Audio read by Jane McDowell
8 unabridged cds (8:27)
2009 AudioGO
2009 AudioGO
2010 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
320 pgs.
Adult murder mystery with archaeological overtones
Finished 2/14/2015
Goodreads rating: 3.85
My rating: 4 - Loved it
TPPL
Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England
1st sentence/s: "They wait for the tide and set out at first light. It has rained all night and in the morning the ground is seething gently, a mist rising up to join the overhanging clouds."
My comments: I'm quite excited to have found a new mystery series, and it seems to have pulled me right in! Ruth Galloway, in her late thirties, short and overweight (12 1/2 stone, but I'm not at all sure how much that is) lives by herself with her cats in a small cottage in the salt marshes near Norfolk, England. I can't quite picture this salt marsh, where people who are walking along can get swallowed up and die/drown, or easily get pulled out to sea. I really want to see this place! I think I've actually been quite close, taking the train from Cambridge to Norwich a few years ago - while looking for Norfolk on a map of Britain, it seemed quite close. Ruth's relationship with Inspector Harry Nelson was really interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it's going to develop in later books. Their working relationship and respect for each other is strong, but the personal relationship that's begun certainly has some far-reaching possibilities. Although resolution of the mystery was, indeed, pretty easy to figure out, I'm expecting some good things from books-to-come in this series. This was just setting them up!
Goodreads book summary: When she’s not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone in a remote area called Saltmarsh near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants - not quite earth, not quite sea.
When a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help. Nelson thinks he has found the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing ten years ago. Since her disappearance he has been receiving bizarre letters about her, letters with references to ritual and sacrifice.
The bones actually turn out to be two thousand years old, but Ruth is soon drawn into the Lucy Downey case and into the mind of the letter writer, who seems to have both archaeological knowledge and eerie psychic powers. Then another child goes missing and the hunt is on to find her.
As the letter writer moves closer and the windswept Norfolk landscape exerts its power, Ruth finds herself in completely new territory – and in serious danger.
THE CROSSING PLACES marks the beginning of a captivating new crime series featuring an irresistible heroine.
When a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach nearby, Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson calls Galloway for help. Nelson thinks he has found the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing ten years ago. Since her disappearance he has been receiving bizarre letters about her, letters with references to ritual and sacrifice.
The bones actually turn out to be two thousand years old, but Ruth is soon drawn into the Lucy Downey case and into the mind of the letter writer, who seems to have both archaeological knowledge and eerie psychic powers. Then another child goes missing and the hunt is on to find her.
As the letter writer moves closer and the windswept Norfolk landscape exerts its power, Ruth finds herself in completely new territory – and in serious danger.
THE CROSSING PLACES marks the beginning of a captivating new crime series featuring an irresistible heroine.
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