An Interview with Elly Griffiths

Longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2024, Elly Griffiths, joins Harrogate International Festivals and host Joe Haddow, to talk about her book, The Last Remains. 

Ruth and Nelson are working on a murder case in which Cathbad emerges as the prime suspect. Can they uncover the truth in time to save their friend?

When builders renovating a cafe in King’s Lynn find a human skeleton behind a wall, they call for DCI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology at the nearby University of North Norfolk. Ruth is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with Nelson. However, she agrees to look at the case.

Ruth sees at once that the bones are modern. They are identified as the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in the 1990s. Emily attended a course run by her Cambridge tutor. Suspicion falls on him and also on another course member – Ruth’s friend Cathbad, who is still frail following his near death from Covid.

A little more about the author…

Elly Griffiths is a former Editorial Director for children’s books at Harper Collins, Griffiths published her first novel, The Italian Quarter, in 1998 under her own name. A holiday in Norfolk inspired her to write what would become the bestselling novel The Crossing Places, the first novel in the Dr Ruth Galloway series of mystery novels and Rosa’s first novel as Elly Griffiths. She is also the author of the popular Stephens and Mephisto novels which began with The Zig Zag Girl.