Here's a link to buy the book.
Deborah Crombie, No Mark Upon Her (William Morrow) 375
pp. ISBN-13: 978-0230750630
Deborah Crombie’s excellent fourteenth
mystery novel featuring Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective
Inspector Gemma James offers the pleasures of authentic characters, complex plotting,
and thorough exploration of little-known facets of British life—in this case,
competitive rowing and canine search-and-rescue teams—that readers have learned
to expect from Crombie’s books.
Rebecca Meredith, Olympic rowing
hopeful and high-ranking detective with the Metropolitan Police, sets out alone
to practice on the Thames one evening and never returns. As he is about to take
paternity leave, Kincaid is called in when Rebecca’s body is found by a canine
search-and-rescue team the next day. His superiors make it clear to Kincaid
that his job is to keep a lid on the situation and prevent any embarrassment to
the Met itself, but Kincaid insists on making a thorough investigation.
This throws the Kincaid-James
domestic situation into crisis. James, who must return from maternity leave without
Kincaid to take her place in their home with the children, including their newly
adopted three-year-old, leads a different investigation into cold cases of rape
that turn out to be related to Rebecca’s murder.
As a murder attempt on the
search-and-rescue team member who found Rebecca’s body and had a relationship
with her ratchets up the stakes, Kincaid and James risk their careers and their
lives to unravel the tangle of deceit that leads deep into the heart of power
within the Met.
Crombie uses her gift for lush, poetical
recreation of place to good effect, especially in her descriptions of the
waterways and the experiences of those who row and live on the river,
demonstrating her skill with powerful, telling detail. The peace and beauty of
this world that she creates stands in stark opposition to the chaotic,
affectionate world of family-and-friend concerns and crises that is the very
revealing and believable joint personal life of her two protagonists. As the intricate
plot unfolds, even this rich personal world is threatened, making the book one
of those mysteries that require the reader to stay up half the night to finish. Readers of Louise Penny and Elizabeth George will enjoy this novel.
Deborah Crombie Bio
Deborah Crombie was born in Dallas and grew up in Richardson, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, second child of Charlie and Mary Darden. A rather solitary childhood (brother Steve is ten years older) was blessed by her maternal grandmother, Lillian Dozier, a retired teacher who taught her to read very early. After a rather checkered educational career, which included dropping out of high school at sixteen, she graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, with a degree in biology.
Deborah Crombie was born in Dallas and grew up in Richardson, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, second child of Charlie and Mary Darden. A rather solitary childhood (brother Steve is ten years older) was blessed by her maternal grandmother, Lillian Dozier, a retired teacher who taught her to read very early. After a rather checkered educational career, which included dropping out of high school at sixteen, she graduated from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, with a degree in biology.
She then worked in advertising and
newspapers, and attended the Rice University Publishing Program. A
post-university trip to England, however, cemented a life-long passion for
Britain, and she later immigrated to the UK with her first husband, Peter
Crombie, a Scot, living first in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then in Chester,
England.
After returning to Dallas and
working for several years in her family business (manufacturer’s reps for
theatre concessions) while raising her daughter Kayti, she wrote her first
Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid/Sergeant Gemma James novel. A Share
in Death [Scribner, 1993], was subsequently given Agatha and Macavity
nominations for Best First Novel of 1993. The fifth novel, Dreaming of the
Bones (Scribner 1997), a New York Times Notable Book for 1997, was
short-listed by Mystery Writers of America for the 1997 Edgar Award for Best
Novel, won the Macavity award for Best Novel, and was voted by the Independent Mystery
Booksellers Association as one of the hundred best mysteries of the century.
Her subsequent novels have been received with critical acclaim and are widely
read internationally, particularly in Germany.
In 2009, Where Memories Lie
won the Macavity Award for Best Novel. In 2010, Necessary as Blood
received a Macavity nomination for Best Novel.
Crombie's novels are published in
North America, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, the Netherlands,
Czechoslovakia, Spain, Romania, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and
numerous other countries.
Although she travels to England
several times a year, Crombie now lives in McKinney, Texas, an historic town
north of Dallas, sharing a 1905 house with her husband, Rick Wilson, two German
shepherds (Hallie and Neela), and three cats. She is currently working on her
fifteenth Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James novel, as yet untitled.
Next week's Literary Mystery Novelists post will deal with Tony Hillerman, one of the great writers whose highly individual works have become classics.
Thanks for recommending another new-to-me author. The Nook now has another book in its library.
ReplyDeleteValerie, you will love her books. The series starts with A SHARE IN DEATH, but you can read NO MARK UPON HER without having read the earlier books.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation, Linda. This is a new author for me as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, for stopping by, David. She's a very good writer, and I think you'll like her books.
ReplyDelete