320 pages
English language
Published April 27, 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
A very spooky, mysterious thriller. The tale offers interesting characters and flawed and interesting heroine and a convoluted plot line. It is an entertainig mystery and one worth returning to the next in the series.
Starts slow, and has all the traits of the traditional boooring "80s-style female detective" novels where women are all sitcom wives that moonlight detectives because men let them. - And then, it becomes a deconstruction with moments of literary brillance. Love it!
A tough read, but an extremely rewarding one, as far as I'm concerned. Went to this expecting nothing, and will now continue directly with the sequel.
First book in the Ruth Galloway series (currently up to 14 books!), The Crossing Places tells how Ruth, an archeology teacher at a small English university, gets involved in a murder / disappearance investigation. Some bones are uncovered and she is called it to try and date them. Although they turn out to be thousands of years old, she nevertheless gets involved in the ongoing investigation, as ties to her past get dredged up.
I really liked this heroine and the story. As a slightly overweight single woman, living with 2 cats out in the middle of nowhere, she is a real antihero. She is confident in her specialty, but full of doubts in many other areas. She shows some surprising strength and is fun to be with. The writing is solid and the story interesting, with plenty of twists and turns. I am anxious to give the next one …
First book in the Ruth Galloway series (currently up to 14 books!), The Crossing Places tells how Ruth, an archeology teacher at a small English university, gets involved in a murder / disappearance investigation. Some bones are uncovered and she is called it to try and date them. Although they turn out to be thousands of years old, she nevertheless gets involved in the ongoing investigation, as ties to her past get dredged up.
I really liked this heroine and the story. As a slightly overweight single woman, living with 2 cats out in the middle of nowhere, she is a real antihero. She is confident in her specialty, but full of doubts in many other areas. She shows some surprising strength and is fun to be with. The writing is solid and the story interesting, with plenty of twists and turns. I am anxious to give the next one a try. Not sure where it goes, but it should be fun.
This was fun. Not a literary masterpiece, and not the best detective story I've ever read, but it was exactly what I needed at the moment. I'm ready for another not-overly-heavy detective series.
I picked up this book because I thought it would be a fantastic book. Archaeology? Check. Mystery? Check. Series? Check. I wanted to love it. I just like it.
Ruth is a forensic archaeologist, which is fascinating to me. I'm a bit jealous, actually. But this series hasn't crossed into "favorite series" territory for me, at least not yet. My nitpicks: Ruth constantly complains about her weight and is jealous of basically all other women in the world because of it, despite having men hitting on her all of the time. She has a real beef with her parents because they are Born Again Christians. You are nearly 40, Ruth. Be an adult, accept that they hold different beliefs than you, and move on. Or cut ties. And I have a real issue with violence against animals and children, and extra-marital affairs. This book hits all of my hot buttons. …
I picked up this book because I thought it would be a fantastic book. Archaeology? Check. Mystery? Check. Series? Check. I wanted to love it. I just like it.
Ruth is a forensic archaeologist, which is fascinating to me. I'm a bit jealous, actually. But this series hasn't crossed into "favorite series" territory for me, at least not yet. My nitpicks: Ruth constantly complains about her weight and is jealous of basically all other women in the world because of it, despite having men hitting on her all of the time. She has a real beef with her parents because they are Born Again Christians. You are nearly 40, Ruth. Be an adult, accept that they hold different beliefs than you, and move on. Or cut ties. And I have a real issue with violence against animals and children, and extra-marital affairs. This book hits all of my hot buttons. But I bought the first four books before reading any of them, so I will at least read through those before giving up on Ruth and company.
(And the mystery did keep me guessing--it had a lot of twists and red herrings, so that's nice.)
