Deborah Crombie
Author of A Share in Death
About the Author
Deborah Crombie was born in Dallas, Texas on June 6, 1952. She received a degree in biology from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in advertising, as a journalist, and as a manufacturer's representative for theatre concessions. Her first book, A Share show more in Death, also became the first book in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novel series. She won the Mystery Readers International Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel for Dreaming of the Bones in 1997 and the Macavity Award for Best Novel for Where Memories Lie in 2009. In 2014 her title, To Dwell in Darkness, made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) Deborah Crombie lives with her family in a small North Texas town, where she is at work on the next book in the series, "And Justice There Is None". (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Crombie in London, 2022
Series
Works by Deborah Crombie
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Crombie, Deborah
- Legal name
- Darden, Deborah
- Other names
- Crombie, Deborah (Nom d'alliance)
- Birthdate
- 1952-06-06
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Austin College (Biology)
Rice University (Publishing Program) - Occupations
- mystery writer
- Awards and honors
- New York Times Book of the Year
2004 nominated by the Romantic Times for a 2004 Career Achievement Award, Mystery & Suspense series.
2003, Distinguished Alumna by Austin College - Short biography
- Deborah Crombie was born and educated in Texas. After living in both England and Scotland, 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. Her fifth novel, Dreaming of the Bones [Scribner, 1997] was given a Edgar award nomination by Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel in 1997. It was a New York Times Book of the Year, and was chosen by the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Dallas, Texas, USA
- Places of residence
- Richardson, Texas, USA
Sherman, Texas, USA
Houston, Texas, USA
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Chester, England, UK
McKinney, Texas, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- Texas, USA
Members
Reviews
The fifth entry in the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James series weaves the poetry of England’s WWI soldier-poet Rupert Brooke into a case tied to Kincaid’s former wife and the biography she's writing about another English poet. And as unlikely as it sounds, poetry in a murder mystery, it works. It breaks out of the conventional mystery format of the earlier books by focusing on the tangled emotions and conflicts between Gemma, Duncan, his ex-wife, and her Oxford University co-workers. One show more development in particular made picking up the next book a sure thing for me. show less
London detectives and spouses Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James each are working on difficult murder cases. Kincaid is in charge of investigating a case in which an anti-development activist set off a lethal white phosphorus incendiary grenade, instead of the innocuous smoke bomb he meant to release. The protestor was incinerated, and several bystanders were injured, including Kincaid’s friend Tam and Kincaid's wife’s partner, Melody Talbot, who was on the scene at the St. Pancras train show more station for a concert by her boyfriend Andy.
Kincaid has recently been transferred from Scotland Yard to Holborn station, so he has a new team to get to know in addition to figuring out what happened at St. Pancras. But he finds himself once again relying on Doug Cullen, his brilliant former detective sergeant from the Yard, who is recovering from a badly broken ankle, and has time to help. Melody also surreptitiously works on the case; she feels personally invested because of having witnessed it. At the same time, she assists Gemma in finding evidence to indict a very canny rapist/murderer.
One of my favorite things about the Duncan Kincaid detective series is the juxtaposition of warped evil people and the crimes they commit, with Duncan’s diverse, messy, warm, loving network of family and friends. So many detectives have personal lives that are dark in some way, featuring struggles with painful pasts, relationships gone bad, and/or addiction. Detective Superintendent Kincaid and his wife Detective Inspector Gemma James are not without worries, but they are more of the sort shared by everyone - the security of your job, the safety of your kids, or whether or not the kids should be allowed to keep stray kittens.
Evaluation: I think this series is excellent (this is the sixteenth installment). This newest book is best savored if you start back at least a few books, although it isn’t really necessary. show less
Kincaid has recently been transferred from Scotland Yard to Holborn station, so he has a new team to get to know in addition to figuring out what happened at St. Pancras. But he finds himself once again relying on Doug Cullen, his brilliant former detective sergeant from the Yard, who is recovering from a badly broken ankle, and has time to help. Melody also surreptitiously works on the case; she feels personally invested because of having witnessed it. At the same time, she assists Gemma in finding evidence to indict a very canny rapist/murderer.
One of my favorite things about the Duncan Kincaid detective series is the juxtaposition of warped evil people and the crimes they commit, with Duncan’s diverse, messy, warm, loving network of family and friends. So many detectives have personal lives that are dark in some way, featuring struggles with painful pasts, relationships gone bad, and/or addiction. Detective Superintendent Kincaid and his wife Detective Inspector Gemma James are not without worries, but they are more of the sort shared by everyone - the security of your job, the safety of your kids, or whether or not the kids should be allowed to keep stray kittens.
Evaluation: I think this series is excellent (this is the sixteenth installment). This newest book is best savored if you start back at least a few books, although it isn’t really necessary. show less
I thoroughly enjoyed this character-driven mystery set in the Cotswolds, UK. This book, the 18th in her series, rides the line between police procedural (as the MCs Gemma and Duncan are detectives in London; and two other characters are police as well) and cozy, as the action all takes place within a small village. As with most cozies, it's the relationships among the characters that matter; a good deal of our reading pleasure is in discovering the backstories that connect the characters, show more the knots behind the tapestry, as it were. I love that the secondary characters are psychologically coherent, varied, and imperfect. Characters who are wonderfully talented still make meaningful mistakes; those who seem misanthropic or strange are capable of loyalty and honesty; those who are young and impulsive are also capable of thoughtfulness and empathy. The prose is pleasing, without being "writerly" or self-consciously poetic, which resulted in me feeling as though I were looking through a transparent window into the little village and watching the events unfold. Would recommend for fans of Louise Penney, Martin Walker and Charles Finch. show less
To Dwell in Darkness is book number 16 in Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. It may be a bit difficult to believe that these fictional detectives have been around for that long already, but it is that very longevity that makes the series so appealing to longtime readers. Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and his wife Gemma James live complicated personal lives centered on the logistics of making their blended family work, and things seldom stand still for them on show more the home front.
This time around, Duncan is dealing with his recent transfer from Scotland Yard headquarters in London to a new job in the borough of Camden. To all appearances, the transfer is a demotion in both status and responsibility, but because his old boss at the Yard is avoiding him, Duncan has never been given a proper explanation for the change. If that were not bad enough, Duncan misses his old team in London, and is finding it difficult to warm up to the team recently assigned to him in Camden. And unfortunately, the new team largely feels the same about Duncan.
But, when a bomb explodes in St. Pancras Station during the afternoon rush hour, Duncan and the new team, be they ready or be they not, must get to work. Luckily for Duncan, Gemma’s trusted friend and colleague, Melody Talbot witnesses the explosion and ensuing panic and becomes an integral part of the investigation. This opens the door for Duncan to run two separate investigatory teams simultaneously (one official and one not), and he jumps at the opportunity even though this will leave him open to much second-guessing by his Camden staff.
Gemma, in the meantime, is managing an unrelated London investigation of her own that haunts her terribly. She feels certain that she has identified the brutal killer of a little girl, but she does not have the evidence necessary to prove her case. The killer seems to have thought of everything, but Gemma is relentless in her pursuit of the man.
As soon as Duncan, Gemma, and Melody learn that some of the victims are close friends of theirs, the investigation becomes personal – and, at the same time, more difficult. Not only are they charged with finding the group behind the bombing, they have to help their friends deal with its aftermath. Was this the work of a terrorist group, and will the group strike again, or is it simply an innocent protest gone bad? And what if it is a bit of both?
Crombie has another winner in To Dwell in Darkness. She significantly progresses the Kincaid/James family dynamic and, for that matter, the personal lives of all of her main characters in ways that are sure to please longtime fans of the series. And, in what I hope does not later prove to be a misstep, the author builds the novel to a rousing climax that ends with a dramatic cliffhanger leading directly to her next book. It is the direction that the cliffhanger seems to be taking the next book that makes me a bit uneasy - but knowing Crombie, she will prove me wrong for having doubting her. show less
This time around, Duncan is dealing with his recent transfer from Scotland Yard headquarters in London to a new job in the borough of Camden. To all appearances, the transfer is a demotion in both status and responsibility, but because his old boss at the Yard is avoiding him, Duncan has never been given a proper explanation for the change. If that were not bad enough, Duncan misses his old team in London, and is finding it difficult to warm up to the team recently assigned to him in Camden. And unfortunately, the new team largely feels the same about Duncan.
But, when a bomb explodes in St. Pancras Station during the afternoon rush hour, Duncan and the new team, be they ready or be they not, must get to work. Luckily for Duncan, Gemma’s trusted friend and colleague, Melody Talbot witnesses the explosion and ensuing panic and becomes an integral part of the investigation. This opens the door for Duncan to run two separate investigatory teams simultaneously (one official and one not), and he jumps at the opportunity even though this will leave him open to much second-guessing by his Camden staff.
Gemma, in the meantime, is managing an unrelated London investigation of her own that haunts her terribly. She feels certain that she has identified the brutal killer of a little girl, but she does not have the evidence necessary to prove her case. The killer seems to have thought of everything, but Gemma is relentless in her pursuit of the man.
As soon as Duncan, Gemma, and Melody learn that some of the victims are close friends of theirs, the investigation becomes personal – and, at the same time, more difficult. Not only are they charged with finding the group behind the bombing, they have to help their friends deal with its aftermath. Was this the work of a terrorist group, and will the group strike again, or is it simply an innocent protest gone bad? And what if it is a bit of both?
Crombie has another winner in To Dwell in Darkness. She significantly progresses the Kincaid/James family dynamic and, for that matter, the personal lives of all of her main characters in ways that are sure to please longtime fans of the series. And, in what I hope does not later prove to be a misstep, the author builds the novel to a rousing climax that ends with a dramatic cliffhanger leading directly to her next book. It is the direction that the cliffhanger seems to be taking the next book that makes me a bit uneasy - but knowing Crombie, she will prove me wrong for having doubting her. show less
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