The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths
Paperback published by Quercus Books 13th July 2017
ISBN 9781784296629
Dr Ruth Galloway knows few reasons why someone might boil human bones. Cannibalism in Norwich? It seems unlikely, but the old tunnels under the city have spawned plenty of legends. When Ruth discovers the bones are no more then five years old, it seems a hideous crime has been committed.
DI Harry Nelson has no more time for grisly stories. A local homeless woman has disappeared, and the only trace of her are rumours that she’s gone underground. Nelson is not inclined to take this literally, and yet..
when another rough sleeper is murdered and a second woman vanishes, Ruth and Nelson must face the possibility that the Underground is more than a legend. They’d better unravel its secrets before it claims another victim.
MY REVIEW
Ruth Galloway, the head of Forensic archaeologist is searching for a body in the underground medieval tunnels in Norwich. The tunnel leads to the castle to the Guildhall.
Quentin Swan, is planning to build an underground restaurant below Guildhall. I was wondering if his plan will succeed.
The bones that were found happened to be buried and not hiding bricked up, like bodies sometimes are.
In the chalky rubble the human bones were seen immediately, however theres a set back, the skeleton isn’t whole. I was wondering how can this body now be identified.
Ruth won’t be able to say how old the bones are until she gets the carbon-14 analysis results.
Unfortunately a surveyor disrupted them digging for more samples.
I liked Ruth who was a clever woman and good at her job, she was confident and didn’t seem to care what people thought about her.
I was so fascinated reading about the Chalk Pits, and the underground, that I decided to check it out, and to my surprise it’s a true fact that Norwich was mined for chalk inside the chalk mines. It surprised me even further to find out that the chalk in Norwich is relatively soft so it can be easily gig. It is also true that Norwich is riddled with ancient secret tunnels criss-crossing beneath the city linking various landmarks to the castle and Guildhall, just in the story.
Take my advice read any book that has Elly Griffiths name on.
About author Elly Griffiths
The Ruth books are set in Norfolk, a place I know well from childhood. It was a chance remark of my husband’s that gave me the idea for the first in the series, The Crossing Places. We were crossing Titchwell Marsh in North Norfolk when Andy (an archaeologist) mentioned that prehistoric people thought that marshland was sacred ground. Because it’s neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a bridge to the afterlife; neither land nor sea, neither life nor death. In that moment, I saw Dr Ruth Galloway walking towards me out of the mist…
I live near Brighton with Andy. We have two grown-up children. I write in a garden shed accompanied by my cat, Gus.
https://www.Twitter.com/ellygriffiths
Bookread2day 
I love her books!!
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That’s good to hear from a reader like yourself that loves Elly Griffiths books, too.
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