Rating: 
Summary: Appealing detectives make this one a satisfying read.
Review: "Leave the Grave Green" by Deborah Crombie is her third novel featuring the Scotland yard team of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Janes. They are called in to investigate the suspicious drowning death of Connor Swann. The book opens with a prologue describing another drowning that occurred long before Mr. Swann's. Part of the fun in reading this book is trying to figure out all the connections between the two drownings before they are revealed. Ms Crombie is so good at developing her characters that we have empathy with all of them, even those that make choices that lead to tragic consequences. Jones and Kincaid are appealing police officers. They have both been wounded in love and watching them reach out to each other is touching. In fact, this whole story is about how people deal with the aftermath of poor choices made in the name of love. My favorite mysteries tend to be a little darker than this one, but I'm going to read the next book in the series. I'm hooked!
Rating:
Summary: An engrossing police procedural in the British tradition.
Review: Deborah Crombie's work is not up to the level of Ruth Rendell's or Elizabeth George's, but she is a talented writer in the British tradition of police procedurals. In Crombie's novel, "Leave the Grave Green," Inspector Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James investigate the murder of a young man named Connor Swann, who drowned under mysterious circumstances. Both Kincaid and James are divorced and afraid of relationships, and Crombie explores the tentative nature of their mutual attraction very nicely. The murder investigation is engrossing; it plays out interestingly and realistically. Crombie depicts her characters with a sharp understanding of human nature and, in her own quiet way, she delivers a murder mystery that satisfies. I love Inspector Kincaid and Sergeant James. They are marvelous characters who are vulnerable working people struggling to make a place for themselves both professionally and personally. I am looking forward to more books featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.
Rating:
Summary: An engrossing police procedural in the British tradition.
Review: Deborah Crombie's work is not up to the level of Ruth Rendell's or Elizabeth George's, but she is a talented writer in the British tradition of police procedurals. In Crombie's novel, "Leave the Grave Green," Inspector Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James investigate the murder of a young man named Connor Swann, who drowned under mysterious circumstances. Both Kincaid and James are divorced and afraid of relationships, and Crombie explores the tentative nature of their mutual attraction very nicely. The murder investigation is engrossing; it plays out interestingly and realistically. Crombie depicts her characters with a sharp understanding of human nature and, in her own quiet way, she delivers a murder mystery that satisfies. I love Inspector Kincaid and Sergeant James. They are marvelous characters who are vulnerable working people struggling to make a place for themselves both professionally and personally. I am looking forward to more books featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.
Rating:
Summary: An engrossing police procedural in the British tradition.
Review: Deborah Crombie's work is not up to the level of Ruth Rendell's or Elizabeth George's, but she is a talented writer in the British tradition of police procedurals. In Crombie's novel, "Leave the Grave Green," Inspector Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James investigate the murder of a young man named Connor Swann, who drowned under mysterious circumstances. Both Kincaid and James are divorced and afraid of relationships, and Crombie explores the tentative nature of their mutual attraction very nicely. The murder investigation is engrossing; it plays out interestingly and realistically. Crombie depicts her characters with a sharp understanding of human nature and, in her own quiet way, she delivers a murder mystery that satisfies. I love Inspector Kincaid and Sergeant James. They are marvelous characters who are vulnerable working people struggling to make a place for themselves both professionally and personally. I am looking forward to more books featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.
Rating: 
Summary: What happened
Review: Great characters, now all she needs is a more tangled and engaging murder to go with them. Her characters are clever, and I am hoping that soon he mysteries will be too. Worth reading but still not a 5 star...yet!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: Great characters, now all she needs is a more tangled and engaging murder to go with them. Her characters are clever, and I am hoping that soon he mysteries will be too. Worth reading but still not a 5 star...yet!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Mystery
Review: Ms. Crombie is shaping into a writer of the kind of power shown in the early works of Martha Grimes and Elizabeth George. The later work of these two authors have suffered greatly. Due to I-don't-know-what their work has turned dark and grim, almost unforgivably so. Ms. Crombie's work is still light enough to enjoy without causing severe depression afterwards. I look forward to reading some more of her work.
Highly recommended to lovers of the English mystery genre.
Rating:
Summary: What happened
Review: She had me hooked before the end of the first chapter. Great style and character development. That is for the first 3/4 of the book. The last 1/4 must have been written by a 13 year old without very much talent.
Rating:
Summary: Deborah Crombie is Overrated.
Review: This is the third Crombie book I've read, and I did enjoy this one marginally more than the other two. The story and plots and and counterplots were more detailed and more believable (for the first part of the book anyway). I agree with the others that the last part of the book bogs down a lot. Also, I'm sorry but Duncan Kincaid is a "lame duck" and I find I have trouble liking him. He seems to fall for any female that comes his way, and he seems to lack a spine. I do like Gemma though. She manages to carry the book, even though her infatuation with Duncan lessens her sensibiity somewhat. I am a huge British procedural fan, so I find that this series lacks authenticity and I never forget that it's not written by an English author. The book did have possibility though. The 20 year time frame, and unresolved issues helped pull it out of the mundane and make it somewhat interesting. But it's one-dimensional and forced (at least for the last 1/4 of the book anyway).
Rating:
Summary: Deborah Crombie is Overrated.
Review: This is the third Crombie book I've read, and I did enjoy this one marginally more than the other two. The story and plots and and counterplots were more detailed and more believable (for the first part of the book anyway). I agree with the others that the last part of the book bogs down a lot. Also, I'm sorry but Duncan Kincaid is a "lame duck" and I find I have trouble liking him. He seems to fall for any female that comes his way, and he seems to lack a spine. I do like Gemma though. She manages to carry the book, even though her infatuation with Duncan lessens her sensibiity somewhat. I am a huge British procedural fan, so I find that this series lacks authenticity and I never forget that it's not written by an English author. The book did have possibility though. The 20 year time frame, and unresolved issues helped pull it out of the mundane and make it somewhat interesting. But it's one-dimensional and forced (at least for the last 1/4 of the book anyway).
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