Elly Griffiths

Summoned by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson to help the investigation of bones found near England's Saltmarsh region, archaeologist Ruth Galloway discovers that the remains are bizarrely linked to a case involving a disturbed anonymous letter-writer and a missing child.

The Crossing Places

The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 1

Ipek

It started out interesting, but I think I fell in a semi-coma somewhere around two thirds of the book, and skimmed the rest relatively quickly without losing the plot, and could feel my soul trying to hover over my body even so.

The first entry in the acclaimed Ruth Galloway series follows the "captivating"* archaeologist as she investigates a child's bones found on a nearby beach, thought to be the remains of a little girl who went missing ten years before. Forensic archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway is in her late thirties. She lives happily alone with her two cats in a bleak, remote area near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants—not quite earth, not quite sea. But her routine days of digging up bones and other ancient objects are harshly upended when a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson calls Galloway for help, believing they are the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing a decade ago and whose abductor continues to taunt him with bizarre letters containing references to ritual sacrifice, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson receives a new letter—exactly like the ones about Lucy. Is it the same killer? Or a copycat murderer, linked in some way to the site near Ruth’s remote home? *Louise Penny

Janice Hopper

Warning: may be a bit spoilery.

I see why people like this book, mostly. It's rather atmospheric, with lots of stormy weather and danger in the marshland near where the heroine lives. She's not a bad character in her own right. 

That said, I was pretty sure I knew early on who the Characters of Interest would be. And I was right. I didn't foresee their ends though, so there's that. I almost never care for romance in these kinds of books, so the attraction between Dr. Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson struck me as off-putting and unprofessional. (Nelson is married. I've apparently become a huge judgey prude in my old age.) We're supposed to see Dr. Galloway as very professional and qualified. The book doesn't seem to me that it really shows that though.

And here's my biggest gripe with this story, the one that almost ruined it for me. (view spoiler)[ The plot revolves around two kidnapped girls. One kidnapping was about 10 years ago. The other was more recent. The more recent kidnapping resulted in a dead child. Ruth Galloway found both girls, one by a sudden insight into the layout of the Saltmarsh and its Neolithic ruins, one by accident as she fled one of the Characters of Interest. When she found and rescued the second child, her motherly instinct apparently flared up, and she realized OMG HOW MUCH SHE WANTED A CHILD, AND SHE NEVER KNEW. Which is convenient, because she's pregnant from her one night stand with DCI Nelson. Who's married.

I can believe that some women live their lives like this. I don't, and honestly, I don't want to read about women who do. That attitude is just arrant nonsense to me, and I don't have time for it any more. So I'm not the target audience for this sort of book. Now if it were a dog she wanted instead of a child, I might like it better, LOL. (hide spoiler)]

The book is pretty well written, I guess. I read it pretty quickly. It's not deep or complicated, so if you want that, it's fine. I'm just really hard to please these days. :(

I started the second book, The Janus Stone, but there's a real good chance I'll drop it. Oh well.

Sian Wadey

When I bought this book on Amazon I had no idea that it was written in the present tense, not the past tense like most books. Although to begin with, that was a bit odd once I got into the book I forgot all about it. It's a great story and as well as the murder mystery you're introduced to Ruth's family and friends as well. The book is half murder mystery and half her story, so it's not for those who simply want a murder mystery to be solved, but I thought it was great. I even found myself laughing at some of the stuff she thought. The Crossing Places also has that grab. Even though not all the chapters ended in a cliffhanger I was eager to start reading the next chapter. I've already started reading the next one and it looks as though it'll be a five star now that I'm used to the tense.

Jen Estrella

Emma Myers

** spoiler alert **
           If you want a book where:

1. the main character whines about being ugly, old (she's in her late 30s) and fat that no men want her....because she's fat. 

2. the main character calls cats "child replacements" and that if you arent married and pregnant before 40 ya wasting your life. 

3. that women only exist to talk about men and have babies. That's it. She goes on about her cats being child replacements and that despite not having children by choice that she will "dry up" and regret it. 

4. Shames breast feeding and makes it creepy

5. A BIG fat hypocrite on EVERYTHING. Cheating with Nelson. But then when anyone else cheats or has affairs is literally disgusted and shames them.

6. Sees eric as a father figure she's dtf. Idk about you but i never wanted to sleep with someone father like to me. She got some fucking issues she is mad her father figure didn't try to cheat on his wife with her and sleep with 

7. "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant!" YOU CAN BE FAT AND PREGNANT AT THE SAME TIME. IT IS OKAY TO BE FAT AND LIKE YOURSELF. 

8."I HAVEN'T TOLD NELSON YET." LIKE SO MAD. HE DESERVES TO KNOW YOU CRAZY LADY. HE HAS ANOTHER FAMILY AND HAS SAID HE ISN'T IN LOVE WITH YOU. DISGUSTING WOMAN. 

Bonus! A male main character besides her says that women only wear make up to get a man and That lesbians are short hair, butch women. 

Well, I got this book for you! If the author wasn't a woman herself, I would have assumed they never met one.

Paige Morgan

"The Crossing Places" has a creepy mystery plot, an atmospheric setting, and a competent protagonist: altogether, it should have been unputdownable. Instead, I found it okay, but not amazing. On reflection, this is because it is really a book about the character of Dr. Ruth Galloway (the protagonist), and what Griffiths provides is really the story of how she becomes involved n the case, and what that involvement does to her. The mystery happens around her, and she sort of blunders into becoming more involved. (A thoughtful and thought-provoking book, and perhaps not quite the airplane reading that I had intended it to be (though that isn't the author's fault by any means).

Griffiths seems to be riffing on the cozy genre, trying to create a less improbable instance of it. The back cover description (forensic archaeologist living with her two cats) strongly suggests cozy; what actually happens is a rather somber and melancholy story of an independent woman and how she fits/doesn't fit into the world around her. Based on the first book, I suspect that future volumes in the series will continue quietly but steadily exploring sometimes glossed-over aspects of women's lives.

I'm afraid that I find the book more interesting in hindsight because of how it's playing with the cozy genre, rather than because of the protagonist, the setting, or the plot. I think this is mainly because I wasn't quite in the right mood for it (I wanted something less somber). There was an aspect of the plot that slightly stretched belief for me, and yet the more I think about it, the more I think it is believable (albeit a stupid action by the characters involved, who are not Dr. Galloway).

If I could, I'd give it 3.5 stars. One minor spoiler note, however, about something very disturbing that happens partway through, and is relevant to the dissection of the cozy genre : (view spoiler)[ one of Galloway's cats is killed; its throat is slit and it's left on her doorstep. I can understand doing this; it seems much more realistic than any number of cozies where the cats preside over solving, or stroll in and out being cute. Appreciating the choice didn't make me less bothered by it, however. (hide spoiler)]

I am certainly open to picking up other books in this series,albeit maybe in the spring, when the days are longer.

Sydney

** spoiler alert **
           Honestly, I was really excited about this book. An archeologist who helps solve murders?? Right up my alley! But I wasn’t 30 pages in before I threw the book across the room. 

From the first 30 pages, here’s what I know. We have two main characters. Three chapters in, and this is what I know about them. 

Ruth, an archeologist- “Fat” (she weights like 150 lbs) and never stops talking about it. She has two cats, which apparently makes her weird and sad. If it weren’t for the occasional archeological insight, our girl Ruth wouldn’t even pass the Bechdel test when talking to herself. The only time she ever mentions another woman, it’s her mother, who she hates, and her friend’s wife who is “pretty, but not in a way that makes you feel bad about yourself.” Whatever that means. Speaking as a woman, I have literally never felt bad about myself because someone else was pretty. Seems like a stereotype. A lot of people were annoyed by Ruth’s Atheism. I’m wasn’t bothered by the anti-religious sentiments, so much as being “fat” and an Atheist seemed to be her entire personality. The author clearly had some things to work through when writing this book. 

Harry, a detective- Abuses his power to be a bad driver and likes Ruth because she doesn’t feel the need to “dress like a ****.” But she’s too “fat” to be a cop. Did I mention that he also liked her because she was pretty smart for a girl and could “look him in the eye like an equal”??? Super skeevy, hates his wife and three daughters, and from what I understand, ends up in an affair with Ruth. And we’re supposed to root for this guy? 

Definitely not worth the read. Super disappointing.

Discover one of the most popular crime series in Britain, from the bestselling author of The Stranger Diaries. A child's bones are discovered on the windswept Norfolk marshes. Believing them to be ancient, the police call in Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist. But this is no prehistoric grave. A cold missing person case has now become a murder investigation. 'I've never before read a crime novel in which [archaeology and detection] blend as successfully as in The Crossing Places' Shots Dr Ruth Galloway is called in when a child's bones are discovered near the site of a prehistoric henge on the north Norfolk salt marshes. Are they the remains of a local girl who disappeared ten years earlier - or are the bones much older? DCI Harry Nelson refuses to give up the hunt for the missing girl. Since she vanished, someone has been sending him bizarre anonymous notes about ritual sacrifice, quoting Shakespeare and the Bible. He knows that Ruth's expertise and experience could help him finally to put this case to rest. But when a second child goes missing, Ruth finds herself in danger from a killer who knows she's getting ever closer to the truth...

Heather Roden  

Paula Alonso Ishihara

Pierke Bosschieter

Elly Griffiths (pseud. van Domenica De Rosa.)

Forensisch archeologe Ruth Galloway probeert met behulp van de wetenschap en politieonderzoek jaren oude moorden alsnog op te lossen.

The Crossing Places

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