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ACCLAIMED AND BESTSELLING REGIONAL CRIME FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE STRANGER DIARIES

‘My favourite current series’ Val McDermid

‘Ruth Galloway is one of the most engaging characters in modern crime fiction’ Kate Mosse

‘Elly Griffiths writes with a sharp, smart eye and great elegance’ Peter James

Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway.

She has a new job, home and partner, and is no longer North Norfolk police’s resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Ivor March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this, and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried – but only if Ruth will do the digging.

Curious, but wary, Ruth agrees. March tells Ruth that he killed four more women and that their bodies are buried near a village bordering the fens, said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, mysterious figures holding lights that lure travellers to their deaths.

Is Ivor March himself a lantern man, luring Ruth back to Norfolk? What is his plan, and why is she so crucial to it? And are the killings really over?

Publisher Review

The writing is excellent. It puts me in mind of the late, great Ruth Rendell ... the characterisation is perfect ... a cracker of a book * The Bookbag * A deftly plotted thriller, and most likeable entertainment * Irish Independent * Elly Griffiths's great achievement in her Dr Ruth Galloway series has been to create an atmosphere as comforting as that of any traditional detective story and yet introduce to it credible crimes and lifelike characters with convincing preoccupations * Literary Review * Once again, Elly Griffiths delivers witty, insightful and brilliant storytelling as the redoubtable Dr Galloway burrows away to expose the Lantern Men's dark secrets * Daily Mirror * As ever, creepy Norfolk folklore is skillfully blended with the ongoing saga of the personal lives of Ruth, her friends and colleagues (and now, their children). Warm, but never cloyingly cosy, this is the most lovable of current crime series * S Magazine, Sunday Express * Like its predecessors, The Lantern Men has a great sense of place and an awareness of the remorseless passing of time. The climactic bicycle race across the fens, foregathering all the suspects, will take your breath away * The Times *