I fell in love with Deborah Crombie many years ago when I was living in Texas. Gemma and Duncan are a fantastic crime fighting duo. The characters have developed well over the series and I just love coming back each time a new titles comes out. Crombie really has a feel for London. I began reading the series after a trip to London and it too me right back. . Then come to find out, Crombie lives in North Texas. Check this series out! You will love it. ( )

Duncan Kincaid, Scotland yard investigator, goes on holiday and runs into murder.
This is a very interesting way to start a series, away from the usual location what I assume will be London. I like the central character of Kincaid, but I like his partner Gemma James even better. I think she'll be fun to watch. This story line had so many characters, it was hard to keep up. The plot was intricate, very much like an Agatha Christie novel, I'm thinking Murder on the Orient Express. Plot was okay to keep me entertained, but I liked the characters a little better. ( )

This is the first book of the series and the first book of Crombie's that I have read. This series was the choice of my RL Mystery Book Group, or I would never have picked it up.

Overall it got better as it went along. Once the first murder happened the story took off. Prior to that it was very shallow, with standard little shots of set-up. Lets lay out character, place, and victims and try to guess who is going to be murdered, and who is the killer. There was no actual story with any depth, independent of waiting for murder and mayhem. The idea that these characters were actual people with any life off the page was non-existent.

Many of the characters were shallow and forgettable. In fact it was one of those books that you can't keep them all straight, who is who, which are related, and what their claim to fame was. You also didn't really care about the loss of the murder victims from the story. Just not anyone for the reader to develop any emotional connections. The memorable characters were more likely to be cliches than to have any depth.

The detecting was good, as was the interaction of Kincaid with the local police, and the remaining guests at the time share. Keeping James at a distance basically doing scut work was a disappointment. The whole idea of the series is that they are a team that works together.

The mystery was very low key and not something I saw coming. The clues were there, but very subtle.

I have one more of her books, that was recommended as the best of the series (Dreaming the Bones). I will read it, but after that I am probably done with Crombie. Just too many other really good books to read. ( )

Yes, I did finish this book but I definitely will not be reading it again nor do I envision trying out another book in the series! If a book can have atmosphere, then this book had none. I ended up being totally unhappy with Superintendent Kincaid and Sergant Gemma James. Kincaid is bland and Gemma James is only a little better. I have more passion about saving people from boredom than the book actually did in getting from the beginning to end. The only thing that's any good about it is the climax but I sure am lost about how it got there. Anyway, don't be fooled into thinking this book must be great since it has an English setting and English cops like I did! ( )

http://www.ciao.de/Das_Hotel_im_Moor_... ( )