Go figure: one of my favorite English mystery writers is . . . a Texan? Yes, it’s true. The biographical blurb in the back of Deborah Crombie’s English mystery novels insist that she was born and lives in Texas. As an American myself, I can’t claim to be the final authority...
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If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to write a murder mystery, imagine trying to create something like A Bitter Feast, Deborah Crombie’s eighteenth entry in the Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid series. Forget the plot. Just consider the large cast of characters. An epically large cast...
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes The more mysteries and thrillers I read, the more I see that my tastes are sharpening. I’ve always known that the work of certain bestselling authors left me cold—all those blood-drenched descendants of Mickey Spillane who have learned that brutality and...
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It’s Christmastime in Cheshire, and the Duncan Kincaid-Gemma James household is relocating from London to visit his parents and his younger sister. 13-year-old Kit (Duncan’s son) and 5-year-old Toby (hers) and the boys’ two dogs are off to the countryside. There, they’ll...
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Here you’ll find my (admittedly incomplete) guide to the most outstanding detective series set in countries all across the world. It’s a work in progress. Expect to see more added here from time to time. Below I’ve listed 30 outstanding detective series set outside the United States....
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Let me see if I’ve got this straight. There are lots of cops in Deborah Crombie’s latest detective novel, Garden of Lamentations, a story of police corruption. Six of them, for starters: Co-protagonists Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James are...
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A review of The Sound of Broken Glass, by Deborah Crombie. @@@ (3 out of 5). Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid, Gemma James, and Melody Talbot unravel the brutal murder of a prominent London lawyer.
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A review of A Share in Death, by Deborah Crombie. @@@ (3 out of 5). A Share in Death, set in an isolated timeshare hotel in Yorkshire, reads as little different from the old-school parlor tales of Agatha Christie and her imitators. By comparison, Crombie’s later novels are rich with suspense, historical detail, and characters that are hard to forget.
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes Why read mystery stories? What is it about the experience that compels me to return, time after time, to the novels of author Deborah Crombie, Elmore Leonard, Elizabeth George, Ian Rankin, Michael Connolly, and a dozen others? After all, I read about as many...
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Detective Inspector Gemma James and her former partner and current lover, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, make the big move into a home together in the eighth book in Deborah Crombie’s excellent murder mystery series chronicling their rise through the ranks in the Metropolitan Police. The...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.