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The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1)

Elly Griffiths

Start date: November 12, 2014

Finish date: December 1, 2014

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What Members Thought

May 30, 2022 Rachel N. rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2022, mystery, series, england, kidnapping, archaeology

Ruth Galloway is a forensic archaeologist who teaches at a Norfolk university. She lives in a remote area across from a salt marsh. DCI Nelson asks Ruth for help identifying bones found in the marsh that he believes might be those of a girl who was kidnapped ten years ago. A second girl also recently was kidnapped and Nelson is receiving letters similar to those he got with the first kidnapping. he asks Ruth's help with the letters too because they include archaeological information. I liked the ...more

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Apr 23, 2022 Heather rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: smart-heroine, mystery-thriller, mystery-crime, mystery, suspense-thriller, h-over-30, curvy-heroine

I really enjoyed this first volume in the Ruth Galloway mystery series. The author does a terrific job of setting up Ruth's character - I could almost imagine inhabiting her life in another lifetime. And Norfolk's saltmarshes are one of those memorable places that almost become a character in themselves.

I was disturbed by Ruth's fat-shaming of herself. After all, she's a university professor and renowned archaeologist. But she's 12.5 stone (175 lbs) and the first thing she thinks of when she thi ...more

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Nov 15, 2014 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, mystery

I really liked the character of Ruth and I am really curious to see where she goes from here. But there were a number of inconsistencies in this book which annoyed me a little, and I found the characters were all a bit stereotypical. As for 'who did it' - it was a bit predictable. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to the next one. ...more

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Dec 18, 2023 Chris rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery-thriller, series, mystery, england

I've been reading about the Ruth Galloway series for years and years, so it was finally time to try the first one. I liked it, even though I thought it was pretty easy to spot the bad person fairly early on. I sort of like the character of Ruth, although I think I'm also just kind of tired of female protagonists who are overweight and down on themselves and spend their spare time drinking with their gorgeous best friend. The mystery isn't a bad one. Ruth is called in to look at bones found on a ...more

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Aug 06, 2016 Judy rated it liked it

Ruth Galloway is an archeologist living in the Saltmarsh, a remote area of Norfolk. She is surprised when she is approached by Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson who wants her to help identify recently discovered bones that he is confident are those of a five year old child who was kidnapped a decade earlier. However, Ruth determines that the bones date from the Iron Age. Slowly Ruth is drawn into the investigation when another young girl disappears.

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