The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths picks up just a few months after The Crossing Places. ** Spoiler ** Ruth Galloway is pregnant with Detective Harry Nelson’s child. She is committed to raising the child on her own since Detective Nelson is happily married with two daughters.
In this installment, Ruth finds herself involved with two archaeological digs. One of the digs takes place on the site of a former children’s home. A developer is in the process of tearing down the house and turning the site into apartments, but the requisite archaeological dig unearths the skeleton of a young girl. The bones are first thought to be those of a 1970s runaway from the children’s home, but a filling in the girl’s tooth proves the skeleton more likely died in the 1950s. After she examines the bones, someone begins to frighten Ruth by leaving items, such as a dead bird and Ruth’s name in blood, on the site of the second dig that Ruth is involved in. These items cause Ruth great distress.
The big mystery surrounds the identity of the skeleton. Interspersed with the main story are chapters written from the point of view of the murderer. The murderer is well educated in history and mythology. In fact, both Ruth Galloway novels have integrated mythology and history into present day stories. In The Janus Stone, Janus is referenced as the god of beginnings and transitions. Janus acts as a gatekeeper, which includes doorways. The girl’s skeleton is found under the doorway to the home. Thus, the archaeologists think that the child may have been a sacrifice to Janus.
The Janus Stone is a good read, but I recommend starting with The Crossing Places. Many of the characters and events from The Crossing Places are referenced in the second novel. At the end of The Janus Stone, there is a teaser for the third novel, The House at Sea’s End. The first few chapters are promising. Minor characters are revisited and a sea setting is prominent. The saltmarsh environment is a large part of what drew me to this series so I will definitely return to this series when it is released in the United States.
Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with an e-galley, via NetGalley.
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