Mourn Not Your Dead

The mystery itself was so-so and there was no subtlety in how the clues were worked into the case, but those aren’t the things that keep bringing me back to this series. It’s the characters and their drawn-from-real-life interactions that have me hooked, along with the way they address real world issues such as domestic violence, abandonment, and workplace discrimination. I just hope the next book picks up with the unresolved secondary case from this one.

When Division Commander Alastair Gilbert is savagely murdered in the kitchen of his rural home, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma Jones are sent to investigate the crime. They find that there is no shortage of suspects, as the victim was a cruel, cold and vindictive man, and soon they are embroiled in the many petty emotions and complicated relationships among the villagers. At the same time, the two must come to terms with their own relationship and how to move forward…. I enjoyed the village aspect of this novel in particular, probably because relationships in small English villages are always entertaining to read about, at least in fictional form! The previous book in this series ended with the relationship between show more Duncan and Gemma changing, about which the two of them have very different perspectives, and a large part of this novel deals with the aftermath of that situation. As a result, you have both a crime to solve (which I did, shortly before the reveal at the end) and a relationship with which to agree or disagree, making for a satisfying read. Although Ms. Crombie’s writing is not top-of-the-line in terms of mystery writers, it’s quite serviceable and I will continue reading this series, at least for the time being. Mildly recommended. show less

The 4th installment of the Kincaid/James detective series. The victim this time is a high ranking police officer, bludgeoned in his own kitchen in Holmbury St. Mary. Both Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James knew him in the past; no one seems terribly sorry he's gone, but no one seems to have hated him enough to kill him either. Meanwhile, our principals are working through some personal STUFF that isn't making the investigation go any smoother. Not quite as engaging as the previous two in the series, and some side stories were not resolved to my satisfaction. But the characters are friends of mine now, and I'll follow them a while longer.

Mourn Not Your Dead by Deborah Crombie is the 4th book in her Inspector Duncan Kincaid/ Sergeant Gemma James series. They are sent to a small village in Surrey to investigate the murder of a fellow policeman. Division Commander Alastair Gilbert has been struck down in his kitchen and at first look, this murder seems that it could be linked to a series of burglaries that have occurred in the village. Of course, Kincaid and James dig deeper and unearth a long list of suspects that could have had a hand in this unpleasant man’s death.

Where the actual case is pretty straight forward, and the final solution was fairly easy to work out, the real excitement for someone who is following this series is the on-going relationship between Kincaid show more and James. For every step these two take toward getting closer, they seem to take two steps back. In this episode, Duncan is ready to move forward with their romance but Gemma is trying to put their personal feelings aside as she is very nervous about the effect a romance will have on their professional lives.

Well written characters and realistic dialogue make these interestingly plotted mysteries fun to read and I am looking forward to continuing watching these two lead characters dance around each other. show less

This was a decent mystery, but based on common tropes and without enough suspense. I enjoy the dynamic between the two detectives and this book was satisfying in that respect, but overall it was just okay.

This was a nice fair mystery with plenty of red herrings along the way. I did figure it out, but not too far ahead of the detectives so it was an enjoyable bonus. I also liked the development of the relationship between Duncan and Gemma here. After finding the last book a bit of a disappointment, this was an improvement.

Kincaid and Jones set out to solve the murder of one of their fellow police officers in small town England. The officer appears very disliked and the murderer is no surprise.
Although I have Crombie's series so far this one is more disappointing. There was too much time spent on playing the Kincaid-Jones relationship that the mystery began to take a back seat to all the anguish. Hopefully, the next book will not focus so much on this as they finally solved their "problems" at the end.