Rating: 
Summary: Well done update of a classic potboiler
Review: Mystery fans are more than familiar with the classic premise of a murder at an isolated country house. Crombie updates that idea by making her house a time-share retreat. Our hero, Duncan Kincaid, has been given a week and finds himself sharing more than cocktails with the eclectic group of guests.This is a pleasant, well paced read. There aren't any huge surprises or novel concepts. It's not a surprise that virtually every one of the guests has a secret or two. And the reader knows from the start that one of the guests must be the killer. Still, Crombie did a nice job of keeping me guessing. While the book isn't a page turner, it is an entertaining read. I read this book mostly because it's the first in the Kincaid/James series that achieved a MacCavity award and Agatha and Edgar nominations for the fifth book in the series - Dreaming of Bones. I expect to enjoy the three books in between as I work my way to the award winning book.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant and professional
Review: This is exactly what most readers of "cozy" mysteries want when they sit down to read a new book. Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid is on holiday at a time-sharing resort in Yorkshire when the assistant manager of the resort is electrocuted in the swimming pool. The local police official, who is both obnoxious and incompetent, is predictably unhappy with Kincaid's presence, and Kincaid compounds the situation with his inability to restrain his curiosity. A second murder soon follows, and a third seems imminent. There are ample suspects, some of them likeable and some downright nasty. Every character seems to have at least a minor skeleton in his or her closet, and Crombie keeps the reader asking why Mr. X did that, or why Ms. Y was where she was at such-and-such a time - all the elements you're supposed to have when reading a mystery. In short, nothing spectacularly memorable here, but a debut for Ms. Crombie which certainly makes me want to read the rest of her books.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant and professional
Review: This is exactly what most readers of "cozy" mysteries want when they sit down to read a new book. Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid is on holiday at a time-sharing resort in Yorkshire when the assistant manager of the resort is electrocuted in the swimming pool. The local police official, who is both obnoxious and incompetent, is predictably unhappy with Kincaid's presence, and Kincaid compounds the situation with his inability to restrain his curiosity. A second murder soon follows, and a third seems imminent. There are ample suspects, some of them likeable and some downright nasty. Every character seems to have at least a minor skeleton in his or her closet, and Crombie keeps the reader asking why Mr. X did that, or why Ms. Y was where she was at such-and-such a time - all the elements you're supposed to have when reading a mystery. In short, nothing spectacularly memorable here, but a debut for Ms. Crombie which certainly makes me want to read the rest of her books.
Rating:
Summary: Has Possibilities
Review: This is my first book by author Deborah Crombie and I enjoyed it. She is not yet a master of the typical English "cozy" but she shows promise. So few authors do this sub genre anymore and it is nice to see Ms. Crombie trying and almost succeeding to fill the gap. All she needs is alittle more edge, a little more depth and she will have it perfectly. I will definetely pick up another of her books, as I am sure with more experience she is sure to perfect her craft.
Rating: 
Summary: A Share in Death
Review: This is one of the best "underdone" mysteries I've read in a long time. I was impressed by the way she held my attention and I didn't know "who dun it?" until the last. I've read so many mysteries, I tend to solve them about midway through the book-and this one I didn't. I am looking forward to reading others by her. I really enjoyed her protagonist in this book. He is refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: A Share in Death
Review: This is one of the best "underdone" mysteries I've read in a long time. I was impressed by the way she held my attention and I didn't know "who dun it?" until the last. I've read so many mysteries, I tend to solve them about midway through the book-and this one I didn't. I am looking forward to reading others by her. I really enjoyed her protagonist in this book. He is refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: An English mystery by an American author- A Good One!
Review: This is the first Deborah Crombie mystery that I have read. It won't be the last! Duncan Kincaid is a very likeable Scotland Yard Superintendant. I get the feeling that he likes women for their own sake, and not simply because of physical attraction. The mystery itself is well plotted and provides an opportunity for the reader to deduce the murderer. I did not, but the clues were all there as the story unfolded about Kincaid's holiday at a time-share property in Yorkshire. This book has the authentic quality of an English mystery, but the author is an American. I recommend it as an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: May Be A Promising Start.
Review: This may be a promising start to a new series, but I found this book quite simplistic (written at about Grade 4 level,) and the coincidences were a bit too much! Kinkaid appears to be a lame duck since he seems to yearn romantically about both women his age that he meets during the course of solving the murder. Also, I knew that it was an American author writing an English procedural (a la Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes who do it so skilfully), but I found that the story did not sound English and the characters did not sound and act like the English do. It didn't ring true. I will attempt to read another book in the series to see if it gets better. I was looking forward to beginning this series after I had read some of the reviews, so I am disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: May Be A Promising Start.
Review: This may be a promising start to a new series, but I found this book quite simplistic (written at about Grade 4 level,) and the coincidences were a bit too much! Kinkaid appears to be a lame duck since he seems to yearn romantically about both women his age that he meets during the course of solving the murder. Also, I knew that it was an American author writing an English procedural (a la Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes who do it so skilfully), but I found that the story did not sound English and the characters did not sound and act like the English do. It didn't ring true. I will attempt to read another book in the series to see if it gets better. I was looking forward to beginning this series after I had read some of the reviews, so I am disappointed.
| 
