Dreaming of the Bones

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 development in particular made picking up the next book a sure thing for me.

Out of the blue, Duncan Kincaid's ex-wife Vic contacts him after years of no communication, to ask his help. She has been working on a biography of a poet who died just five years before, an accepted suicide based on the manner of her death and her multiple previous attempts to take her own life. However, after reading through the private papers, most especially letters to the poet's mother, Vic has become convinced the other woman was murdered, and she wants Duncan to call in a favor to get the local constabulary to look into the death. No one wants to be bothered, naturally, but Duncan is persuaded that Vic's instincts might be valid.

What follows presents multiple challenges to Duncan's view of himself and his life, as well as his show more relationship with Gemma. The past he's digging into contains any number of secrets that the people whose lives overlapped with Vic's and the poet Lydia Brooke's might want to keep suppressed. Fans of the Bloomsbury group in general, and Rupert Brooke in particular, will enjoy the many references to that literary enclave; fans of this series will find plenty to ponder as Duncan's personal life takes a dramatic turn or two. This was good, although the major underlying secret only came to light very near the end, and the conclusion felt a bit convoluted and rushed. show less

DREAMING OF THE BONES (DUNCAN KINCAID/GEMMA JAMES BOOK 5) is written by Deborah Crombie.
This was the best title yet. Each title in this series has improved and grown in scope - more detail; more in-depth characterization; a very personal sense of place; intriguing and multi-layered mystery; very thorough detecting by D Kincaid and G James.

Duncan’s ex-wife, Vic, (Victoria Potts Kincaid McClellan) calls up out of the blue, asking for Duncan’s help. They have not seen each other for years - not since she walked out of their marriage without a word. Vic is working on a biography of one Lydia Brooke, a local poet. One of an inner circle of ‘literati’ from Cambridge in the 1960s, Lydia Brooke is of great interest to Vic. She can’t show more get over her suspicions that Lydia was murdered, as opposed to her ‘assumed’ suicide. Vic’s persistent questions begin to annoy and unsettle several of Lydia’s former friends. Is Vic in danger?

I like the poems of Rupert Brooke that introduce most chapters. Brooke’s background and the references to Cambridge and its surrounding areas help set an atmosphere for the time period.
I also like the way the case intertwines with Duncan and Gemma’s personal lives.

Highly recommended. show less

This is the fifth book in Crombie's Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series, and it is the best one so far. Finally Ms. Crombie gets the right combination of lovely writing, interesting characters, and intriguing mystery. In this one Kincaid is asked by his ex-wife Victoria to look into the closed suicide case of a poet that she is researching for a biography. Lydia Brooke has been dead for years, but Victoria thinks there is something suspicious about her apparent suicide, and grudgingly Kincaid agrees to look into it. What is so well done here is the bridging of a past mystery with a present one. I loved the merging story lines and the glimpses that we got into Lydia's thoughts through her old letters. I also greatly enjoyed the bits and show more pieces of Rupert Brooke poems that we were treated to at the beginning of each chapter - relevant not just because Lydia was slightly obsessed with him, but also because they are well chosen and speak to what the chapter is about. The mystery itself is interesting and believable, but what has kept me reading these books has been the characters. Do not start with this one if you have not read the others - the character development in these stories is important, and if you start in the middle, you will miss out, and quite possibly feel detached from the main players in the story. This is one set of mysteries where you want to begin at the beginning - the first few books are not nearly as good as this one, but to enjoy this one I am convinced that you need to read the others. Luckily, each book is better than the one before it, and this one is superb. show less

With Dreaming of the Bones Crombie delivers a boosted prowess of mastering a mystery. She has upped her game by using on many levels. While Kincaid and Gemma are always professional, this novel is much more focussed on the personal.We get to meet his ex-wife Vic, Vic's parents, Ian her estranged husband, her son, Kit, and Kincaid's mother.

Additionally, the plot is substantial, captivating, spotlighting the academic world of literature, specifically poetry writing in the 60's. The characters are complex and compelling. Lydia's letters to her mother, as well as her poetry are beautifully evocative. And show her strength as a young woman learning about herself, her sexuality, and her profession, and her personal setbacks.

Excellent read!

Victoria McClellan is immersed in writing a biography of tortured poet Lydia Brooke, who several times attempted suicide and apparently succeeded in the end. But things don't add up for Vic, so she contacts Scotland Yard's Duncan Kincaid, the man she walked out on years earlier.

He meets with her and ferrets out the police report on Lydia's death, but is not convinced Vic's suspicion is worth pursuing. Until, of course and most unfortunately, Vic too dies of what looks like a heart attack but mostly likely is poisoning.

The present-day narrative of the search for a killer is interspersed with Lydia's letters to her mother and the poetry of Rupert Brooke. Deborah Crombie deftly weaves together these strands from three eras at Cambridge. show more

One of the pleasures of reading a Crombie mystery is that the characters are fully real and the stories of their lives are nearly as engrossing as the mystery. And a mystery this one is: I guessed who the killer was at several points along the way, and each time I was wrong. I was still guessing when the truth was revealed. show less

One of my favorite series is the one featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James by Deborah Crombie as this author gets the mix of mystery and the on-going romance between the main characters just right. Dreaming of the Bones is the fifth book in the series, and we find Duncan and Gemma have settled into their working and romantic relationship.

When Duncan’s ex-wife calls from Cambridge and ask him to look into a past death that was labelled a suicide, Gemma is not best pleased, but when another death that is definitely murder occurs she is quick to join Duncan in his investigation.

This book will change the relationship between the two in a specific way and I am looking forward to seeing how they work things out in the future. I admire show more how this author realistically portrays her characters, they make adult decisions and are taking their relationship slowly as they learn to adjust to having a significant other in their lives after being let down in the past. Both a well done mystery and another step for this developing adult relationship, Dreaming of the Bones was a great addition to the series. show less