The Dark Angel by Elly Griffiths.

The Dark Angel is the 10th novel in the Dr Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist, series of books. This time Ruth travels to the Liri Valley in Italy for a working holiday to look at some bones, meet up with an old friend, fellow archaeologist Dr Angelo Morelli and to spend time with her daughter Kate. Ruth also takes along her friend Shona, plus her son Louis.

The Dark Angel is like meeting up with old friends. The characters from previous Ruth Galloway novels are carried forward. This novel gave me a familiar warmth as the old characters made their way into the story. It gave me the same feeling I get when I watch Gogglebox on Channel 4 television. Real people whose characters you get so in tune with, you can imagine they are your own friends and family.

The Dark Angel is similar to the other Ruth Galloway novels. It is a character led mystery and NOT a gritty crime thriller. Oh, there is a murder later on in this story but that just adds to the mystery!

I found The Dark Angel to be a lovely, warm, entertaining read. I really enjoyed reading this book and I was very comfortable with all the characters. Elly strongly develops all of her characters and her story is very engaging indeed. I developed a relationship with her characters as though I was the fly on the wall. The emotions generated by the story is similar to that excellent long running drama series on ITV television called Cold Feet.

I liked how Elly wove the issue of housing mobility into her story. Her characters made their point of view about what it is like to move away from your original home into another region or country. The Dark Angel is a novel centered around relationships, relationships between people, the area where they live and the history of the local area.

I enjoyed reading The Dark Angel and I feel exactly the same about it as I did with books 8 and 9. Elly writes her novels really well, high quality and with a warmth that makes you feel part of the story. As with books 8 and 9, I consider The Dark Angel to be a GOOD read and it gets 4 stars from me. I now feel like I have become a fan and you can count me in for book 11.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.