Ruth

Ministry of UnladyLike Activity Spoilers

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## Professional Status

### Occupation

Circus worker (formerly)
Maid (formerly)
Ministry worker

### Affiliation(s)

Hoffman's Circus (formerly)
Elysium Hall (formerly)
Ministry of Unladylike Activity

## Media

### Last appearance

The Body in the Blitz

Ruth is a young Austrian Jewish woman who took refuge in England during the Second World War. She currently works at the Ministry of Unladylike Activity, having previously been employed as a maid at Elysium Hall, and before that, she worked at a travelling circus in Austria. She appears in The Ministry of Unladylike Activity and briefly in The Body in the Blitz.

She is quiet and skinny, and looks quite unassuming, but she is really rather cunning and skilful. She's a fast learner with good observational skills and she's clever, too.

## Background

Ruth was born in Austria and raised Jewish. She seems to have been very close to her family, and recalls learning to make a kipferl by watching her oma making it despite never being directly told the recipe, honing her observational skills. She and her family worked and travelled with Hoffman's Circus, where Ruth learned how to create convincing illusions. When war broke out, Ruth was allowed a visa to come to England to work, but the rest of the family had to stay behind.

In England, after being thoroughly checked by the government, she was hired as a maid to work at Elysium Hall. She was overworked because, due to a shortage of staff, she was technically carrying out the duties of two maids and a cook. She got on poorly with the Foley-Vereys, her employers: she infuriated Iris Verey due to her cooking not tasting English enough, and bore a deep resentment towards Sidney Foley, not just because of his frequent 'jokes' about foreigners being thieves, but also because he was one of the people who got to decide how many refugees were allowed into England, and how many, like her family, had to remain in danger in Europe. Ruth continued to practice Judaism, lighting candles for Shabbat, although her employers were apparently unaware of this.

## Storylines

### Ministry of Unladylike Activity

Ruth is introduced as the Verey family's maid. She was one of the detectives' final two suspects, until near the end of the book when Daisy uncovers the real murderer, who is not Ruth. Although, Daisy reveals, Ruth did know who the murderer was. Additionally, the murderer knew that Ruth knew his identity. He had tried to kill her but accidentally ended up killing Hugh instead, meaning she'd been the intended victim of the second crime. She was also the planned victim of what would be the third crime: the murderer would try to frame her for both of the previous crimes. Ruth then declares that the poltergeist living in Elysium Hall was her all along. She'd been playing tricks she'd learnt from the circus she used to work at to get the family to think a ghost was haunting them. After the murderer was arrested, The Ministry hired Ruth because they thought that anyone who could create illusions so well would be useful.

### The Body in the Blitz

Ruth now works for the Ministry and goes by the codename 'The Cook'. She makes explosives that look like everyday objects, such as cookies, chocolate bars, and even teddy bears. Furthermore, she can put poisons of varying deadliness in fabrics, spray bottles, and pencils.