Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James by Deborah Crombie
Share in Death First in the series and introduces Kincaid and James. When New Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid finally takes a well-deserved vacation at a Yorkshire time-share resort, he becomes involved in the murder of an employee there. He enlists the aid of his London partner, Sergeant Gemma James, and the two gather enough material to weed through the resident/suspect young politician, spinster sister, adulterous lovers, etc. Very well written and I didn't know who done it until the very last and I finally realized at the end that I've read it years before. Still read fresh and kept me guessing.
All Shall be Well
Jasmine Dent, a 50-year-old spinster born in India who is dying in London of lung cancer. She is discovered dead by Duncan and though her death resembles suicide it leaves her friend and neighbor from the flat above, him uneasy. The postmortem he orders reveals an overdose of morphine, prompting him and his sergeant, hot-tempered, copper-haired Gemma James, on a thorough investigation. Suspects include 30-ish, disheveled Meg Bellamy, a timid friend with whom Jasmine had considered suicide, and the downstairs neighbor known as the Major, a veteran of the Muslim-Hindu clashes in Calcutta in 1946 and an avid gardener with whom Jasmine had often sat "like two old dogs in the sun." Others include Meg's stunningly handsome, bullying beau Roger, who urged that she help Jasmine end her life; Felicity Howarth, Jasmine's faithful home-care nurse who slaves to keep her brain-damaged son in an institution; and Jasmine's weak-willed brother Theo, owner of a village junk shop who has failed at every venture he's tried. Helped by Jasmine's journal and a visit to a mental hospital, the clues finally click into place to reveal the culprit. Meg makes a decision that promises hope for two people, while Gemma and Duncan, both unlucky in love, move closer to each other.
I did not supsect the ending. As with other Crombie novels she is able to give subtle clues of the innocent and the guilty. Plus she is able to weave this with Kincaid's relationship with his
Sergeant Gemma James.
Leave the Grave Green
Twenty years after their son, Matthew, drowned in an accident near their home, noted opera conductor Sir Gerald Asherton and his wife, Dame Caroline Stowe, who retired from the opera stage after Matty's death, have an eerily similar tragedy to face: The body of their daughter Julia's estranged husband, Connor Swann, of whom they've remained inexplicably fond, has tumbled from the Hambledon Lock. But Connor's death, as Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James soon realize, was anything but accidental, and someone among the circle of mourners must be feigning grief- -unless his killer was his widow. We see the development between Kincaid & Emma develop as well. A very intense read. I listened to this on tape and it was so engrosing.
Mourne Not the Dead
Dreaming of the Bones
Kincaid is asked by his ex-wife in Cambridge to help her prove that a talented poet did not commit suicide, but was murdered. They discover startling news that leads them into an engrossing history of poetry and scandal, found secrets and lost innocence. I'm not sure if I have read any of the books in this series but I will defintely start reading more from this author. I listened to this on CD and enjoyed it the reader.
Kissed a sad goodbye
Duncan Kincaid is trying to spend time with 11-year-old Kit, the grieving son of his recently deceased ex-wife while he determines how to tell the boy that he is his father. The intricacies of this case, however, draw him away from that endeavor and put him and Sergeant James in the company of a complex cast of characters. The murder victim turns out to be Annabelle Hammond, the daughter of rich and powerful William Hammond, the sister of Jo Lowell (whose marriage Annabelle broke up after having an affair with Jo's husband), and the lover of two other men. Hence, there is no shortage of suspects. The clues to the intriguing mystery present themselves as the layers of the story are revealed, much like peeling an onion. Scenes of East London's Isle of Dogs are vividly described. Readers learn about the forced evacuation of children from London during World War II as well as the privations and devastation suffered by England, and especially London, during the war.
And justice there is none
In a dark house