Sunday, September 21, 2008

REVIEW: Kissed a Sad Goodbye


Title: Kissed a Sad Goodbye
Author: Deborah Crombie
ISBN: 9780553579246/Bantam
Protagonist(s): Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James
Setting: the Docklands in London, England, 1999
Series: #6
Rating: A

First Line: He saw each note as it fell from his clarinet.

In this sixth book in the series, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are called out to the Docklands in London to investigate the murder of Annabelle Hammond, the director of an old family firm of tea merchants. She was a woman of tremendous beauty, talent and sexual appetite, but also the sort of harsh, abrasive woman who leaves behind plenty of people with motives for murder.

Deborah Crombie has turned out to be one of my favorite writers. She has the knack of combining a complex and interesting mystery with main characters who continue to change and grow. In Kissed a Sad Goodbye, she combines the aforementioned two with a compelling setting: the Isle of Dogs (now known as the Docklands) in the East End of London. I have all the books in this series except the latest, and I find myself trying to ration them very carefully. Normally I have no desire to plough straight through a series with no break. Crombie's books are an exception!

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