First Line: Mist rose in swirls from the still surface of the canal.

Duncan, Gemma, the boys and the dog are all spending the Christmas holiday in Cheshire with Duncan's parents. Duncan has always spoken of growing up outside the town of Nantwich as though it were heaven on earth. London born and bred, Gemma's not so sure of this, and she's a bit nervous at meeting Duncan's parents and sister. However, they're barely have time to walk in the door and take off their coats before everything starts going pear-shaped.

Duncan's sister, Juliet, has begun her own business as a builder. Staying late one evening to finish up some tasks in an old barn she's renovating, Juliet discovers the mummified remains of an infant. The investigation calls to Duncan like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, and whenever "his whiskers start twitching", he can't resist leaving his family just to see how things are going. This soon wears thin with Gemma:

"Don't you even think about leaving me home like the little woman," she spat out. "I'm going with you, and you'd better not say one bloody word about it."

Duncan takes the hint... and then a woman living on a narrow boat in a nearby canal is murdered, and Duncan's family is in danger.

This is another wonderful entry in the series. It's almost impossible for me to leave these books alone. I want to read one right after the other as quickly as I can, but if I do that, I'll be caught up and waiting impatiently for the next to be published.

Crombie's plots are always layered and intricate. Once she hit her stride at about book #4, I just can't puzzle out whodunit ahead of time. But this series is much more than a collection of complicated plots. It's peopled by one of the absolute best cast of characters to be found anywhere in fiction. Duncan and Gemma's relationship feels like the real deal. Their son, Kit, could be a living, breathing teenager beset with all sorts of problems that are (eventually) dealt with in the best possible way. When I sit down to read one of these books, I'm smiling because I'm amongst friends who change, who make mistakes, who grow, and who don't live in a bell jar. These characters are just as apt to come to harm as any of us. Their creator doesn't shield them, just as we are not shielded.

Crombie spends a few months each year in the UK to research her books. For Water Like a Stone she researched life on the narrow boats and canals that crisscross the island. (A photo of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is to the left.) If you're anything like me, as you read this book, you're going to find yourself checking for the books she mentions, and firing up your search engines because it's a fascinating subject to weave into her story.

Only two books left before I'm completely caught up. I don't know whether to be happy or sad because it will be torture to wait for each book to be published! Do you have a series of books you feel passionately about? ( )

Opening Sentence: ‘…Mist rose in swirls from the still surface of the canal…’

This is the 11th police procedural novel that features Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard and his former police partner, but now live in love, Gemma James of the Notting Hill Metropolitan Police. They are not policing now though, they are in the English countryside, near the Welsh border, with their children, and dogs, to celebrate Christmas with Kincaid’s family. On their arrival Kincaid’s sister, Juliet Newcombe, finds a mummified corpse of an infant in the wall of the barn of a building she’s renovating. A baby in the manger so to speak. That discovery is the first of a few interlinking mysteries that soon take up Duncan and Gemma’s Christmas break — a teenager drowns in the canal just prior to their arrival, a woman who once worked as a social worker and is now living on a barge is murdered, and Juliet finds evidence that her own husband and his partner may be embezzlers.

This is a very ‘personal’ book – looking at family life, the complex connections between family members, both the good and the bad. The reader gets to know Duncan and Gemma on a much more personal level. Duncan’s son Kit is central to the story, as is his cousin Lally. She is dealing with the split up of her parents, Kit has already been through it. Compare to the shy, almost innocent, city boy – Lally, the supposed country bumpkin, is into drugs, drinking and sex.

The resolution is good, but not really a surprise as I suspected the murderer almost from the start, but is a cliff hanger. All the sub plots get wrapped up with no threads hanging.

All in all – a good read. ( )

Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his domestic partner, Detective Inspector Gemma James, are taking a week's break from their London jobs. Duncan, Gemma, Duncan's son, Kit, and Gemma's son, Toby, will be spending the Christmas holidays with Duncan's family in Cheshire. Their arrival at the Kincaid farmhouse coincides with a frantic call from Duncan's sister, Juliet. As she was finishing up one last task in the dairy barn she is renovating for a client, Juliet made a disturbing discovery -- an infant's body encased in the mortar of the wall she was demolishing. Duncan and Gemma are curious about the case, but are content to leave the investigation of the baby's identity and cause of death to the local constabulary. However, they're soon drawn into the investigation of a fresh crime when another body is discovered and members of Duncan's family appear to be in danger.

I think this book could very well end up being my favorite of the series. The plot involves canal boats, and I've been fascinated with them ever since I first spotted a group on the river in Stratford-upon-Avon. I've been to Cheshire a few times (although never to Nantwich) and it's one of my favorite parts of England. The description of Nantwich and its architecture, especially the church, captured my imagination, and I was ready to hop on the next plane to see it in person. I had to settle for Google Images, though, where I found some nice photos of places described in the book.

I think this book could work as a stand-alone, although I would recommend first reading Dreaming of the Bones and And Justice There Is None. Series fans won't want to miss this one! ( )

#11 Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James British police procedural. It's Christmas, and Duncan and Gemma have both wangled time off so they can be off to visit Duncan's parents in Nantwich over Christmas week with their kids. It's a nerve-wracking time, as Gemma has only briefly met Duncan's mother (at his first wife's funeral!) and never his father, and is wondering how they will like her and how their odd, cobbled-together family will fit in.

But there's no time to really worry about it much; Duncan's sister Juliet, who recently started her own company doing building renovations, while breaking some concrete in a dairy barn on Christmas Eve just before she's set to leave to meet the family for dinner, discovers the long-dead body of an infant walled up inside. Before long, there's another (freshly murdered!) corpse, also found by a member of the Kincaid family, not far from the barn where the baby was found. Is there a connection? Family tensions run high as Juliet and her husband Caspar initiate a very public split, and Kit begins to realize how troubled his cousin Lally (Juliet and Caspar's daughter) is, and has been for some time, apparently.

Never mind that I spotted the bad guy early on--I love this series, and Crombie always seems to manage the right balance of police work with personal scenarios, and often a bit of social commentary or information about a given area or segment of the population as well. (In this book, the subculture of the boating community--people who live on boats and navigate up and down the rivers and canals--and how they live.) Very interesting, very well done, and I'm very much looking forward to her newest book. ( )

What sets Deborah Crombie apart from other authors of police procedurals is her rich characterization. Her regular cast of Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James and family are, of course, well developed over the course of the ten previous volumes, but she does well with the entire cast of characters she assembles. In “Water Like a Stone” the mystery itself is not particularly difficult to figure out, but as we become intrigued by the dramas in the lives of Crombie’s characters, the mystery becomes of secondary interest. The more important thing is to see that all of the “good guys” are alive at the conclusion.

There is a lot of information about English canals in this volume, and I found it quite fascinating. Crombie obviously enjoys her research and does it well. The setting, Cheshire, is one I’m unfamiliar with, and I always enjoy a bit of travelogue with my mystery. Full marks. ( )