The life of Scotland Yard's Gemma James is changing in major ways--she's just been promoted to Inspector, she's pregnant, and she and her young son are about to move into spacious new digs with her lover, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. Then the beautiful young wife of a Portobello Road antiques dealer is murdered in the driveway of her Notting Hill home and the case lands in Gemma's disappearing lap. Dawn Arrowood, as Gemma soon discovers, was pregnant when she died, most likely by Alex Dunn, a porcelain dealer in Portobello Market whose disappearance after the murder makes him a prime suspect. But Gemma rules him out as the killer, focusing her investigation on Karl Arrowood, the dead woman's husband. When Karl is murdered, she's stymied, but then Kincaid's investigation into what may be a serial killer turns up a bizarre connection to Gemma's case and a link to Karl Arrowood's sideline as a drug smuggler. As usual, Crombie handles a complicated plot with style, providing enough twists and turns to hold the reader's attention while driving the narrative to a stunning conclusion. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
There's more truth than humor in Crombie's eighth thriller set in contemporary London. When someone does in Dawn Arrowood, the young, pregnant wife of a wealthy antiques dealer, in her soign Notting Hill home, Inspector Gemma James is put in charge of the investigation. Gemma's lover, Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid, believes the murder is the work of a serial killer, but Gemma suspects the victim's husband, Karl Arrowood. Despite their combined efforts, the slasher strikes again. Fearful of igniting a new Jack the Ripper-style panic, Duncan and Gemma soon find themselves at odds when their investigations become linked in startling, unexpected ways, culminating in an exciting denouement with serious undercurrents. Crombie keeps the action moving throughout, providing a cook's tour of London, from Tower Bridge to Portobello Market, as well as plenty of gruesome detail ("Kincaid felt the bile rise in the back of his throat as he squatted, using his pocket torch to illuminate Dawn Arrowood's motionless form"). There's some amusing sociological commentary interspersed throughout, plus the occasional frisson ("A jogger brushed past, startling him a tall, slender, hooded figure. Alex felt a shock of familiarity, but when he turned, the man had vanished"). The result is a competently plotted, reasonably engaging mystery that blazes no new pathways, but keeps the reader involved all the way to its predictably sanguinary conclusion. (Sept. 3) FYI: The author has been nominated for Edgar, Agatha and Macavity awards. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association named Crombie's Dreaming of the Bones one of the 20th century's best mystery novels. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In Crombie's eighth masterly police procedural featuring Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James, the pair's relationship deepens. With the progression of Gemma's pregnancy (revealed in A Finer End), they consolidate households while working together to solve three murders. Dawn Arrowood, wife of prominent Notting Hill antiques dealer Karl, 25 years her senior, is newly pregnant and is having an affair when she is killed (her throat cut, her lung pierced) outside her home. It's no longer an isolated case when Kincaid finds similarities in the murder of antiques dealer Marianne Hoffman two months earlier, and police lose a prime suspect when Karl himself is found dead. The earlier history of a young woman, threaded through the narrative, becomes part of the intricate weave of the lives of the small cast of characters and the revelation of the damage done to so many by one man's ruthlessness. If the level of coincidence is high, it's easily forgiven owing to native Texan Crombie's skill in fashioning a supremely satisfying traditional British mystery, updated with Gemma the modern career woman juggling her life as well as her cases. Essential for mystery lovers, particularly for Anglophiles and fans of P.D. James. Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This atmospheric novel is as much a splendid depiction of London's Notting Hill Road district as it is a harrowing murder mystery. Crombie weaves the cafe and pub owners and the stall keepers in Notting Hill Market into the story, giving it a feeling of groundedness that many contemporary mysteries lack. In the eighth novel starring Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his former sergeant, now Detective Inspector Gemma James, the pair's complicated relationship (Gemma is pregnant but still reluctant to join households) threatens to spill over into their parallel investigation of the murder in Notting Hill of the pretty, young, and pregnant wife of a successful antiques dealer. Kincaid, who investigated a similar throat slashing two months previously, believes this is the work of a serial killer who is gaining confidence in his craft. Gemma believes the murderer to be the victim's control-freak husband or the about-to-be-dumped boyfriend. Steady suspense, building to an explosive ending. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Praise for the Acclaimed Novels of Deborah Crombie
A Finer End
?Crombie has laid claim to the literary territory of moody psychological suspense owned by P. D. James and Barbara Vine. Superbly creepy and melodramatic.?
--The Washington Post
?Intricately layered.?
--The New York Times
?Splendid entertainment.?
--Chicago Tribune
Kissed a Sad Goodbye
?Atmospheric...absorbing...haunting.?
--The Washington Post Book World
?[Crombie] is writing in P. D. James territory, and she is a master.?
--Associated Press
Dreaming of the Bones
?Fascinating...multilayered.?
--The New York Times Book Review
?Dreaming of the Bones will make you cry and catch your breath in surprise.?
--Chicago Tribune
A New York Times Notable Book
And Justice There Is None FROM OUR EDITORS
Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and newly promoted Inspector Gemma James have just settled into a life together in London's Notting Hill when an antique dealer's wealthy wife dies nearby. Was the lovely young victim murdered by her jealous husband? Or this case somehow connected with an unsolved homicide that Duncan had investigated? This skillful novel bears comparison with the British police procedurals of P. D. James and Elizabeth George.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Gemma James is adjusting to professional and personal changes that include her eagerly sought promotion to the rank of inspector - and a future now intricately entwined with Duncan Kincaid. But her new responsibilities are put to the test when she is placed in charge of a particularly brutal homicide: The lovely young wife of a wealthy antiques dealer has been found murdered on fashionable Notting Hill." "Dawn Arrowood was six weeks pregnant. Her lover, Alex Dunn, a porcelain dealer in London's bustling Portobello Market, appears absolutely devastated by her death, but the main focus of Gemma's investigation is soon Karl Arrowood, who had the most powerful motive for killing his unfaithful wife." But this case sets off warning bells for Duncan: It's far too similar to an unsolved murder in which an antiques dealer was killed in precisely the same way. And when the escalating violence claims yet another victim, he and Gemma find themselves at increasing odds with each other - as two separate investigations become linked in the most startling of ways.
SYNOPSIS
Award-winning author Deborah Crombie has elevated the modern mystery novel to new heights of human drama and multilayered suspense with her critically acclaimed tales of intrigue featuring Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
There's more truth than humor in Crombie's eighth thriller set in contemporary London. When someone does in Dawn Arrowood, the young, pregnant wife of a wealthy antiques dealer, in her soign Notting Hill home, Inspector Gemma James is put in charge of the investigation. Gemma's lover, Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid, believes the murder is the work of a serial killer, but Gemma suspects the victim's husband, Karl Arrowood. Despite their combined efforts, the slasher strikes again. Fearful of igniting a new Jack the Ripper-style panic, Duncan and Gemma soon find themselves at odds when their investigations become linked in startling, unexpected ways, culminating in an exciting denouement with serious undercurrents. Crombie keeps the action moving throughout, providing a cook's tour of London, from Tower Bridge to Portobello Market, as well as plenty of gruesome detail ("Kincaid felt the bile rise in the back of his throat as he squatted, using his pocket torch to illuminate Dawn Arrowood's motionless form"). There's some amusing sociological commentary interspersed throughout, plus the occasional frisson ("A jogger brushed past, startling him a tall, slender, hooded figure. Alex felt a shock of familiarity, but when he turned, the man had vanished"). The result is a competently plotted, reasonably engaging mystery that blazes no new pathways, but keeps the reader involved all the way to its predictably sanguinary conclusion. (Sept. 3) FYI: The author has been nominated for Edgar, Agatha and Macavity awards. The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association named Crombie's Dreaming of the Bones one of the 20th century's best mystery novels. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
In Crombie's eighth masterly police procedural featuring Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James, the pair's relationship deepens. With the progression of Gemma's pregnancy (revealed in A Finer End), they consolidate households while working together to solve three murders. Dawn Arrowood, wife of prominent Notting Hill antiques dealer Karl, 25 years her senior, is newly pregnant and is having an affair when she is killed (her throat cut, her lung pierced) outside her home. It's no longer an isolated case when Kincaid finds similarities in the murder of antiques dealer Marianne Hoffman two months earlier, and police lose a prime suspect when Karl himself is found dead. The earlier history of a young woman, threaded through the narrative, becomes part of the intricate weave of the lives of the small cast of characters and the revelation of the damage done to so many by one man's ruthlessness. If the level of coincidence is high, it's easily forgiven owing to native Texan Crombie's skill in fashioning a supremely satisfying traditional British mystery, updated with Gemma the modern career woman juggling her life as well as her cases. Essential for mystery lovers, particularly for Anglophiles and fans of P.D. James. Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Just as newly promoted Inspector Gemma James's pregnancy is starting to show-and to remind her how little room her flat has for a new baby-her lover, Supt. Duncan Kincaid (A Finer End, 2001, etc.) happens onto a piece of incredible luck: a most reasonable five-year lease on a house in fashionable Notting Hill, with room enough for both of them, together with Kincaid's son Kit, Gemma's son Toby, and the imminent arrival. Their advent, however, is marked by tragedy when antiques dealer Karl Arrowood's much younger wife, Dawn, is found stabbed to death in her driveway. Dawn had also been in the early stages of pregnancy, a revelation that shocks both her lover, porcelain dealer Alex Dunn, and her husband, who insists that the child must have been his despite the vasectomy he got after his two grown sons, Richard and Sean, soured him on family life. Both those sons, resentful of the trophy wife who stands to inherit their father's considerable estate, have a powerful motive for killing Dawn, as do Karl himself and, it eventually seems, half the merchants on Portobello Road. But Gemma's arduous rounds of questioning provoke only anger or amusement among the suspects, and a second murder produces only more confusion. It'll take endless interrogations of several families' dim past histories, supplemented by repeated flashbacks, to disclose the truth. Anglophiles will cheer the sociological evocation of the changing London neighborhood, and there's plenty of justice, despite the title, though the detection is more dogged than inspired.
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