The Last Remains

A Mystery

By: Elly Griffiths

Narrated by: Jane McDowell

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

The discovery of a missing woman’s bones force Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own in this not-to-be-missed Ruth Galloway mystery from USA Today bestselling author Elly Griffiths.

When builders discover a human skeleton during a renovation of a café, they call in archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway, who is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with DCI Nelson. The bones turn out to be modern—the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in 2002. Suspicion soon falls on Emily’s Cambridge tutor and also on another archeology enthusiast who was part of the group gathered the weekend before she disappeared—Ruth’s friend Cathbad.

As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the archeology group and look for a link between them and the café where Emily’s bones were found. Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. The trail leads Ruth a to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?

©2023 Elly Griffiths (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Why is this Series Ending?!!!!

I will miss Ruth, Nelson and all the other characters. Hey how about a spin-off with part of the police team. Judy would be DI, Lucy, Tanya and the rest could find another Bones expert. Think about it!! Please… really I mean it.

Loved it

Another great story by Elly Griffiths. I enjoy all the characters and could not stop listening to the story - read late in to the night and finished the next day.

Very well done!

This series really captured my interest, good mysteries and great continuing stories in the series. Reader was excellent!

Finale

Loved the ending! Great story & mystery until the end. Memorable characters within the story telling

An amazing series comes to a tepid conclusion

No spoilers here, but this final installment was a bit of a letdown. In fairness to Elly Griffiths, she is wrapping it up. At 15 outings, it gets very difficult not to go on autopilot, and put the storyline and characters through their well worn paces. While I did appreciate the clever sprinkling of ‘Easter eggs’ referencing earlier storylines for those of us who have loved and followed Ruth’s entire arc, those references also had an unfortunate comparison component…so many of the earlier plots were superior to this one. Nor was this final installment improved by the narration - over time it has likewise grown increasingly robotic, as though the narrator is also burned out. Some readers have been put off by the inclusion of covid as a backdrop in the final books, but I’m glad Ruth’s story included this reality of our times. Despite my disappointment in parts of this particular plot line, the mystery itself had a decent twist, and I am sad to come to the end of a series that has given me so many hours of enjoyment.

Last one ?

I was hesitant to read this series out of order but as it was offered on Audible as the daily deal. I was unable to wait. It is a delightful mix of romance, fantasy, mystery and occasional history.

Enjoyable

And ending you would never suspect.

It was fun and interesting.

Always enjoy learning about archaeology.

The Last Remains

I have enjoyed all of Elly Griffiths books. This series though is absolutely the best! Ruth’s new house seems as though it’s a great new beginning-one already seems a familiar sight!

Loved every Minute

I always listen to the Ruth Galloway mysteries via Audible book. Narrator Jane McDowell knows how to bring the characters to life and infuse the book in atmospheric nuance. I’ve listened to (instead of reading) every edition and love them all. The characters are well developed and are endearing in their various idiosyncrasies. What I like about this series is that the characters continue to evolve.
That being said, I am very excited for the author to take this series in a somewhat new direction based on the evolution experienced in this last book. It is always fun to have a slightly new direction for long-loved characters instead of keeping them in one mode and then ending the series when that mode comes to an end. Please don’t do that! There is no time that I ever want to end interacting with the storylines and characters of the Ruth Galloway books. I hope the author hurries the next edition along…am eager to experience new dynamics and circumstances, most particularly with Ruth and Nelson.

Performer was not great

The reader was good in some ways, but she was not reliably reading as if she understood what she was reading. I was also annoyed by the telephone conversations’ styling. Also, she needed to pause between one set of characters’ activities and and the next, unrelated segment. This book deserves a a clearer headed performer. She did have a lovely voice and usually, good expression.
The book itself kept my attention, although I have read all the earlier books in this series and they were better, and more about Ruth, who is the most interesting. Here it seemed liked all plot and no character development. Her choices were sometimes dopey. Nelson was not very believable here either. Also, for my taste,way too many miscellaneous characters were involved.