Rating: 
Summary: "Exciting Series"
Review: "Mourn Not Your Dead" by Deborah Crombie is bk-4 of this series, (a series that keeps getting better and better) the characters are well-developed, the dialogue fast-pace, and, the plot interesting...a very appealing combination.John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.
Rating:
Summary: Cleverly Crafted
Review: A carefully crafted English cozy mystery, with a truly fun pair of detectives. Ms. Crombie weaves a rather believable tale with some absolutely wonderful characters. Not as "tongue in cheek" as M.C. Beaton or Rhys Bowen, but a delightful, and amusing escape with a clever edge. I did struggle (just a bit) with the romantic chemistry between Duncan and Genna, who would be risking sexual harassment allegations stateside. Maybe Genna needs a promotion, so there won't be the supervisory overtones?
Rating:
Summary: Cleverly Crafted
Review: A carefully crafted English cozy mystery, with a truly fun pair of detectives. Ms. Crombie weaves a rather believable tale with some absolutely wonderful characters. Not as "tongue in cheek" as M.C. Beaton or Rhys Bowen, but a delightful, and amusing escape with a clever edge. I did struggle (just a bit) with the romantic chemistry between Duncan and Genna, who would be risking sexual harassment allegations stateside. Maybe Genna needs a promotion, so there won't be the supervisory overtones?
Rating: 
Summary: Best of the Series So far
Review: After an inauspicious beginning, Crombie's Kincaid/James series improves with every book. 'Mourn Not Your Dead', 4th in the series, is as good a police procedural you're likely to find.
Crombie uses her characters and plot in some unexpected and interesting ways. This installment's victim is a senior police officer. Crombie uses this instance to shed light on the inner workings of the Metropolitan Police. The case is set in an English country village and Crombie uses the setting to give us a new look into English country life. The intersecting lives and loss of life in this village are presented in fresh, never predictable and, one senses, quite accurate ways.
Sometimes, mystery/crime series can be a bit like watching 'Touched by an Angel'. The formula never varies, the pace never varies, characters are predictable and two-dimensional at best. You will feel mad, glad, sad and afraid at all the usual points. This is NOT SO with Crombie's Kincaid/James series, especially installments 3 and 4.
I'm on to #5 in the series "Dreaming of the Bones" which was a NY Times Notable Book of the year when it was published -- a rare acheivement by a crime series novel. If Crombie stays on track -- and the Times's opinion indicates she has -- this should be a winner.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Series So far
Review: After and inauspicious beginning, Crombie's Kincaid/James series improves with every book. 'Mourn Not Your Dead', 4th in the series, is as good a police procedural you're likely to find. Crombie uses her characters and plot in some unexpected and interesting ways. This installment's victim is a senior police officer. Crombie uses this instance to shed light on the inner workings of the Met. The case is set in an English country village and Crombie uses the setting to give us a new look into English country life. The intersecting lives and loss of life in this village are presented in fresh, never predictable and, one senses, quite accurate ways. Sometimes, mystery/crime series can be a bit like watching 'Touched by an Angel'. The formula never varies, the pace never varies, characters are predictable and two-dimensional at best. You will feel mad, glad, sad and afraid at all the usual points. This is NOT SO with Crombie's Kincaid/James series, especially installments 3 and 4. I'm on to #5 in the series "Dreaming of the Bones" which was a NY Times Notable Book of the year when it was published -- a rare acheivement by a crime series novel. If Crombie stays on track -- and the Times's opinion indicates she has -- this should be a winner.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book in this series.
Review: At first I wasn't enjoying Gemma and Duncan Kincaid, but the series has been getting better with each entry, and this book is the best so far. My biggest complaint in the previous entries was that Duncan Kincaid seemed to be a "lame duck". In this book we find a stronger, more rounded Kincaid, and it certainly makes the book better. This is a stylish mystery done in the British procedural style. We have Duncan and Gemma investigating the brutal murder of a high-ranking police officer. The murder places them in the middle of a small English Village (Surrey). Village politics are apparent here, but there is also danger and psychological undercurrents, and before Duncan and Jemma can solve the case they are placed right in the middle of this, and at imminent danger to themselves. This is a solid police procedural.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book in this series.
Review: At first I wasn't enjoying Gemma and Duncan Kincaid, but the series has been getting better with each entry, and this book is the best so far. My biggest complaint in the previous entries was that Duncan Kincaid seemed to be a "lame duck". In this book we find a stronger, more rounded Kincaid, and it certainly makes the book better. This is a stylish mystery done in the British procedural style. We have Duncan and Gemma investigating the brutal murder of a high-ranking police officer. The murder places them in the middle of a small English Village (Surrey). Village politics are apparent here, but there is also danger and psychological undercurrents, and before Duncan and Jemma can solve the case they are placed right in the middle of this, and at imminent danger to themselves. This is a solid police procedural.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting characters but cliche-ridden plot.
Review: Crombie has a way with characters and with dialogue. I like Duncan and Gemma very much. Gemma's problems juggling career, motherhood and love-life ring true. However, the mystery is poorly plotted. The "red herrings" are so obvious that they are laughable. The author telegraphs the fact that "startling revelations" will come later that will turn the case upside down. If the murder mystery had been more compelling, this book would have been much better.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting characters but cliche-ridden plot.
Review: Crombie has a way with characters and with dialogue. I like Duncan and Gemma very much. Gemma's problems juggling career, motherhood and love-life ring true. However, the mystery is poorly plotted. The "red herrings" are so obvious that they are laughable. The author telegraphs the fact that "startling revelations" will come later that will turn the case upside down. If the murder mystery had been more compelling, this book would have been much better.
Rating:
Summary: An Exercise in Slow Motion and Many Detours
Review: I chanced upon this book not knowing that Ms Crombie has built a following in the three preceding police novels featuring the Kinkaid/Gemma (un)relationship. With an untrained eye I followed this psychological drama which reflects the faults and virtues of the investigators in inverse order. If Gemma is right, Kincaid will grudgingly admit it and Kinkaid can seldom be right in Gemma's temperamental judgment. Their difficulties seem to be resolved, for the time being at least by successful mountain climbing.
Quite apart from this thread, the investigation of the murder of a former colleague proceeds very slowly and has to pass many a false clue and eventually leads to a complicated solution. Much as I admire the description of Metro police procedures, I find fault with the plausibility of the motives of the killer. Psychology, so ably applied to the Kinkaid/Gemma relationship and in respect of some of many suspects, fails Ms Crombie in this regard. But read for yourself, perhaps you can sympathise more with her dilemma.
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