The Crossing Places (2009)

Glad to have discovered a new and fresh voice in the over-crowded crime fiction arena. Well written and believable characters in the first of a series centring on an academic archeologist in East Anglia. Have got the next two in the series lined-up to read, which is high praise indeed from me!

© Koplowitz 2010 ( )

Elly Griffiths has created one of my favorite mystery characters in Ruth Galloway. She's smart and aggressive. While she appears very self-confident, especially in her field of archaeology, she has her own insecurities. I found it really enlightening the way she grew as a character, most notably in her relationship with her parents. Harry Nelson, the other main character and Ruth's foil (and possible love interest) was drawn equally well. I'm sure we've all known his type: outwardly gruff men who take no nonsense from the world, going through life like a bull in a china shop. Their growing mutual respect (and affection) in this story seems natural and realistic. It makes you wonder if there may be something more between them in the future. Other than what happens in this book, of course. The remaining characters seem equally believable, if not quite as deep.

Nelson and Galloway meet when he calls upon her to examine some bones found buried in the marsh. He's hopeful that they belong to a young girl who was kidnapped ten years before, so he can bring some closure both to the case and to the girl's parents. Of course, they're much older than ten years. That would appear to be the end of the story, but when a second girl is taken and all signs point to the crime being related to the earlier case, Ruth becomes more involved with the police investigation. Letters received in both cases require Ruth's special knowledge to unravel, and they point to a location has having particular importance.

This location (and its setting) become a third major character in the book. It's the tidal marsh along Norfolk's north shore and, coincidentally, where Ruth Galloway lives. It's very isolated, with few neighbors. The book takes place in the dead of winter, with storms coming in off the sea. It's dark, cold, and the perfect location for the book. Griffiths knows her location well, and uses her knowledge to create one of the most, moody, claustrophobic atmospheres I've ever encountered. Ruth participated in an archaeological dig on the marsh ten years previously, and has stayed there ever since. The marsh becomes such an integral part of the story that I can't imagine it happening anywhere else.

I can recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who likes contemporary British mysteries, especially if they enjoy stories with a unique atmosphere and a pretty surprising ending. I know I'm really looking forward to checking out the second Ruth Galloway book, The Janus Stone, as soon as our library gets it. ( )

I learned a lot about archeology and it was interesting how Ruth and her profession tied into the mystery. I must say that towards the end I had already guessed who the abductor was, but the book kept my interest throughout every chapter. ( )

Normally I prefer to read series in order, but Elly Griffiths' bookThe House at Sea's End caught my eye on the New Books shelf a while ago. After reading it, I went back to find the first in the series, The Crossing Places. The series deals with the life and detections of Ruth Galloway, a university professor and forensic archaelogist. Forensic archaelogy, the study of bones, is familiar to many readers from the work of Aaron Elkins and Kathy Reichs. Griffiths' work is a worthy addition to the group. Note: several plot points in the first book are resolved later in the series, particularly those dealing with Ruth's personal life. If this bothers you, definitely start with The Crossing Places.
The setting is Norfolk, on England's East Coast: flat, rather treeless, and, where Ruth lives, marshy -- her cottage is one of three at the edge of a saltmarsh. Because of her profession, Ruth is called in to help date a child's skeleton found in the saltmarsh. DCI Nelson of the local police fears the skeleton may be connected to the disappearances, several years apart, of two local children. When the bones prove to be Iron Age, one would think Ruth's involvement would be at an end, but she becomes interested in the cases and is also drawn to Nelson. Meanwhile, two men from her past show up -- Erik, her mentor in archaeology, and Peter, her former live-in lover, now separated from his wife. The three had all been together at a dig on the saltmarsh at about the time of the first disappearance.

The tale grows more complicated as Ruth learns that Nelson has been receiving taunting letters, apparently from the perpetrator, writing about the disappearances in language that shows a familiarity with archaeology and ancient ritual. Could the criminal be someone Ruth knows?
This is a fine story of an amateur sleuth, a professional in her own field, working with a policeman; it also has some thriller elements. The characters are believable in their flawed humanity, the description of the setting makes you see the marsh grasses waving and hear the wind, and the plot comes to a satisfying conclusion. Recommended. ( )

I thought I'd like this novel much more than I did. It's not terrible. Indeed, it has some good features. However, I found it disappointing and predictable overall.

First the good points. The central protagonist, Ruth Galloway, is an academic forensic archeologist. Her occupation has plenty of potential for an absorbing crime fiction series and the narrative contains some interesting discussion about matters archeological. In addition, the location - the salt marshes of Norfolk in the east of England - is suitably atmospheric and a welcome change of pace from the more usual urban or village settings of English crime fiction.

However, the not-so-good aspects of the novel overwhelm the more positive ones. Griffiths is by no means a terrible writer but her prose is on the clunky side. This is partly because she chose to tell the story in the third person and in the present tense, which is tricky to get right. Hilary Mantel pulls it off in [b:Wolf Hall|6101138|Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)|Hilary Mantel|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336576165s/6101138.jpg|6278354], but then Mantel is a rather exceptional writer. The device is much less successful here. The characterisation is also not particularly successful. Ruth Galloway, while a likeable protagonist, is a walking cliché: a late thirties, overweight, single woman whose cats are her substitute children. And before readers of this review comment that I'm the one creating a cliché about cats being a substitute for children, Griffiths has her character specifically state that this is the role the cats play in her life. The supporting characters have little depth and are also very much on the cliché spectrum. Another real weakness with the novel is the predictability of the plot. Even though I'm generally not good at solving fictional crime before the big reveal, I easily identified the villain from virtually his first appearance.* The villain is so obvious that I didn't even feel clever about having done so.

This is the first novel in a series. I'm not going to completely dismiss the possibility of reading the second in the series, as I liked Ruth, the details of her occupation and the setting, but I won't be making it a priority and I doubt I'll go any further than number 2 unless the quality of the writing improves markedly. This one is possibly better than just okay, but it doesn't quite hit the heights of good, so the rating comes in at 2-1/2 stars.

*I appreciate that revealing the gender of the villain is a spoiler, but given the details of the plot, the villain was inevitably going to be male. Here's another spoiler provided as a warning to sensitive readers. The victims are children and a cat. While the narrative is not especially gruesome or graphic, that may be a deal-breaker for some. ( )