The Crossing Places
The First Ruth Galloway Mystery: An Edgar Award Winner
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4.4 • 79 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
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
Customer Reviews
Not as compelling as I expected
I found this series through a list of recommended archaeological mystery series. It didn’t have nearly as much archaeology in it as I expected from the recommendation, and to me the novel seemed rather bogged down with protagonist Ruth’s every thought. To me she came across as shallow and rather dense, but in fairness I might seem the same way if most of my thoughts were recorded as I thought them. The text also repeatedly emphasized that Ruth was supposedly a feminist, yet she seemed envious of every other woman character and she used the term “man” whenever she meant “humanity.” I finished the book unsure whether to try the next book in the series in hopes it improves.