Mystery, They Wrote

Mystery author Deborah Crombie.

When I interviewed Deborah Crombie, we chatted on the phone while she made lasagna. With phone tucked between ear and shoulder, she finished making dinner while I talked with one of the premier stylists in mystery fiction. Originally graduating from Austin College in Sherman, Texas with a degree in biology, it was a post-university trip to England that cemented her life-long passion for Britain. For several years Crombie lived in Scotland and then in Chester, England. Returning to Dallas, she worked for a time in the family business (manufacturer’s representatives for theatre concessions) while raising her daughter Kayti. It was here that she wrote her first book featuring Scotland Yard detectives, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. And although she travels to the UK several times a year, she currently makes her home in McKinney, Texas with her husband, Rick Wilson, two German shepherds and three cats.

I’ve been reading Deborah Crombie’s books since 1993 when the first book, A Share in Death, was published. There are now 12 books in this fine series. And although I had always enjoyed her somewhat traditional police procedural stories, it was her 1997 book, Dreaming of the Bones, that made me sit up and take notice. And I wasn’t the only one – it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Edgar, the Anthony and the Agatha and was awarded the Macavity from Mystery Readers International. A complicated, intricately woven tale of torment and guilt and the power that secrets hold, Dreaming of the Bones was a step above anything else that Crombie had written to date. This was the work of a writer coming of age, as if all the previous books were preparatory to this.

Dreaming of the Bones took Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his lover and partner, Sergeant Gemma James to Cambridge. Kincaid’s ex-wife, feminist biographer Dr. Victoria McClennan, had uncovered some unusual circumstances surrounding the death of poet Lydia Brooke in the 1980s. But before Kincaid and Gemma can begin an unofficial investigation, Vic herself is found dead of a heart attack.

Crombie imparts a depth of understanding when it comes to the emotions of her characters. Vic McClennan’s interest in and connection to Lydia Brooke and Kincaid’s grief when Vic is found dead are depicted with considerable credibility. This is particularly tough on Crombie. “I had to go away for a week,” she told me “when I was writing the part of the book where Vic dies. I got to the point where I wasn’t sure I could do it because I was so emotionally connected to her.”

And then, as if to totally dash the idea of a sophomore curse, Crombie wrote Kissed a Sad Goodbye. A young woman is found dead, apparently strangled, in a park on the Isle of Dogs and Kincaid and James are called on to lead the investigation. The investigation takes the two detectives back to the 1940s when children were evacuated from London to escape the enemy’s bombs, when friendships were made and broken, where the seeds of future actions were sown.

The 12th book in the series, Where Memories Lie, was published in June and is set in Notting Hill where Kincaid and Gemma James have recently made a home together. Over time Gemma has developed a friendship with an older neighbor, Dr. Erika Rosenthal and so when Erika calls requesting help, Gemma is quick to respond. It seems that an art deco brooch made by Erika’s jeweler father has recently turned up in an auction brochure. The problem is that this very brooch was stolen from Erika during a very dark period in her past. She needs to find out who the seller is. Feeling obliged, Gemma begins a low-key investigation that ramps up to an official one when a young woman working for the auction house is killed. Erika’s past is somehow linked to the present situation and in order to resolve it, Gemma finds herself delving into a time during and after WWII, into the as-yet-unresolved death in 1951 of Erika’s husband David.

Over the course of this series, Deborah Crombie has fine-tuned the complexity of bringing an historical perspective into her stories. She’s done it over and over again and in her latest, she is definitely flexing her writing muscle. Her ability to intricately tie the stories together while not getting bogged down trying to show off her research is impressive. And she never ignores the other aspects of mystery fiction; setting, story, characters are all carefully balanced. So, my recommendation is that you start at the beginning and savor the wares of this fine writer. Reading the series from the beginning is not absolutely necessary, but you’ll enjoy the development of Duncan and Gemma’s relationship so much more if you do. And try to get hold of hardcover copies of the books published in 1999 and later—the endpaper maps by Laura Maestro are spectacular and are well worth the price or the drive to the library. As for me, I have a taste for lasagna…

Books by Deborah Crombie

A Share in Death (1993)

All Shall Be Well (1994)

Leave the grave Green (1995)

Mourn Not Your Dead (1996)

Dreaming of the Bones (1997)

Kissed a Sad Goodbye (1999)

A Finer End (2001)

And Justice There is None (2002)

Now May You Weep (2003)

In a Dark House (2004)

Water Like a Stone (2006)

Where Memories Lie (2008)