Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James
5 primary works • 18 total works
Book 9
When Detective Inspector Gemma James is persuaded by her friend, Hazel, to take a trip to the misty Scottish Highlands, she jumps at the chance. But upon their arrival it becomes clear that Hazel has been concealing a dangerous secret.
At their remote B&B the pair encounter Donald Brodie, the owner of a local distillery . . . and Hazel’s former lover. Their relationship had ended abruptly years before. Now Donald is convinced he can win Hazel back.
But the lovers' reunion yields shocking - and mortal - consequences. Gemma soon discovers that, in this tight-knit community, there is no shortage of murder suspects. And beneath the hospitable surface, there lurks a hundred years of bitter family rivalry waiting to emerge . . .
‘As rich and history laden as a tartan plaid . . . this is a pure gem’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Book 15
Book 16
Book 17
Book 18
Crombie's characters are rich, emotionally textured, fully human. They are the remarkable creations of a remarkable writer.--Louise Penny
"Nobody writes the modern English mystery the way Deborah Crombie does--and A Bitter Feast is the latest in a series that is gripping, enthralling, and just plain the best." -- Charles Todd, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Ascot and A Cruel Deception
New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie returns with a mesmerizing entry in her "excellent" (Miami Herald) series, in which Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are pulled into a dangerous web of secrets, lies, and murder that simmers beneath the surface of a tranquil Cotswolds village.
Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James, have been invited for a relaxing weekend in the Cotswolds, one of Britain's most enchanting regions, famous for its rolling hills, golden cottages, and picturesque villages.
Duncan, Gemma, and their children are guests at Beck House, the family estate of Melody Talbot, Gemma's detective sergeant. The Talbot family is wealthy, prominent, and powerful--Melody's father is the publisher of one of London's largest and most influential newspapers. The centerpiece of this glorious fall getaway is a posh charity harvest luncheon catered by up-and-coming chef Viv Holland. After fifteen years in London's cut-throat food scene, Viv has returned to the Gloucestershire valleys of her childhood and quickly made a name for herself with her innovative meals based on traditional cuisine but using fresh local ingredients. Attended by the local well-to-do as well as national press food bloggers and restaurant critics, the event could make Viv a star.
But a tragic car accident and a series of mysterious deaths rock the estate and pull Duncan and Gemma into the investigation. It soon becomes clear that the killer has a connection with Viv's pub--or, perhaps, with Beck House itself.
Does the truth lie in the past? Or is it closer to home, tied up in the tangled relationships and bitter resentments between the staff at Beck House and Viv's new pub? Or is it more personal, entwined with secrets hidden by Viv and those closest to her?
--Library Journal
A corpse, burned beyond recognition, has been uncovered in a vacant warehouse in Southwark . . . A young, beautiful hospital administrator has vanished without a trace, her past a mystery to even her closest friend . . .
And across the City, within an old, dark, rambling house, a rigidly controlling, anonymous woman is holding ten-year-old Harriet hostage.
While innocent lives hang in the balance, sinister truths unfurl and DS Duncan Kincaid and DI Gemma James must call upon all resources to work together on their most menacing case yet . . .
‘Deborah Crombie just keeps getting better and better. In a Dark House is utterly compelling’ PETER ROBINSON
In the past: It is September 1939 and thousands of children are being evacuated from London. Among them 12-year-olds Lewis Finch and William Hammond, both billeted on the Surrey estate of the formidable Regina Burne-Jones. Both become allies, then friends, and thus begins a story of choice and betrayal the repercussions of which will echo down the years . . .
In the present: Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are called out to investigate a death in London's East End. A young woman known as Annabelle Hammond has been strangled. Prime suspect is a busker she was seen talking to just before she disappeared. And when he turns out to be Gordon Finch, Duncan decides to investigate events which occurred more than fifty years before.
When a body is found floating in the Thames river lock one damp and dreary morning, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James are summoned from Scotland Yard to the Chiltern Hills outside London. The dead man is Connor Swann, son-in-law of London's most renowned opera personalities. And prints on his neck suggest that Swann was strangled.
As Duncan and Gemma explore the quiet woods above the Thames and the flamboyant world of London opera in search of answers, they discover a tangled web of family secrets and hidden emotions. And when Duncan finds himself dangerously drawn to a suspect, he and Gemma must sort out their complicated feelings for one another...
The murder at Holmbury St Mary was not one that Superintendent Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard would relish investigating. A man has been beaten to death in his own home. A man who just happened to be Commander Alastair Gilbert of the Metropolitan Police...
Only adding to Kincaid's problems are his tangled personal feelings for Sergeant Gemma James. And in an investigation of this importance neither can afford a breakdown in their relationship.
Combining subtle emotional nuances and psychological insights with the intricacies of police procedure, Deborah Crombie produces a powerful contemporary mystery in the classic tradition.
When Superintendant Duncan Kincaid takes Gemma, Kit and Toby to visit his family in Cheshire, Gemma is soon entranced with Nantwich town's pretty buildings and the historic winding canal, and young Kit is instantly smitten with his cousin Lally.
But their visit is marred when, on Christmas Eve, Duncan's sister discovers a mummified infant's body interred in the wall of an old dairy barn; a tragedy hauntingly echoed by the recent drowning of Peter Llewellyn, a schoolmate of Lally's.
Meanwhile, on her narrowboat, former social worker Annie Lebow is living a life of self-imposed isolation, preparing for a lonely Christmas, made more disturbing by an unexpected meeting earlier in the day.
As the police make enquiries into the infant's death, Kincaid discovers that life in the lovely town of his childhood is far from idyllic, and that the dreaming reaches of the Shropshire Union Canal hold dark and deadly secrets . . .
A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer.
Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.
Perhaps it is a blessing when Jasmine Dent dies in her sleep. At long last an end has come to the suffering of a body horribly ravaged by disease.
It may well have been suicide; she had certainly expressed her willingness to speed the inevitable. But small inconsistencies lead her neighbor, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard, to a startling conclusion: Jasmine Dent was murdered.
But if not for mercy, why would someone destroy a life already so fragile and doomed?
As Kincaid and his capable and appealing assistant Sergeant Gemma James sift through the dead woman's strange history, a troubling puzzle begins to take shape -- a bizarre amalgam of good and evil, of charity and crime . . . and of the blinding passions that can drive the human animal to perform cruel and inhuman acts.
`Comparisons with Elizabeth George are inevitable . . . Crombie's emotionally intense, quietly yet exquisitely wrought gems have taken on a new brilliance with each offering' The Times
Detective Inspector Gemma James and her family are back in their Notting Hill house and enjoying a quiet spring in London when Gemma receives a plea for help from her friend and neighbour, Erika Rosenthal.
Erika has never shared much of her past, other than telling Gemma that she and her husband came to London before the war as refugees from Nazi Germany. Her long-dead husband was a historian and was found murdered. His murder was never solved. But now the elderly woman needs Gemma's help.
Gemma has a tough challenge. It's a cold case and one that she has neither the time nor the resources to investigate. But then a tragic death places the investigation firmly in the present - and into the hands of her partner Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. Determined to exact justice both Gemma and Duncan hunt down a chilling killer in a case that will have lasting repercussions for everyone involved . . .
