The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths

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.