The Sound of Broken Glass

How hard it has been to wait an entire year for Deborah Crombie to produce yet another novel! How I've longed to know how Detective Inspector Gemma James has been getting along and how her husband, Duncan Kincaid, has been doing in his transition from CID detective superintendent to stay-at-home dad! How I've missed them!

In The Sound of Broken Glass, the 15th novel in the Kincaid-James series, Gemma and her sergeant, Melody Talbot, investigate the murder of Vincent Arnot, a well-respected barrister who was strangled and left tied up and naked in a fleabag hotel in the Crystal Palace. Was Arnot involved in unsavory sexual escapades that led to his accidental death far from Arnot's usually posh environs? Or was Arnot murdered and — to show more add insult to injury — set up to become tabloid fodder?

The very next night, a second barrister is murdered in much the same fashion, and evidence proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the two murders are linked. But what was the connection between the two barristers, one old, married, and apparently staid; the other, a young bully intensely disliked at his chambers?

Crombie has crafted a very suspenseful read with plenty of twists and turns and a bit of romance for Melody. The climax will keep you riveted! But my favorite parts of the novel deal with Duncan and Gemma’s domestic sphere and the new life they’re creating for their foster daughter, the pretty but withdrawn Charlotte. You’ll love the mystery, but it’s the story of Charlotte that you’ll find yourself dwelling on after you devour that last page. show less

What originally drew me to The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Cromble are the Great Exposition and the history of the Crystal Palace. The author put quotes about the building of it, the extravagance of it and its horrible destruction by fire. I enjoyed those quotes and would like to read a book on that subject alone in the future.

A few of the characters lived in that area in London and I thought that they were a little one-dimensional. The story starts with a poor neglected boy who is left in charge of caring for his alcoholic mother and never receiving any comfort or warmth from her.

It is around that relationship and the two bullies that the story centers. I loved the characters of Detective Inspector Gemma James and her husband show more Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. They seemed to have worked out how to have an honest and loving relationship and cared deeply about their children. Gemma seems a lot smarter than Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot who manages to have an indiscretion during her investigation this case.

The first victim, a barrister, was found naked, tied up like a chicken to roast and strangled. Was it an auto-erotic experience gone wrong or a murder? When the second attorney is found in the same way, the detectives are worried about a serial killer.
I enjoyed this mystery, it seemed a bit confusing at first with all the characters but after I got familiar with them, it was hard to stop reading. This was the 15th in series and I do wish I had read the previous books but that doesn’t mean that it cannot be read as a standalone.

I hihgly recommend this book to all mystery lovers. Although I selected it from Partners in Crime and received it free of charge that had no bearing on my review. show less

Duncan stays home with Charlotte who is still adjusting to her new home. Doug falls off a ladder, resulting in time off while he recuperates. Meanwhile Gemma and Melody are called to a crime scene near Crystal Palace where the murder victim is found tied up in a kinky manner. While a little forensic evidence exists, the police database offers no clue of the perpetrator's identity. The victim came to the seedy hotel from a local pub where he'd verbally abused a young guitarist. The guitarist had also punched someone. Soon a second victim with the same occupation as the first turns up. They must investigate the presence or absence of a connection between the two crimes. My biggest complaint with this installment concerns the series of show more coincidences upon which it is built. It's not Crombie's strongest, but fans of the series will still enjoy it. I listened to the audio version read by Gerard Doyle. I didn't like his narration as well as Jenny Sterlin's narration in recent installments, but I got used to it after awhile. show less

I only 'discovered' Deborah Crombie last year when I read No Mark Upon Her. I have been eagerly awaiting the next entry in her Duncan Kincaid/ Gemma James series. The Sound of Broken Glass (#15) releases today.

Kincaid and James are husband and wife and both work for Scotland Yard. Duncan is staying at home right now with their three year old daughter and Gemma is heading up her first big murder case.

Who has been killed? A prominent lawyer - found in a rundown hotel in Crystal Palace, naked and tied up. Is it a sex game gone wrong? Or a sadistic killer? But then a second lawyer is found killed the same way - and there's evidence to link the two cases. As Gemma digs deeps deeper, she finds unexpected connections to her life. In flashback show more chapters, we also slowly learn of a young man's past and his upbringing in the Crystal Palace neighbourhood. What connection does he have to the present day?

Crombie is a master of plotting. There was no dearth of suspects and I was kept guessing until the end. The investigation is solid police work and I enjoyed solving the crime along with Gemma and her team. But woven through this main storyline is a running secondary storyline - that of Duncan and Gemma's personal life. And it is this 'personal' touch that has cemented Crombie on my must read list. Although others may complain that domestic details of characters may detract from a good mystery, I find quite the opposite. I feel they gave the story much more depth and make the characters 'real' and all the more believable. This same attention to detail is given to the secondary players as well. The result is a well rounded cast, all with their own tale to tell. I've become invested in each of their lives and want to see where Crombie takes everyone from here.

There's a third thread also wound about the story - that of The Crystal Palace itself. Although the name now denotes an area of South London, the history behind this plate-glass building originally erected to house the Great Exhibition of 1851 is truly fascinating. Every chapter starts out with a quote or a paragraph chronicling the history of the building. And again, Crombie is very clever with her choices. Read carefully, they mirror what is happening in the book.

The Sound of Broken Glass was a satisfying read on so many levels - one I would definitely recommend. Crombie ends the book with a cliff hanger - I will be again eagerly awaiting the next in this wonderful series. Fans of Louise Penny and Susan Hill would enjoy these characters. show less

Deborah Crombie's a new author to me and that's both good and bad. Good because now I can go read everything she's written - new worlds to explore! Bad because I've really been missing out. Although Ms. Crombie's a native Texan, she spent time living in the UK and she writes a great British police procedural. Her primary characters, DI Gemma James and DS Duncan Kincaid, are married and dealing with the challenges of a blended family and an adopted child with a traumatic past and the consequent special needs. There is no perfect solution to any of these situations and Ms. Crombie is great about not offering impossible solutions where there are none.

In a sense, the personal lives of our heroes mirror the complexities of the case presented show more in The Sound of Broken Glass - a trussed and strangled murder victim and all the questions that arise from the discovery of his corpse. There are lots of connections here between everyone involved, a reminder that England is not America. In America, we scoff at multiple connections because our geography is so large. It's an oddity when I meet a man who grew up in the same small town in Mississippi as my mother at a temporary job in Seattle, WA. If you telescope your vision to a smaller state, however, connections are so common as to be the norm. Given its size, it makes sense to me that people would be more obviously and immediately interconnected in England so all the strings and coincidences that attach each to each work and make sense to me.

As much a story about family and friends as it is a murder mystery, The Sound of Broken Glass is a real pleasure. A sharp, well-plotted, well-written procedural that will hold your attention right through the very end. show less

I am a long-time fan of this wonderful series, and it always just seems too long between books. This is the 15th book in this series, and I think it is probably the best so far. In this book Duncan is still on parental leave, looking after he and Gemma's extended family. The case centers around Gemma in her new position as DI. The book is a present and past type of book, but the two are woven so cloesely together, that even though there is fifteen years between the two story lines, the plot appears seamless, What's not to like about this book? Drugs, rock and roll, a burgeoning love story and throw in two separate, but connected murders of two very seedy lawyers. Gemma and her sergeant Melody are on the trail of a killer, and the only show more way that they can make any headway is to go back 15 years and study the life of a 13 year-old boy who lived with an alcoholic mother in a wreck of a flat in the Crystal Palace area. Then the connections between the two victims becomes clear. I loved this book. I loved the whole feel of it-south London in a particularly cold winter, Gemma and Duncan and their vibrant family, Melody Talbot as she discovers love in an unlikely place and even Duncan's sergeant Doug Cullen recovering from a broken ankle caused by a fall off a ladder. So wonderfully portrayed and so realistic. This is a great series! show less

I am a longtime fan of Elizabeth George, and I have often wished that she would produce more than one new novel per year. So, finally discovering Deborah Crombie’s Scotland Yard detective series (The Sound of Broken Glass being the fifteenth book in the series) last year was one of the highlights of my reading year.

The novels of George and Crombie have much in common. Each series is anchored by a group of Scotland Yard detectives who, over the course of the series, change and mature as they experience what ordinary life throws at them. Major characters come and go, sometimes by choice, other times they are claimed by death. And, interestingly, despite the British settings of both series, George and Crombie are both American authors show more who rely on in-country and Internet research for the authenticity and detail that make their work so special.

Crombie’s two central characters are a married couple: detectives Duncan Kinkaid and Gemma James. As The Sound of Broken Glass begins, Duncan, currently on a parental leave of absence, is spending his days caring for the couple’s children, with most of his attention necessarily being devoted to their troubled three-year-old foster daughter. Gemma has now returned to work and is leading a Murder Investigation Team in South London.

Gemma’s first investigation as team leader begins early one Saturday morning with a phone call from Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Staff in a disreputable Crystal Palace hotel has discovered a dead man – in a rather embarrassing position. The naked man, bound hand and foot, is on his back and appears to have been strangled. Whether he is the victim of murder, or of some sexual game gone bad, is not immediately clear, but he certainly could not have tied himself up the way he was found. The victim, as it turns out, is a London attorney who is neither particularly well liked or respected by his colleagues. What at first appears to be a rather straightforward investigation grows complicated when, a few days later, a second attorney is found dead under very similar circumstances.

While the murder investigation is interesting enough, what makes The Sound of Broken Glass even more fun is the way that Crombie continues to develop her central cast of characters. Duncan is itching to get back to work, but his new daughter needs him more than Scotland Yard does; Melody succumbs to a temptation that places her police career in jeopardy; Gemma feels guilty about how little time she has for her family; and Duncan’s old partner, Doug Cullen, is suddenly acting so needy that he is annoying everyone around him – probably including himself.

Via a series of flashbacks and real-time developments, Crombie offers a series of clues and misdirection that will keep most mystery fans guessing. I am not very good at solving these things before all is revealed near the end, and it was no different for me with The Sound of Broken Glass. Elizabeth George fans can double their pleasure by reading Deborah Crombie’s Scotland Yard series (and vice versa). Fans of mysteries and police procedurals will not want to miss either of these ladies.

Rated at: 4.0 show less