From Publishers Weekly
Crombie (And Justice There Is None) offers her most captivating outing yet for Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, recently promoted to detective inspector from sergeant. Still getting over the depression caused by her miscarriage, Gemma accepts the invitation of a married friend, Hazel Cavendish, to attend a cooking weekend in Innesfree, Scotland. Gemma thinks the misty, atmospheric landscape of the Highlands, where fine whiskey is distilled and the brogues of the natives ring like music in the air, will be just what she needs to complete her recovery. However, Gemma's hopes are soon dashed by Hazel's revelation that she has come to Innesfree to meet her former lover, Donald Brodie, a handsome distillery owner. When someone shoots Donald dead, Hazel becomes a prime suspect. Gemma investigates, but must be careful to avoid stepping on the toes of DCI Alun Ross, the local authority in charge. Duncan leaves his own problems with his son, Kit, behind in London and joins Gemma in Scotland, but it's Gemma who mainly ferrets out the secrets of the large list of suspects, any one of whom could be the murderer. A master storyteller, Crombie weaves together all the pieces, including a parallel story from a century earlier, to create a fabric as rich and history-laden as a tartan plaid. With vivid settings, well-developed characters and a finely tuned mystery, this is a pure gem guaranteed to satisfy both police procedural and cozy fans.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Michael Deehy convincingly renders a wide range of Scottish and English accents in his superb reading of NOW MAY YOU WEEP, a recent installment in Deborah Crombie's popular series of English mysteries featuring Scotland Yard detectives and lovers Duncan Kinkaid and Gemma James. This time, Duncan and Gemma take a busman's holiday when the host of Gemma's bed-and-breakfast in Glenlivet Valley, Scotland, is murdered. Old romances and festering resentments, both historic and current, provide the context for an entertaining whodunit. In addition to accents, Deehy manages to make clear the frequent shifts in time and place without disturbing the flow of the engaging narration. This is a very good performance of a mystery so satisfying it will have you curled up for the entire weekend. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Here is a country house murder mystery very like the single malt whisky at the heart of it--many-layered, deceptively mellow, packing quite a kick. Crombie separates her popular series characters, Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Notting Hill Station Detective Inspector Gemma James, by having Gemma accompany her best friend to the Scottish Highlands for a cookery weekend. Gemma soon learns she was invited as a front for her married friend's assignation with her lover, the owner of a famous Highlands distillery. In the best Agatha Christie tradition, long-standing feuds seethe beneath the placid, well-heeled surface, all bubbling to the top with the friend's visit. Then Gemma stumbles over the distillery owner, killed with a shotgun blast. With that, Gemma and Kincaid join forces again in a sometimes-comic procedural dance, their steps watched jealously by the local constabulary. While sometimes too self-consciously cozy, this is, overall, delightful. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description

New York Times Notable Book of the Year author Deborah Crombie has garnered tremendous praise -- and has been nominated for virtually every major mystery award -- for her piercing police procedurals featuring Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, who are personally and professionally entwined. Now Gemma takes center stage when a lethal crime of passion turns a recreational trip to Scotland into pure bloody business.

Though her reputation for delving into the heart of murder is matched only by that of her former partner and current lover, Duncan Kincaid, newly appointed Detective Inspector Gemma James has never thought to question her friend Hazel Cavendish about her past. So it is quite a shock when Gemma learns that their holiday retreat to a hotel in the Scottish Highlands is, in fact, a homecoming for native daughter Hazel -- and an event that has provoked strong reactions from the small community. Something is definitely amiss -- and that something is quite possibly Donald Brodie, the charming if intense Scotsman who is a guest as well.

The truth comes out before long: Hazel and Brodie were once lovers, despite a vicious, long-standing feud between their families, rival local distillers of fine whisky. Their affair was fierce and passionate, and its fire might not have burned out completely. Certainly Brodie, now the domineering head of the family business, believes his "Juliet" still belongs to him alone -- and he's prepared to destroy Hazel's English marriage to make it so.

A brutal murder puts Hazel's very life in peril when she's arrested for the crime. Hazel is the logical suspect, but Gemma knows nothing is simple in this place of secrets and long-seething hatreds. As even more damning evidence piles up against the friend Gemma never truly knew, the investigation into Hazel and Brodie's history begins to take darker, more sinister and tumultuous turns. Gemma knows she will need assistance to unravel this bloody knot -- and so she calls the one man she trusts more than any other, Duncan Kincaid, to join her far from home . . . and in harm's way.


About the Author
Deborah Crombie was born and educated in Texas and has lived in both England and Scotland. Her Kincaid and James novels have received Edgar, Agatha, and Macavity Award nominations, and her fifth novel, Dreaming of the Bones, was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was selected as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America. Her novels have been published in Japan, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Ms. Crombie travels to England several times a year and has been a featured speaker at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. She lives in a small North Texas town, sharing a turn-of-the-century house with her husband, three cats, and a German shepherd dog.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Though her reputation for delving into the heart of murder is matched only by that of her former partner and current lover, Duncan Kincaid, newly appointed Detective Inspector Gemma James has never thought to question her friend Hazel Cavendish about her past. So it is quite a shock when Gemma learns that their holiday retreat to a hotel in the Scottish Highlands is, in fact, a homecoming for native daughter Hazel - and an event that has provoked strong reactions from the small community. Something is definitely amiss - and that something is quite possibly Donald Brodie, the charming if intense Scotsman who is a guest as well.

The truth comes out before long: Hazel and Brodie were once lovers, despite a vicious, long-standing feud between their families, rival local distillers of fine whiskey. Their affair was fierce and passionate, and its fire might not have burned out completely. Certainly Brodie, now the domineering head of the family business, believes his "Juliet" still belongs to him alone - and he's prepared to destroy Hazel's English marriage to make it so.

A brutal murder puts Hazel's very life in peril when she's arrested for the crime. Hazel is the logical suspect, but Gemma knows nothing is simple in this place of secrets and long-seething hatreds. As even more damning evidence piles up against the friend Gemma never truly knew, the investigation into Hazel and Brodie's history begins to take darker, more sinister and tumultuous turns. Gemma knows she will need assistance to unravel this bloody knot - and so she calls the one man she trusts more than any other, Duncan Kincaid, to join her far from home ... and in harm's way.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

The roots of the crime go back two centuries, in an evolving drama told in vivid flashbacks; and although Gemma manages to solve the murder at hand, the hard and lovely land never entirely gives up its secrets. —Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

Crombie (And Justice There Is None) offers her most captivating outing yet for Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, recently promoted to detective inspector from sergeant. Still getting over the depression caused by her miscarriage, Gemma accepts the invitation of a married friend, Hazel Cavendish, to attend a cooking weekend in Innesfree, Scotland. Gemma thinks the misty, atmospheric landscape of the Highlands, where fine whiskey is distilled and the brogues of the natives ring like music in the air, will be just what she needs to complete her recovery. However, Gemma's hopes are soon dashed by Hazel's revelation that she has come to Innesfree to meet her former lover, Donald Brodie, a handsome distillery owner. When someone shoots Donald dead, Hazel becomes a prime suspect. Gemma investigates, but must be careful to avoid stepping on the toes of DCI Alun Ross, the local authority in charge. Duncan leaves his own problems with his son, Kit, behind in London and joins Gemma in Scotland, but it's Gemma who mainly ferrets out the secrets of the large list of suspects, any one of whom could be the murderer. A master storyteller, Crombie weaves together all the pieces, including a parallel story from a century earlier, to create a fabric as rich and history-laden as a tartan plaid. With vivid settings, well-developed characters and a finely tuned mystery, this is a pure gem guaranteed to satisfy both police procedural and cozy fans. Agent, Nancy Yost. (On sale Oct. 7) Forecast: Crombie has been nominated for Edgar, Agatha and Macavity awards. This time she may finally win one. A six-city author tour can't hurt. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The latest in Crombie's series starring Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James (And Justice There Is None) finds the two leaving their usual London beat for the Scottish Highlands. Gemma's good friend Hazel Cavendish invites her to attend a cooking weekend. Unbeknown to Gemma, Hazel is also going to decide this weekend whether she should leave her husband for Donald Brodie, the man she almost married years ago. When a murder puts Hazel under suspicion, Duncan joins them to lend his support, even though he is dealing with his ex-mother-in-law's attempt to gain custody of his son. Crombie again has written an intense mystery, full of believable characters. Scotland comes alive with whisky distilleries and through an old family diary that is interwoven in the story. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/03.]-Deborah Shippy, Moline P.L., IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Michael Deehy convincingly renders a wide range of Scottish and English accents in his superb reading of NOW MAY YOU WEEP, a recent installment in Deborah Crombie's popular series of English mysteries featuring Scotland Yard detectives and lovers Duncan Kinkaid and Gemma James. This time, Duncan and Gemma take a busman's holiday when the host of Gemma's bed-and-breakfast in Glenlivet Valley, Scotland, is murdered. Old romances and festering resentments, both historic and current, provide the context for an entertaining whodunit. In addition to accents, Deehy manages to make clear the frequent shifts in time and place without disturbing the flow of the engaging narration. This is a very good performance of a mystery so satisfying it will have you curled up for the entire weekend. R.E.K. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews