Title: And Justice There is None
Author: Deborah Crombie
ISBN: 0553579304/ Bantam Books, 2003
Mystery, #8 in the Kincaid & James series
Rating: A+
First Line: He ran, as so many others ran, the black anorak protecting him from the mist, the reflective patches on his trainers gleaming as he passed under the street lamps.
Big changes are in store for Gemma James. She's just been promoted to Detective Inspector, and her relationship with her former supervisor, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is on the fast track. When the beautiful young wife of a Portobello Road antiques dealer is murdered and her body found on the driveway of their Notting Hill home, the case lands right in Gemma's lap. Most seem to think that the woman's lover, who disappeared right after the murder, is the killer, but Gemma doesn't. Instead she focuses on the woman's husband. When the husband is also murdered, Gemma is thrown for a loop, but the investigation Kincaid is in charge of throws up a connection to her case, and this gives Gemma new leads.
The books in this series keep getting better and better. Crombie's plots have become complex and totally satisfying, giving readers enough twists and turns to keep them guessing from first page to last. What sets this series apart from so many others is that the characters are so fully fleshed, and their personal lives are every bit as important as the mystery. I've come to care for Duncan and Gemma as though they are real people, and I sink into each of Crombie's mysteries with a sigh of pleasure. Not only am I hooked on this series, my husband is, too. I had to hand over And Justice There is None as soon as I was finished, and now Denis's nose is buried in it!
An A+! This looks like one I need to add to my wishlist.
ReplyDeleteSince the characters mean so much to the series, I think this one might be best if you started at the beginning. It's a wonderful series, Kathy!
ReplyDeleteI also want my nose in this!
ReplyDeleteAnother name for my list :)
Your blog is bad for my i-want list, which expands dramatically. Which means more things to make their way to my TBR (and I just placed a huge online order, which started because I just had to get the Dollhouse Murders after reading your review!).
ReplyDeleteI read the first book in this series early last year, and enjoyed it very much, so thanks for the reminder.
Dorte & Belle (fellow book bloggers)--isn't it great to be enablers, pointing the way to good books to read? I'm not immune myself, having TBR shelves containing at least 300 books!
ReplyDelete