Deborah Crombie Mystery Collection

Deborah Crombie Novel

A Finer End by Deborah Crombie

Amazon.com
Although P.D. James has made it to the top of American bestseller lists, she's not the only talented female writer of British mysteries who is popular here. Like James, Deborah Crombie is another exceptional stylist who uses every new book in a series as an opportunity to explore the emotional complexity of her central characters and further reveal the many dimensions of their personal and professional lives. Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his partner and lover, Sergeant Gemma James, are at a crossroads in their relationship. But far more compelling to both of them are their investigations in Glastonbury, the mythical burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere, where Kincaid's cousin Jack has discovered a thousand-year-old secret. Jack hasn't deciphered it yet--it's being transmitted to him by "automatic writing" in communiqués that seem to be coming (in church Latin, of course) from a monk who's been dead for centuries. Of course there's a murder involved--a couple of them, actually--but by the time Kincaid's involvement is officially sanctioned as an investigation rather than a favor for a relative, the reader has been drawn deeply into a much more ancient mystery.
As usual, Crombie creates secondary characters who are as interesting and carefully developed as Kincaid and James: a middle-aged vicar whose life is nearly snuffed out just as she's fallen in love for the first time; a pregnant teenager with apparently psychic abilities that are somehow linked to the ruins of Glastonbury's old abbey; a mendacious historian who understands the true value of the mysterious "letters" from Brother Edmund; and especially the Company of Watchers, the spirits who guard Britain's spiritual heart, who are said to watch over King Arthur until he rises again. There's more than a smidgen of New Age-iness about this somewhat atypical Crombie thriller, but perhaps that will help widen her appeal and bring her the attention her brilliant but largely unknown books deserve.
Book Description
Deborah Crombie has earned extraordinary acclaim for her British mysteries featuring Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his partner Sergeant Gemma James. Now the masterful author of Kissed a Sad Goodbye returns with a spellbinding novel of mysteries -- one contemporary, one ancient -- that will challenge Kincaid and James as no case ever has.
Duncan Kincaid has settled into his life as part-time father to Kit, the twelve-year-old son he only recently discovered. But life has more changes in store: Gemma has pursued a promotion that ends their partnership on the job and places their personal relationship on a new, more tentative footing.
So when Duncan's cousin and childhood friend calls from Glastonbury to ask his help on a rather unusual matter, he welcomes the opportunity to get out of London -- and to spend a relaxing weekend with Gemma. But relaxation isn't on the agenda....
Jack Montfort, Duncan's cousin, grew up in the shadow of Glastonbury Tor in a town revered as the site of an ancient abbey, the mythical burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere, and according to New Age followers, a source of strong druid power. Montfort has not much more than a passing interest in the history of the area -- until he comes across an extraordinary chronicle almost a thousand years old.
The unsettling way this record comes into his hands brings Montfort into contact with a disparate group of townspeople: Nick Carlisle, a student of the myths surrounding Glastonbury's past; Simon Fitzstephen, a Church scholar whose knowledge of the Old Religion and its ceremonies is just as deep; Garnet Todd, a strange and intense woman with a jealous attachment to the young and very pregnant Faith Wills; and Winifred Catesby, the Anglican priest whose love for Jack has nearly healed his grief at the loss of his wife and daughter.
Something terrible and bloody shattered the Abbey's peace long ago, according to Montfort's newly discovered history. And that knowledge will spark a violence that reaches into the present. When a member of Jack's circle is attacked and left for dead, he appeals to Duncan to find the truth the local police cannot see. None of them envisions the peril that lies ahead, or that there is more at stake than either Duncan or Gemma dreamed possible.

Mourn Not Your Dead by Deborah Crombie

Amazon.com
The three things that make Deborah Crombie's books about a pair of Scotland Yard detectives so fascinating are (a) the way the relationship between Superintendent Duncan Kinkaid and Sgt. Gemma James is constantly--and believably--changing; (b) the meticulously researched and impeccably presented details of British police procedure; and (c) the fact that the superb chronicler behind these multi-layered tales of British society is a native Texan and current resident of a small town near Dallas. This fourth entry in Crombie's excellent series sends the gently raised, intellectual Kinkaid and the tougher, more abrasive James out after the killer of a much-unloved senior policeman in suburban Surrey. Other books in the series also available in paperback are All Shall Be Well, Leave the Grave Green, and A Share in Death.

All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie

When a close friend and neighbor is found dead, Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid rejects the initial consensus of suicide and implores a reluctant Sergeant Gemma Jones to help him uncover the truth.

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie

Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Duncan Kincaid vacations incognito at a time-share house in the north of England but must assume his true identity once again when a new acquaintance is found murdered in the hotel whirlpool.

Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie

Nominated for an Edgar, Deborah Crombie's 1997 Dreaming of the Bones was such a triumph in all respects that it's a hard act to follow. Kissed a Sad Goodbye, Crombie's sixth book about Scotland Yard's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, isn't quite as spectacular as her previous rendition. Still, the author who creates her very British world from a town in North Texas has managed to come up with an entirely respectable and highly enjoyable effort. Her story offers a fascinating setting in place of the poignant, personal drama that invigorated Dreaming of the Bones.
The body of a lovely young woman is found in London's fashionable Docklands area. She turns out to be Annabelle Hammond, the director of an old family firm of tea merchants. She was a woman of tremendous talent and sexual appetite, but also the kind of harsh and abrasive personality that provides plenty of motives for murder. The Hammond family is also historically linked to the self-made property developer Lewis Finch and his son, an activist dropout and street musician. The other suspects include a spineless boyfriend who works at the tea firm, a secretary too loyal to be true, and herrings of various shades of crimson. Kincaid and James have to solve it all, even as their own personal problems threaten to intrude. Thanks to Crombie's enviable ability to bring people and places to life with a single phrase, the story zips along like the new Docklands electric railroad.

Leave the Grave Green by Deborah Crombie

When a body pulled from the Thames brings back an old tragedy, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid becomes entangled in the Asherton family history and dangerously drawn to the prime suspect, while Sergeant Gemma Jones struggles with her feelings for Kincaid.

Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie

Amazon.com
Love and death make compelling bedfellows, especially in a romantic mystery as well done as Deborah Crombie's Dreaming of the Bones. Set in England, the story revolves around the recent death of poet Lydia Brooke, an apparent suicide. When Lydia's biographer, Victoria McClellan, questions the verdict, she too dies--but not before involving her ex-husband Duncan Kincaid, a detective with Scotland Yard, in the case. While Kincaid attempts to untangle this web of death and deceit with the help of his lover and partner, the author weaves her own themes about love, art, and obligation deftly into the proceedings.

OxfordBooks.com / Oxford, MS

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