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Elly Griffiths

Crossing Places Paperback – 5 February 2009

by Elly Griffiths (Author)

2,284 ratings

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The Crossing Places: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 1
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When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, Ruth Galloway lectures at the University of North Norfolk. She lives happily alone in a remote, wild place called Saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea under Norfolk's vast skies. For company she has her cats Flint and Sparky, and Radio 4. When a child's bones are found in the marshes near an ancient site that Ruth worked on ten years earlier, Ruth is asked to date them. The bones turn out to be two thousand years old, and DCI Harry Nelson, who called on Ruth for help, is disappointed. He'd hoped they would be the bones of a child called Lucy who's been missing for ten years. He's been getting letters about her ever since - bizarre notes with references to ritual and sacrifice and quoting the Bible and Shakespeare. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson receives another letter similar to the ones about Lucy. Soon it becomes clear that Ruth is in grave danger from a killer who knows that her expert knowledge is being used to help the police with their enquiries.

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Product details

Publisher : Quercus Publishing (5 February 2009)
Language: : English
Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1847248055
ISBN-13 : 978-1847248053
Dimensions : 15.2 x 23.2 x 2.2 cm

Customer Reviews:
2,284 ratings

Product description

About the Author

Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly's husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece's head with the myths and legends of that area. Elly has two children and lives near Brighton. Though not her first novel, The Crossing Places is her first crime novel.

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Top reviews from Australia

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Wonderful! A whole new series.

Reviewed in Australia on 8 September 2019

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I love book series. It is so good getting to know people through their different adventures and how they feel about life. The people in this series are very believable and also very acceptable.

That we have an archaeologist woman with enough wit and intelligence, to draw me into her world of ancient Britain and its historical roots has been like drawing a dog to a bone. I love the mixture of archaeology and murder investigation.

There is an impossible affair that will probably run through the whole of the next 11 books, but that's good too. Who wants a quick romance?

The murders could be ancient or modern, it takes a while to find out, then it's a question of Oo dun it? There's plenty of scope and interest.

Yes, that's me sorted for the next 11 books. :)

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This will be a wonderful series!

Reviewed in Australia on 22 January 2018

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Now this was an excellent first in the Ruth Galloway Mysteries. Ruth is a fascinating lead character, such an usual lead, dumpy, living in the wilds of windblown Norfolk with a remarkable skill in archeology. It’s this skill that leads DI Nelson to her for assistance in a missing girl of ten years. There are so many suspects, great fun, I must say I guessed who was the kidnapper which tells me most other readers will as well. However don’t let that detract from this story, Ruth and Nelson will go onto many more mysteries and bones to pick over and it will be riveting and exciting reading.

3 people found this helpful

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Read it and you'll be sure to want more

Reviewed in Australia on 7 January 2018

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This was my first experience of Elly Griffiths' writing and the narration in the third person present took a few pages to get used to, but once into the story it was hard to put down.

Two missing children over a period of 10 years, linked to ancient sacrifice and the discovery of a mystical circle buried in the salt marsh is the basis of the plot. And while I am generally not a fan of archaeology or mysticism,the characters of Doctor Ruth Galloway, the overweight academic, and DCI Nelson, the stolid cop, is an unlikely combination that works well in carrying the story. Ultimately it is the complexity of the relationships and feelings; the small betrayals that destroy trust and have unforseen consequences, that make the novel.

Griffiths is an excellent writer with characters and place so well-drawn that by the end you feel you might have observed it all from the front window of the empty weekender next door to Ruth's cottage.

2 people found this helpful

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Excellent series.

Reviewed in Australia on 3 April 2019

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I started reading this series many years ago, but after about book 5, for some reason I was distracted by other obsessions. My sister, another avid reader, had just finished the last book in the series and she reignited my interest in Ruth Galloway and DCI Harry Nelson and their adventures; adventures that always have some connection to Ruth's job and passion, archaeology—specifically bones.

Rereading The Crossing Place has made me realise just how much I previously enjoyed Elly Griffiths' books and I know it will be very easy to work my way through to the end.

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alan riles

Enjoyable. Plot predictable but setting superb

Reviewed in Australia on 16 January 2021

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The Fens coastal marshes well portrayed and the concept of archaelogy and its detective work as a foil to the police detective work on murdered/missing child cases worked for me. I guessed the murderer about halfway through and the final 'thrilling' chase scenes frankly did not add much to this otherwise well paced story. But a worthwhile read.

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steellyn

Just read it

Reviewed in Australia on 31 July 2016

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I recently discovered this series and am eagerly working my way through the whole lot. My only concern is that I will run out soon. Dr Galloway is a thoroughly original and likeable character with a wry way of looking at the world and the people in it. While this is not at all comedic and actually has some very dark themes, I still had plenty of quiet smiles because of the incisive and telling insights and comments.

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Most Enjoyable

Reviewed in Australia on 22 February 2019

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Good story and how nice to have a heroine who is not slender, extremely attractive and well dressed. Ruth is overweight, dresses poorly and doesn't much care. Well she does, a bit, but not enough to change. And her personality shines through. The story is good, a goodly amount of English archaeological references and a non-brutal crime novel.
Worth the read.

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ECamaldulensis

Absolutely readable

Reviewed in Australia on 9 July 2017

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I really enjoyed this book and am already so attached to the characters that I know I will read the rest of the series. The descriptions of the landscape and the weather are excellent; the mystery element of the plot has sufficient red herrings that I wasn't sure if I'd picked the perpetrator (although I had).

One person found this helpful

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SkullWitchery

Shame on you the author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2019

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I never leave one star reviews for authors, I would rather not leave any review. But this has got me so angry! A 12st size 16 woman is overweight? Fat? Fat people are 'allowed' to wear coloured scarves? If the woman is under three feet in height, then yes, 12st is a tad excessive, but the average woman is not fat and overweight when she is a size 16. That is fat shaming and I am so disappointed this author has thought to include this in her books. 12st size 16 is not a cause for hiding bathroom scales.
ME? I am a healthy size 16 and am by no means fat!

27 people found this helpful

Ninaminacat

Archaeology - and atmosphere!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2016

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Initially, it was idea of calling in an archaeologist to examine some bones in the reinvestigation of a cold case that attracted me to this book. Archaeology and, it turned out, mythology and literature are important aspects of the narrative and the case, making this a refreshingly different type of detective novel. The plot itself, which is revealed from a number of viewpoints, is well constructed, with plenty of surprises and the end is particularly gripping. However there are two things that will really stick in my mind. The first is the atmospheric description of the bleak saltmarsh. I could really imagine myself there in the rain and darkness! The second is the convincing character of Ruth, whom, at first I feared might be a little insipid and slightly irritating, but to whom I soon warmed. I am intrigued to see how she develops both as a person and as an investigator, so I have bought the whole series!

43 people found this helpful

Tigers Dancing

The brilliant beginning of a series you'll fall in love with...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2017

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Just recently, in one of my regular trawls through the shelves of the Oxfam bookshop, I came across a book called 'The House at Sea's End' which I thought looked and sounded rather interesting. Set on the Norfolk coast, involving mysterious bones and strange secrets dating back to the war, it sounded right up my street.
However, when I went to start reading it a couple of days later I discovered that it was in fact the third in a series. I am far too much of a pedant to read a book series in the wrong order, so I turned to Amazon to acquire books one and two. And what a true box of delights I have discovered. I have instantly elevated 'Elly Griffiths' (pen name of Domenica de Rosa) to top ten author status. And totally fallen in love with Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, bone specialist, crazy cat lady and lover of the bleak flat coastlines and broad skies of Norfolk.
These books are a delight. I've just finished book five and I have yet to be bored. I love a good crime thriller as much as anyone, but when there's a history/archaeology element thrown in, a set of regular characters who creep further into your heart as you read each book and the majority of the action is set in a recognisable version of Norfolk; well, I have never been happier. I feel as if these books were written just for me, but that doesn't stop me believing other people are likely to enjoy them. Start at 'The Crossing Places' (book one) and I swear you'll be hooked. I'm only upset that I'll have to wait until next February to read book ten.

29 people found this helpful

Melanie Preston Lewis

Perfection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2019

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If you want nearly 8 and a half hours of perfection, this is the book for you! The first book in what transpires as one of the best series I have ever had the pleasure of reading and listening to. These books are so good I 'double dip' them; that is I read them and I also listen to them on Audible. Why we have yet to meet Dr Ruth Galloway and DI Harry Nelson on the screen is one of life's unsolved mysteries. They are the most unlikely, and yet the most endearing of couples. Within this, the first book, they have captured my heart and I know I will carry them with me through all the books that will follow. Clever, carefully constructed plot and sub plots that captivate and pithy dialogue will leave you feeling bereft at the book's end. I am genuinely surprised when I don't get invited to their Christmas party, as I think of Nelson, Clough and Judy as my friends. How I would love to know someone like Cathbad; what a wonderful and interesting companion he is. Elly Griffiths seems to possess the magic formula to constructing the perfect book and it is complemented by the wonderful narration from Jane McDowell. There is nothing better than a few hours with Dr Ruth Galloway. 5 fulsome stars and onto the next one from me.

11 people found this helpful

dot dot dot

A story about the world’s dumbest police officer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 July 2020

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I’m a quarter of the way through this nonsense and if it weren’t on my kindle, would have thrown it against the wall already because it’s stupid beyond words.

It’s about an overweight archaeologist (her weight is CONSTANTLY referred to, so it must be important - perhaps it’s what the author considers characterisation) who is asked for help on a case by the dumbest detective inspector in the world.

How do we know he’s dumb? Because he knows absolutely nothing about anything - at one point she has to explain what radio carbon dating is. Apparently he’s never heard of it. But that’s just the start of the dumbness. She actually had to explain the entire plot to him.

He shows her letters, possibly from the perpetrator of an abduction/murder, which he’s had for a decade and she has to explain them to him as apparently in the world this is set in, there’s no such thing as a dictionary, encyclopaedia or google. And as the entire police force are uneducated dullards and he’s never thought to ask anyone before, no one has been able to work out the blindingly obvious references in the letters. For example, she has to explain to him what Yggdrasil is (remember, he’s been a detective for donkeys years but isn’t capable of looking this up) and eventually she just makes him a list of all literary and religious references in the letters. Letters that the police have had for 10 years!! He hands those letter (possible evidence) over to her because the police station is equipped with neither a scanner nor a photocopier and he can’t think of any way to make a copy.

Even dumber: he takes her on an interview with a possible murder suspect for no reason at all. One can only assume this is a new form of policing where the police bring random strangers into suspects’ homes to watch murder interviews being conducted. Perhaps the police also offer scones with cream at the event to jolly everyone’s day?

Dumberer yet: he takes a dead cat so he can “test it for fingerprints”.

Not sure if it’s worth continuing with this drivel. This actually makes The Da Vinci Code look erudite and sophisticated.

6 people found this helpful

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Crossing Places Paperback – 5 February 2009

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