Southern Italy provides setting for archaeologist detective mystery
I decided to
read The Dark Angel, by Elly Griffiths, because a lot of the story is set in
Italy.
It was the
first of her novels that I have ever considered, and having read and enjoyed
the book, which is number 10 in the Dr Ruth Galloway series, I intend to read
more by this author, starting at the
beginning, so that I can follow the fortunes of her main character.
Ruth is an
archaeology professor at a university in Norfolk and a single Mum. She has
recently lost her mother, and her love affair with Detective Chief Inspector
Nelson, who fathered her daughter, Kate, is over. He is now trying to make a go
of his relationship with his wife, Michelle, who has just become pregnant again
in her mid-forties.
When Ruth,
who is an expert on old bones, is invited to give her opinion on some remains
uncovered in Lazio in southern Italy, she welcomes the opportunity to get away
for a while with her daughter, Kate. She invites her friend, Shona, who has a
small son, Louis, to accompany them on the trip.
Ruth has previously
worked with the Italian archaeologist, Angelo Morelli, who has asked for her
help, and she once had a brief romance with him. He has now called on her to
assess the remains he has uncovered because of her growing reputation as an
expert, which he hopes will create more interest for the TV company he has
invited to film the dig.
When Ruth
and Shona arrive with their children in Castello degli Angeli, a fictitious
hilltop town in Lazio, they are taken to stay in Angelo’s late grandfather’s apartment,
where they find the message ‘foreigners go home’ has been daubed in Italian on
the wall outside.
Ruth
discovers that the town has wartime secrets and that the old grudges between long
dead fascists and partisans persist between local families.
Also, not
everyone in the area is happy about Angelo’s dig and attempts are being made to
sabotage it.
After a
small earthquake, Ruth’s former lover, DCI Nelson also arrives in Lazio,
ostensibly because he is concerned about his daughter, Kate, but he is also clearly
jealous about Ruth working with Angelo.
The
earthquake has caused more bones to be uncovered in the town, which leads to
long-buried secrets and resentments coming to the surface. After there is a
murder in Castello degli Angeli, Ruth and Nelson join forces to solve it.
Although some
characters from the first nine Ruth Galloway novels also play their part in
this story, Elly Griffiths makes it
possible for the reader to work out who everybody is and become engaged with
the plot and Ruth’s personal issues, even if they have never read the previous
books in the series.
She also
skilfully manages to incorporate a plotline involving one of Nelson’s old cases
back in Norfolk, which has an impact on his family back at home and adds to the
drama.
As a
passionate Italophile, I enjoyed the descriptions of Lazio food and hospitality
and the way the setting and atmosphere of the region was evoked by the author.
I would recommend the book to anyone who has not yet read a crime novel by Elly
Griffiths.
