The Night Hawk

In Elly Griffiths’ new novel The Night Hawk a group of metal detectorists, the eponymous Night Hawks, on a night search for buried treasure on a north Norfolk beach, instead find a dead body. DCI Harry Nelson first thinks it  might be an asylum seeker, but it turns out to be a local boy, who has just been released from prison. When the tide starts to come in, the Night Hawks move the body further up the beach, much to DCI Nelson’s annoyance. Given this hunt for treasure, he calls in forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway. Ruth, now newly promoted to head of department, is very much more interested in a hoard of Bronze age weapons, than the dead young man. A second murder occurs, suggesting to Nelson, that the first death was not an accident, and then a couple are found dead in what seems to be a murder/suicide at Black Dog Farm. Rumours abound about Black Dog Farm, especially around the ‘Black Shuck’—a ghostly dog, that appears to people before they die. Found at the scene of the crime is a note that includes the line ‘he is buried in the garden’, so Ruth is called in to excavate. And then there’s the odd ‘hospital’ room with white covered bed and medical equipment. Eventually, all the case strands come together—all pointing to this spooky farm in the middle of nowhere. Not a place to find yourself alone when the Black Shuck is nearby, as Ruth discovers. I’m always happy when another story featuring DCI Harry Nelson and Doctor Ruth Galloway appears. I love their complicated relationship—Nelson is the father of Ruth’s child, but is also married to Michelle with children of their own. And I forgot to mention Cathbad—sometime wizard, natural healer, and man of the woods and fields. He is married to Judy, one of Nelson’s team. A great character. And, by the way, the Black Shuck is a true legend, I looked it up.

I’ve not been well recently, and David brought me an armful of proofs to aid in my recovery—so, from that pile, here are some suggestions for autumn and winter reading:

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny (due in April): Now Jane has a boyfriend she wants to appear grown-up and sophisticated, wearing lounging pyjamas and serving cocktails and canapés. What she didn’t factor into the equation, was what would happen at the end of the end of the night. Wise and funny—this is a story of an unconventional family.

Still Life by Sarah Winman (due in June): The author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Sarah Winman’s new novel tells of a meeting in a ruined wine cellar in a Tuscan villa. It is 1944, Ulysses Temper is a young English soldier, and Evelyn Skinner is an art historian in her sixties. Evelyn (who is possibly a spy) is there trying to recreate the time she met E. M. Forster. This unlikely couple share a night together that changes Ulysses’s future in a most unlikely way. A beautiful novel of time and place and love.

A Paper Inheritance by Dymphna Stella Rees (due in June). When Dymphna Rees finds bundles of love letters between her parents, Leslie Rees and Coralie Clarke Rees, she becomes intrigued. Leslie Rees and Coralie Clarke Rees were a power couple in the Australian literary scene in the thirties. They took their dream of being writers in London to Fleet Street, where they interviewed some of the century’s literary greats—including James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw and A A Milne. Returning to Sydney in 1930, they quickly became part of the vibrant arts scene and established prolific careers. Leslie became an award-winning children’s book author and the ABC’s national drama editor, while Coralie was one of the country’s first female broadcasters. They influenced the development of an authentically Australian arts culture and included among their friends Mary Gilmore, Ruth Park, D’Arcy Niland, Mary Durack and Vance and Nettie Palmer. I love reading about the thirties. What an era for writing, art, music and theatre. This book added to my knowledge of this time—a most interesting read. Janice Wilder