over the last couple of weeks, and I can tell that the author has become a much better writer. This is the first one I've listened to though.

I highly recommend reading the books in order, as the characters have definitely developed over the six, and soon to be seven, books. You will enjoy them more if you read them in order, although The Outcast Dead is the best of the bunch.

6 people found this helpful

Another great Ruth Galloway mystery

I have enjoyed all of the books in this series. This audible version was no exception. The narrator was excellent and the story kept me completely absorbed and as usual a little disappointed that I must wait for the next great book from Elly Griffiths.

4 people found this helpful

My First Audio Book-I LOVE IT!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Outcast Dead to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version of this book but I have read the other 5 books in this Ruth Galloway Series by Elly Griffiths. I have loved every one of her books and this audio version has not let me down. I was a little skeptical as this was my first audio book but it is great! I am not the least bit disappointed. I look forward to more audio books in the future!

What other book might you compare The Outcast Dead to and why?

Compared to the other 5 books in this series, book #6 is the same high quality as in the past. Elly Griffiths has not let us down as the series continues! I look forward to her next book and hope it comes out very soon!

What does Clare Corbett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love her accent! Since I am not from the country where the story takes place her accent adds to the authenticity of the book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I would title it just as the author has....I would love to see this entire series in film!!!

Any additional comments?

Thank you for offering Elly Griffiths books here, it was a pleasant surprise to find it available here.

3 people found this helpful

Not as good as her others

Women readers should not try to talk like a man! It just sounds forced and terrible. Also, Ruth's child's voice screams out of the earphones in a blare.

10 people found this helpful

With each book, the series just gets better!

I love this series. The characters are real people - just more interesting than any I know. The stories have a ring of truth. Fascinating stories, but the continuing story of these people I really like is the best part of all. Start at the beginning of the series and enjoy them all. Can't wait for another!

2 people found this helpful

My God, what a yawn!

Having chosen this one based on the other reviews, I am 3 hours in and wondering what book they all read. This is one of my worst choices yet, plot, narration, characterization, all of it. Example 1: The heroine has apparently had an affair with a policeman which resulted in a now nearly 3-year-old daughter. Wife is aware of the whole thing, and ACCOMPANIES HIM when the cop visits mother and daughter on little outings, like to a pony farm. Oh, yes, and Wife adores the little girl (her two daughters with the cop are pretty much grown). Extremely civilized, I admit, but also extremely unrealistic, and without any explanation whatever of how this utopic situation was achieved. Example 2: Main suspect has fled before the police got there, made his way to the heroine's very secluded cottage and has appeared in her kitchen holding her daughter. Heroine is of course practically paralyzed and then the tot starts shouting "Dada!" into heroine's cell phone. Without a pause, the narrator starts reading the next paragraph and after a baffling line or two, the hapless listener realizes that the cop is in the room with all of them in the cottage. The author has just skipped all the boring stuff about how the cop, hearing the daughter's voice and the sound of a man's rumble in the background, instantly deduces the situation and throws himself in his car to race to the rescue. This is explained in a few brief words after he's arrested Main Suspect.

I just started laughing and snapped off the book. The first example leads me to believe that Elly Griffiths is really a man. The second one gives me the impression that he's lazy. In either case, that's it for this one. Back it goes.

6 people found this helpful

Narrator horrible

Would you try another book from Elly Griffiths and/or Clare Corbett?

See my review for the previous entry, The Dying Fall. As far as I'm concerned, A Room Full of Bones is the last audiobook in the series, unless the narrator for The Dying Fall and all subsequent audiobooks is replaced.

7 people found this helpful

Exhumation of a hanged Victorian Child Murderess

A Victorian Baby Farmer convicted and hanged for the death of a young boy left in her care by his mother is the historic story that Ruth Galloway, forensic physical anthropologist, is dealing with in this, the sixth book in this series. Meanwhile DCI Harry Nelson is investigating the suspicious death of a baby whose parents are both suspects in the child's death.

Children are a big theme in this book in the series, as they have been in past books in this series. Not only is the skeleton of the hook-handed baby farmer Jemima Green, aka Mother Hook, the basis of a local bogy, she is also set to be the subject of an episode of a sensationalistic television show about women who kill.

Anyway this is a better than average story read well by Clare Corbett. She is not idiosyncratic in her style and thankfully does a good job with the accent of a historian from the US who adds some variety to the cast. Many of the characters from previous books make an appearance and the overall story arc does advance a bit.

3 people found this helpful