Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-42% $10.99$10.99
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
$8.32$8.32
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Martistore
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
The Janus Stone (Ruth Galloway Mysteries) (Ruth Galloway Mysteries, 2) Paperback – January 10, 2012
Purchase options and add-ons
It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand?
Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out—and fast. When they realize the house was once a children’s home, they track down the Catholic priest who served as its operator. Father Hennessey reports that two children did go missing from the home forty years before—a boy and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that the child’s bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned, Ruth is drawn ever more deeply into the case. But as spring turns into summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the trail by frightening her, and her unborn child, half to death.
- Print length327 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMariner Books
- Publication dateJanuary 10, 2012
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.8 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100547577400
- ISBN-13978-0547577401
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
From the Publisher
The Crossing Places | The Janus Stone | The House at Sea's End | A Room Full of Bones | The Outcast Dead | The Ghost Fields | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Reviews |
4.3 out of 5 stars
20,359
|
4.3 out of 5 stars
14,435
|
4.3 out of 5 stars
14,182
|
4.3 out of 5 stars
11,899
|
4.5 out of 5 stars
13,143
|
4.4 out of 5 stars
12,249
|
Price | $13.99$13.99 | $11.99$11.99 | $6.49$6.49 | $9.99$9.99 | $9.49$9.49 | $10.99$10.99 |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Ruth's second appearance (The Crossing Places, 2009) is an enthralling page-turner that delights in complex characters." --Kirkus, STARRED review —
From the Back Cover
It’s only been a few months since forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing-child case, barely escaping with her life. But when constructions workers demolishing a large old mansion to make way for a new development uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand?
When carbon dating proves that the child’s bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned, Ruth is drawn more deeply into the case. But as spring turns into summer, it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the trail by frightening her, and her unborn child, half to death.
“Delightfully twisted . . . Griffiths is a talented writer and, like its predecessor The Crossing Places, The Janus Stone exhibits her skill at character development and her ability to create a chilling and entirely believable story”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
Elly Griffiths lives near Brighton, on the English coast. The Janus Stone is the second in her Ruth Galloway crime series.
About the Author
Elly Griffiths is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novels The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel; The Postscript Murders; and Bleeding Heart Yard. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A light breeze runs through the long grass at the top of the hill. Close up, the land looks ordinary, just heather and coarse pasture with the occasional white stone standing out like a signpost. But if you were to fly up above these unremarkable hills you would be able to see circular raised banks and darker rectangles amongst the greens and browns – sure signs that this land has been occupied many, many times before.
Ruth Galloway, walking rather slowly up the hill, does not need the eagle’s eye view to know that this is an archaeological site of some importance. Colleagues from the university have been digging on this hill for days and they have uncovered not only evidence of a Roman villa but also of earlier Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements.
Ruth had planned to visit the site earlier but she has been busy marking papers and preparing for the end of term. It is May and the air is sweet, full of pollen and the scent of rain. She stops, getting her breath back and enjoying the feeling of being outdoors on a spring afternoon. The year has been dark so far, though not without unexpected bonuses, and she relishes the chance just to stand still, letting the sun beat down on her face.
‘Ruth!’ She turns and sees a man walking towards her. He is wearing jeans and a work-stained shirt and he treats the hill with disdain, hardly altering his long stride. He is tall and slim with curly dark hair greying at the temples. Ruth recognises him, as he obviously does her, from a talk he gave at her university several months ago. Dr Max Grey, from the University of Sussex, an archaeologist and an expert on Roman Britain.
‘I’m glad you could come,’ he says and he actually does look glad. A change from most archaeologists, who resent another expert on their patch. And Ruth is an acknowledged expert – on bones, decomposition and death. She is Head of Forensic Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk. ‘Are you down to the foundations?’ asks Ruth, following Max to the summit of the hill. It is colder here and, somewhere high above, a skylark sings.
‘Yes, I think so,’ says Max, pointing to a neat trench in front of them. Halfway down, a line of grey stone can be seen. ‘I think we may have found something that will interest you, actually.’
Ruth knows without being told.
‘Bones,’ she says.
Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson is shouting. Despite a notoriously short fuse at work (at home with his wife and daughters he is a pussy cat) he is not normally a shouter. Brusque commands are more his line, usually delivered on the run whilst moving on to the next job. He is a man of quick decisions and limited patience. He likes doing things: catching criminals, interrogating suspects, driving too fast and eating too much. He does not like meetings, pointless discussions or listening to advice. Above all, he does not like sitting in his office on a fine spring day trying to persuade his new computer to communicate with him. Hence the shouting.
‘Leah!’ he bellows.
Leah, Nelson’s admin assistant (or secretary, as he likes to call her), edges cautiously into the room. She is a delicate, dark girl of twenty-five, much admired by the younger officers. Nelson, though, sees her mainly as a source of coffee and an interpreter of new technology, which seems to get newer and more temperamental every day. ‘Leah,’ he complains, ‘the screen’s gone blank again.’
‘Did you switch it off?’ asks Leah. Nelson has been known to pull out plugs in moments of frustration, once fusing all the lights on the second floor.
‘No. Well, once or twice.’
Leah dives beneath the desk to check the connections. ‘Seems OK,’ she says. ‘Press a key.’
‘Which one?’
‘Surprise me.’
Nelson thumps the space bar and the computer miraculously comes to life, saying smugly, ‘Good afternoon, DCI Nelson.’
‘Fuck off,’ responds Nelson, reaching for the mouse.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Leah’s eyebrows rise.
‘Not you,’ says Nelson, ‘This thing. When I want small talk, I’ll ask for it.’
Product details
- Publisher : Mariner Books; First Edition (January 10, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 327 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0547577400
- ISBN-13 : 978-0547577401
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.8 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #60,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #544 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)
- #1,710 in Amateur Sleuths
- #2,714 in Women Sleuths (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Thank you for visiting my Amazon author page! I'm the author of two crime series, the Dr Ruth Galloway books and the Brighton Mysteries. Last year I also published a stand-alone, The Stranger Diaries, and a children's book, A Girl Called Justice. I have previously written books under my real name, Domenica de Rosa (I know it sounds made up).
The Ruth books are set in Norfolk, a place I know well from childhood. It was a chance remark of my husband's that gave me the idea for the first in the series, The Crossing Places. We were crossing Titchwell Marsh in North Norfolk when Andy (an archaeologist) mentioned that prehistoric people thought that marshland was sacred ground. Because it's neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a bridge to the afterlife; neither land nor sea, neither life nor death. In that moment, I saw Dr Ruth Galloway walking towards me out of the mist...
I live near Brighton with Andy. We have two grown-up children. I write in a garden shed accompanied by my cat, Gus.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Now that I have read the first two books in the series, I can see the start of the secondary characters who are becoming familiar and I look forward to reading more about them in the future. It is interesting watching the relationship between Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson. I don't think Ruth knows quite what she wants right now but she is looking forward to the birth of her daughter. I think if at all possible one should start with the first book to follow the story and character development.
The locations are always quite atmospheric especially in the first book The Crossing Places. The mystery was not easy to solve. Both books were fast reads as I had difficulty putting the books down as the story had pulled me in . This is a series that I am going to follow. I have downloaded the next two books in the series already.
The two main characters, Ruth and Harry Nelson, make admirable foils for each other, and of course, in this book have a mutual secret that they're trying - not always successfully - to keep from the rest of the characters. Plainly book three in the series will deal with this issue further.
I found the sacrifice parts of the book a bit too icky for my taste, and as so often is the case, the murderer seems to have just too much access both to harmful items and to Ruth's whereabouts. Nevertheless, he gets his comeuppance well and truly at the end. There are plenty of red herrings here, and the other characters are well-drawn. Griffiths' nice sense of humour pervades the book, and is often succinctly funny.
The Kindle version has a number of typos, however, and one particular mistake stands out like a sore thumb to anyone who has any connection with Christianity. The Catholic priest talks about the 'trilogy' of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. I thought perhaps this was intended to show he was a suspect, and not really a priest at all, but it's basically just a surprising error on the part of the author - and her editor.
Top reviews from other countries
Um livro de suspense policial que te deixa entretido.
Recomendo para quem quer uma leitura para o dia a dia.
Excellent stuff. Thank you
But I am more than willing to ignore those facts because all the main characters are so well depicted and likeable.
Also the historical and archeological information certainly adds value to the series so far.
And the landscapes are still beautifully harsh and unwelcoming, but also mesmerising. I’ll stay for the ride and will start part 3 today.