She has seen entire excavations ruined because of one moment s carelessness.

It s a body, says Ruth hesitantly, but Slowly she reaches for her towel. Well? Nelson is leaning eagerly over her shoulder. Carefully she scoops out another beakerful of water and only then reaches into the mud and exposes something that is pressed flat against the dark soil. Louise Penny, winner of the Anthony and Agatha awards From THE CROSSING PLACES When the hole is almost free from water, Ruth s heart starts to beat faster. Is it the same killer? Or a copycat murderer, linked in some way to the site near Ruths remote home? *Louise Penny From the Back Cover Ruth Galloway is a captivating amateur sleuth an inspired creation. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson receives a new letter-exactly like the ones about Lucy. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson calls Galloway for help, believing they are 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. But her routine days of digging up bones and other ancient objects are harshly upended when a childs bones are found on a desolate beach. She lives happily alone with her two cats in a bleak, remote area near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants-not quite earth, not quite sea. Book Synopsis The first entry in the acclaimed Ruth Galloway series follows the captivating* archaeologist as she investigates a childs bones found on a nearby beach, thought to be the remains of a little girl who went missing ten years before. About the Book The exciting beginning to a captivating crime series featuring quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway as she investigates a childs bones found on a nearby beach, thought to be the remains of a little girl who went missing ten years before.

The crossing places