A Share in Death

Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is not convinced he needs a holiday, and he'd never choose a posh timeshare in Yorkshire if he was. However, when his cousin gifts him just such a vacation, there's no point in wasting it. Unfortunately, work follows him there when a dead body is found floating in the jacuzzi. Despite it being a case for the local police, Duncan can't ignore the case, especially when the body count begins to rise.

I enjoyed this mystery well enough. I was a little confused by the timeline of who booked their week at the timeshare when, a detail that proves to be of some importance. However, this was no doubt compounded by the fact that I was listening to the audiobook and couldn't flip back to check the facts. I'll show more read more in the series, as I hear they grow stronger a few books in. show less

I'm always hesitant to start a new series, but I was very impressed with Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kinciad/Gemma James first installment. It's a little bit cozy and a little bit police procedural all mixed up in one novel. Kincaid is quite the lady's man, as he encounters more than one love interest in the book. I usually feel that any kind of romance in a mystery novel is just too horrible to bear, but it wasn't overly done. I actually liked this first in series enough to immediately check out the next in line.

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie is a 1993 publication.

This series debut got off on a solid enough footing, introducing us to Duncan Kincaid and his partner, Gemma James.

Duncan takes a reluctant, but much needed vacation at a Yorkshire timeshare, only to find himself embroiled in a murder investigation.

This book reads like a traditional or classic British cozy mystery and it’s easy to see why it quickly gained a following and is so successful.

This first installment is not overly complicated, dark, or heavy, and even has some wry humor thrown in on occasion, with a human-interest story to cap things off. Duncan is a terrific character, especially here, where is gets most of the spotlight. Gemma’s character was slightly muted, but show more I realize we are just getting started, and I already know her character will develop quite nicely as we go along.

This is a short read, easy read, and was lots of fun. I am feeling pretty excited about working my way through this series, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time now.

I did read a later release a long while back, but while the mystery was fine, the interpersonal dynamics between longtime recurring characters left me totally in the dark. So, it was obvious that even if the mystery elements can be read as a stand alone, if I really wanted to enjoy the series to the maximum, I’d have to start at the beginning.

I see this series now has a whopping seventeen installments, but I am determined to read through them all, and eventually, hopefully, get caught up with it.

Overall, this is an entertaining read any mystery fan can enjoy. show less

Deborah Crombie’s 1993 A Share in Death is the author’s introductory novel in what is now her 18-book “Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James” series. I was particularly late in discovering the series for myself, and only started reading it when the cover of No Mark Upon Her managed to catch my eye in a bookstore toward the end of 2011. I’ve now read almost all of the novels that followed that one, but I’m just now going back to pick up the series from the beginning. As it turns out, though, I’m happy it worked out that way — for a reason I’ll explain a little later.

Most of you know that Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James work for Scotland Yard. When this first book begins, Kincaid is a Superintendent there and Sergeant James show more reports directly to him. Most of you know, too, that the two will ultimately get together and raise a remarkable family of their own. Just be aware that they are nowhere near that point in their lives — and that they don’t make much progress in that direction — in A Share in Death.

As the novel begins, Duncan is about to begin a vacation at a small luxury timeshare hotel courtesy of a cousin of his who could not be there himself for his scheduled week. Duncan prefers to keep as low a profile as possible among his fellow guests, so he does not introduce himself to anyone as a policeman. Thanks to a chatty staff member, though, he still learns the backgrounds of most of the other guests before actually meeting them because the others are well-known regulars to hotel staff. Duncan’s anonymity comes to a quick halt the next morning, however, when a dead body is discovered by two children in the hotel’s whirlpool bath. Local authorities are ready to write off the death as a suicide, but Duncan doesn’t believe that is what happened. Soon, he is butting heads with local investigators while using Gemma to run down leads that he develops while digging into the backgrounds of his fellow guests.

Bottom Line: A Share in Death is a good, solid introduction to the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James characters. It establishes that Duncan is an attractive young investigator whose career is still on the rise, and that although he is still single, his head is relatively easily turned by the women he encounters. Gemma, on the other hand, has already been through a relationship that resulted in the toddler son she is now raising on her own. The two do not see each other face-to-face here until perhaps the last ten percent of the book, so readers are given no real reason to suspect their eventual union other than the fact they each seems to much admire the investigatory skills of the other. The mystery at the core of the book is the classic “closed door” kind of tale in which a murder is committed by one of a very limited number of potential suspects. Crombie handles it all competently enough, but I doubt I would have gone looking for other books in the series if I had started with this one. And…that is why I’m happy that I started out with book number 14 rather than book number 1. show less

A good first entry in the Dican Kincaid/Gemma Jones mystery series. Lightly amusing cozy with engaging characters.
DS Kincaid takes a Well-earned vacation at a time share, courtesy of a cousin. When a suspicious death occurs, he’s reluctantly drawn into the investigation, much to the distaste of the local copper in charge. An intriguing mix of suspects, a second murder, and the chase is on.
Worth reading for genre fans.

At just under 200 pages, this first book in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series was a bit lightweight. Set in a country hotel, every guest is a suspect and as one murder leads to another, everyone must be questioned. Kincaid, who is with Scotland Yard, is actually at the hotel on holiday and inserts himself into the investigation with predictable response from the local police force. The final conflict takes place in a predictable setting as well. The second it was mentioned I knew where the story was headed.

These tropes have all been used in any number of mysteries or TV crime dramas. And yet I enjoyed the book, especially the Duncan and Gemma team, and look forward to seeing them again in the next installment.

Superintendent Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard is on holiday, taking his cousin's timeshare for a week and leaving work behind. Or so he thinks, until one of the people he meets is found murdered. The bumbling local Chief Inspector thinks it's suicide, but Duncan knows it's not, and he's rather reluctantly drawn in to this mystery. Which of the guests or employees could have killed the man, and why?

I was a little surprised by this police procedural in that it reads a lot like a cozy: small town setting, cast of characters and potential subject in the almost claustrophobic space of the timeshare, and not a lot of gory details. Barring a few details about police work and jurisdiction, I felt like there was more similarity between A Share show more in Death and, say, an Agatha Christie novel than Louise Penny. The story suffered a bit from being drawn out over a busy week and my having to start and stop every 10-20 pages in the beginning, but I was mostly interested. There were so many characters I had to write them down to keep them apart, and I was annoyed by the fact that just about every female gets charmed to some degree by Duncan. I did find the mystery itself solid, finding the solution both surprising and inevitable (I'd definitely pegged someone else as whodunit), so it's one I would recommend to the right reader. show less