The Crossing Places

An atmospheric adventure with beloved forensic archaeologist and “captivating amateur sleuth” Ruth Galloway, as she teams up with Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson to investigate a set of remains, thought to be the bones of a little girl who went missing ten years before—“an inspired creation” (Louise Penny).

Forensic archeologist Ruth Galloway is in her late thirties. She lives happily alone with her two cats in a 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 relics are harshly upended when a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach. DCI Nelson calls Ruth for help, believing the bones to be 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?

ELLY GRIFFITHS is the author of the Ruth Galloway and Magic Men mystery series, and the standalone novel The Stranger Diaries. She is a recipient of the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the CWA Dagger in the Library Award.