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The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths
On windswept salt marshes, an archaeologist is drawn from ancient bones to a very modern disappearance. Moody and evocative, The Crossing Places layers folklore and forensics into a mystery where the past whispers through every reed and tide.
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In The Crossing Places, did you enjoy ...
... Ruth Galloway’s sharp, no-nonsense forensic expertise and independence?
Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
If you loved following Ruth as she applies archaeology to the bones found in the Norfolk marshes—calmly pushing back when DCI Nelson needs answers fast—you'll click with Temperance Brennan in Déjà Dead. Like Ruth, Tempe is a brilliant, stubborn scientist who lets the evidence lead, even when the case involves old remains, ritual overtones, and pressure from police brass. You get that same brainy, grounded heroine driving the investigation forward.
... how the investigation probes obsession, grief, and memory as much as clues?
In the Woods by Tana French
When Ruth and Nelson sift through the marsh's past—from the Iron Age henge to the anonymous, myth-laced letters about Lucy’s disappearance—the case turns deeply personal and unsettling. In the Woods leans into that same psychological pull: detective Rob Ryan’s inquiry into a child’s murder dredges up unresolved trauma and unreliable memory. If you were drawn to how The Crossing Places entwines evidence with the investigators’ inner lives, this will grip you.
... the moody, place-rich mystery rooted in the natural world?
The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home
If the wind-bitten salt marsh and tidal flats—almost a character alongside Ruth and Nelson—hooked you, try The Sea Detective. Oceanographer Cal McGill uses currents and coastline science the way Ruth uses stratigraphy, tracing human stories carried by the sea. The ecology isn’t just backdrop; like the marsh in The Crossing Places, it shapes clues, danger, and atmosphere.
... the thrill of piecing together a case from letters and documents?
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Those taunting, scholarly letters Nelson receives—peppered with archaeology and myth—turn you into a co-investigator in The Crossing Places. The Appeal pushes that pleasure center stage: the entire mystery unfolds through emails, texts, memos, and notes. If decoding the killer’s missives in Ruth’s case lit you up, you’ll love sifting this dossier for lies, motives, and the truth hiding between the lines.
... a close-knit community mystery where every relationship matters?
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
Part of what makes The Crossing Places tense is how the small Norfolk circle—from academics to neighbors on the marsh—feeds secrets into Ruth and Nelson’s search for Lucy. In A Cold Day for Murder, Kate Shugak investigates a disappearance in a remote Alaskan community where everyone knows everyone, and hidden histories steer the case. If you liked that tight, intimate web of suspects and ties, this delivers it in spades.
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