The Woman in Blue (#8 Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

Mystery and police procedural set in Walsingham. The book description given is not really what this particular book is about.

Briefly, and without spoilers, a woman is found murdered in a ditch close to an old church graveyard where she was seen by Cathbad, one of the recurring characters in this series, while he was housesitting at the cottage attached to the church. She was wearing a white nightdress and blue robe, but she is not a vision of the Virgin Mary, but a patient at a nearby drug treatment facility. Nelson and his team are investigating when a second murder follows. Both victims were blonde. In addition, a group of female priests is visiting the area for a course and one of them is an old schoolmate of Ruth's. Hilary is receiving threatening notes because the writer doesn't think there should be female priests. Is the killer the sender of the notes? Nelson has his hands full to solve this case. Meanwhile, the story line continues from previous books as Ruth struggles as a single mother to Kate and Nelson deals with some marital problems.

I am not positive, but I think I've only read one other book in this series and I think it may have been the second book. So this 8th was quite a fast forward as far as relationships and events that developed. I didn't feel too lost, but I hesitate to say this is just as good if read as a standalone or if this is the one you pick up first. I wish I had read them all in order! The reason I went back to this one is because I also have The Dark Angel (#10) to read and review.

I like the writing and the interplay between the characters. The fact that Ruth is an archeologist who sometimes works with the police on cases is also very interesting though she didn't really figure much into this particular book. Loved all the details about the history of Walsingham, discussion about religion, pilgrimage and such. I look forward to another episode. I'd like to start from the beginning but I don't know if that will happen!

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the E-book ARC given to me for review back in 2016. Sorry it took so long!