The Chalk Pit: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 9

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Switchbacks lead me to two old kilns—shadowy rings of brick sunk into the ground and green with life, nearly erased.

A working quarry until the 1930s, Seale Chalk Pit was one of a series of small quarries along the Hog’s Back, but since its closure, it has been colonised by over 130 species of chalk grassland plants. Only Wall Brown was missing in 2018 and there was a small decrease in the Vannesids and Large skipper took a tumble.On the other hand, the interpretive sign tells me that the reserve is carefully maintained by volunteers trimming ivy and pollarding trees. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and their history – but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing possibly be true? Meanwhile DCI Nelson may have seen the back of career policeman boss Gerry Whitcliffe but in his place has arrived formidable Superintendent Jo Archer, not only a woman but one with a balance ball, a yoga mat and an eye for strategy whom the team have swiftly dubbed “She Who Must Be Obeyed”. Just south of Canterbury, it’s a favourite destination for walkers, cyclists, pet owners and country lovers; indeed there is something for everyone all year round. Ant hills built by yellow meadow ants are scattered across the nature reserve and are characterised by being covered by springy beds of wild thyme – very fragrant when crushed.

Although The Chalk Pit can be read as a stand-alone I personally would not recommend this as knowing the history of the characters and the relationship dynamics makes this series all the more rewarding. There are steep winding steps with no handrails to the top of the chalk face and the chalk grassland can be slippy when wet. I realize, and later confirm on Google maps, that this is a very small pocket of wildness, dense as it is with turns and life. The chalk grassland contains many interesting grasses and herbs, such as the elegant quaking-grass and clustered bellflower.

I feel myself standing on a fantastical map boundary, another swath of it populating before my eyes. Everywhere the ground is cushioned with wet yellow and brown leaves, moss, ivy, sticks, feathers, angular chunks of chalk that I can scratch and come away with white under my fingernail. Only the very serious problems that Ruth's family and almost all her friends have to face this time are in my eyes a bit overdone. The site was quarried for chalk during the first half of 20th Century and the prominent west-facing slope is a major landmark on Newport’s skyline.