Today I am reviewing To Dwell in Darkness by Deborah Crombie for TLC Book Tours. As always I am provided with a copy of the book in return for my honest review.
About the book (from the publisher): In the tradition of Elizabeth George, Louise Penny, and P.D. James, New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie delivers a powerful tale of intrigue, betrayal, and lies that will plunge married detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James into the unspeakable darkness that lies at the heart of murder.
Recently transferred to the London borough of Camden from Scotland Yard headquarters, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his new murder investigation team are called to a deadly bombing at historic St. Pancras Station. By fortunate coincidence, Melody Talbot, Gemma’s trusted colleague, witnesses the explosion. The victim was taking part in an organized protest, yet the other group members swear the young man only meant to set off a smoke bomb. As Kincaid begins to gather the facts, he finds every piece of the puzzle yields an unexpected pattern, including the disappearance of a mysterious bystander.
The bombing isn’t the only mystery troubling Kincaid. He’s still questioning the reasons behind his transfer, and when his former boss – who’s been avoiding him – is attacked, those suspicions deepen. With the help of his former sergeant, Doug Cullen, Melody Talbot, and Gemma, Kincaid begins to untangle the truth. But what he discovers will leave him questioning his belief in the job that has shaped his life and values – and remind him just how vulnerable his precious family is.
My review: Once again, Deborah Crombie has written a thoroughly engaging mystery that I dare you to put down. I mentioned in an earlier post that I wanted to pace myself with this one, to savor it, to linger over the words, knowing that it would be another year until a new book came out.
I couldn’t do it. I simply had to keep reading. That’s because Crombie is a gifted writer, skilled in plotting the twist and turns of a mystery, in juggling a large cast of characters, and in weaving the various plot strands together along the way to a bang-up ending. This particular plot, revolving around a protest gone terribly wrong, takes Kincaid and Crombie’s recurring cast of characters down many paths in their quest for the truth, each one more mystifying.
What I love about this novel and all of Crombie’s novels in the series, is the way she has made various characters from earlier mysteries a part of the overall life of the novels. A veterinarian, a caregiver, a musician and more, all of them part of earlier plots and mysteries, are now a part of the daily life of Kincaid and James. They’ve been enfolded and welcomed and, to the reader who has followed these mysteries from the beginning, they are like old friends. And now we have new characters, those on Kincaid’s new murder investigation team, each of them interesting and compelling – as are all Crombie’s characters. She has a gift for character development, each one wholly individual, richly detailed, with a past that informs who he/she is in the present.
Not only is there the immediate mystery, that of the bombing in St. Pancras Station, to solve, there is the overarching mystery that spans this book, Crombie’s last book, The Sound of Broken Glass, and will clearly be a part of the next book: What is behind the transfer of Kincaid from Scotland Yard to his new posting in Camden? Are there malevolent forces behind it? Just how threatening are they? Just as Kincaid is left with many questions, so are we.
That’s just fine. It only makes me that more anxious to read the next mystery in this series.
To Dwell in Darkness doesn’t disappoint. The plot and its resolution will keep you reading into the night.
About the author: Deborah Crombie is a New York Times bestselling author and a native Texan who has lived in both England and Scotland. She lives in McKinney, Texas, sharing a house that is more than a hundred years old with her husband, two cats, and two German Shepherds.
For more about Deborah Crombie, read my interview with her on Just Let Me Finish This Page.
And, finally, one of you will win a copy of To Dwell in Darkness. Just leave a comment on this post and you will be entered. You have until Wednesday evening, when I will pick a winner.
New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page. Stop by!
Happy Monday.
I just left a comment on your last post…and here you are posting again. Hopefully you are feeling better this morning.
Balisha
I am a fan of Deborah Crombie and enjoy her books. I’ll have to look out for that one.
Ruth
This is a new author for me.
I have never read this author but will be going to the library to pick up an earlier book . I would (of course) love to win a copy of her newest book!
I like the sound of this book. Thanks for reviewing and glad you enjoyed the read.
Oh, please enter me in the contest for this book! I am so anxious to read it.
She really does have a fantastic writing style! Hope you are feeling better! As always…thanks for the opportunity! ;)
I just started reading this series. I’m on book two. Love her style of writing.
I have read all of Deborah Crombie’s novels. Great writing, wonderful characters and memorable stories. Thanks for your feature and giveaway.
I am also searching for Deborah Crombie’s series so this would be very welcome..Take care..
I’m looking forward to reading this book. I’ll put it on my list but cross my fingers that I ‘might’ win it!
hugs,
Linda
I have no read this book and would love to be the lucky recipient of the giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity to enter. Hope you are feeling much better!
Just started her first book due to your recommendation. A few chapters in and I am already hooked! Would love to add this book to my new Crombie collection!
Sounds like a good read. I hope you and Scout are coping.
I love her books and would love to win this one. I hope you are feeling better. Blessings
I would love to get a copy of this book. I always like to start reading a new author. Makes the trip to the library more exciting.
I love Deborah Crombie and I really enjoy your blog! I hope I win because after I read it I’ll donate it to my public library. Feel better soon.
Your excellent review has hooked me in – as always! – and I would love to win this book. Thanks, Claudia, for offering one to a lucky winner.
I would love to have a copy of the book.
Thanks
I would love to have this book. After I read books I pass them along to my friends and daughters. I like her style of writing. Thank you.
You write excellent reviews without spoilers. I wish I were better at explaining books I love besides just saying, You have got to read this, its excellent. Then I get all tongue tied because its my opinion and I’m wondering who would want to hear it? Hold over from childhood I suppose.
I’d love to be entered into the contest of course and I’d like to wish everyone who enters the best of luck.
I love your blog, its a respite of peace in an daily race that never ends. I come over with a hot beverage and spend some time to get my blood pressure back to normal. I don’t know if that is what you intended but it is so calming, and beautiful. I feel as if there are secret places in the garden where one can sit, alone, and just wait for time to float on past with no worries.
Get to feeling better, being sick is no fun. I live with chronic pain, have since I was 7 and I know what I speak of.
Claudia, love your book reviews. I have a cold also so I have been reading, but not posting. Just didn’t feel up to it.
This sounds like a great book. I love your reviews. pam
I have never read this author but plan to do so now thanks to your excellent review!! I hope you are feeling much better today. Take care
Sounds very good! I’ll have to get on the list at the library.
Sounds good! I would love to win.
I am commenting. First time. I enjoy your blog. It’s peaceful.
Claudia,
My way of escaping life’s stresses is to lose myself in a good book. Today I am desperate for a book to get lost in. Deborah Crombie’s book sounds like one I could really disappear into for a while. Thanks for the chance.
Sandra
Throw my name in the hat! I picked up the first one by her and will start it in the next day or so.
Hi Claudia, hope I’m in time to be entered into the draw! Sounds like a grat book. I just read one of her books last week on my Kindle and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for the opportunity.
It does sound like a rather interesting book. Not familiar with the author, although your interview was good! If I would win it I would definitely read it. Thanks!
Before your recommendation, I had never read Deborah Crombie. I looked at her list of books, and started with the first Kincaid mystery. It’s great, and I very much like her writing style.
I’d be very happy to win a copy of her newest book. I may have to speed read the previous ones so I can get to this one if I win :)
So glad you’re doing better. Sounds as if your illness was a very nasty one.
I’ve always loved her books. I think I’ve read almost all of them.
I just finished my first Louise Penny book and liked it very much – she is a new author to me. So I would very much like an introduction to Deborah Crombie as well — and please keep writing those great book reviews.
Great review. I am looking for a good series of books. Would love to win this volume. Good luck to everyone!
As with all the books you review, this one, too, I would love to win.
jane-in-tx
I have been looking for a new author and i may just have found it, it sounds like the type of book once picked up i couldn’t put down, Thanks for taking the time to tell us about it, now if i win the book all i need is a good cup of tea.
Take Care
Nancy
I really enjoy what I call the Kincaid/Gemma series.. Glad to see another one printed! Thanks for the review.
Sounds like a good read to curl up with on a weekend and get lost in. I’m going to get to the library soon and try and get some of the others in the series.
Would love the opportunity to read this book. I have been looking for a new author to read ever since I finished the Robert Galbraith Comoron Strike novels.
Deborah Crombie is a favorite of mine. I would love to read her latest work. From reading your review, this one sounds quite interesting. Hope that you are well on the road to recovery. Thank you so much for sponsoring this wonderful giveaway.
I have not read this author, but she is on my library list. It would be wonderful to own a hard copy. Thanks for the chance! Get better Claudia.
I truly love Deborah Crombie. I would love to read this one.
Get better soon.
I would love to read this book. You had me when you likened her books to Louise Penny’s. It was your recommendation on “Just Let Me Finish This Page,” that caused me to take Still Life on my vacation. I’m a fan! Can’t wait to read the next one!
This book sounds like a great antidote to the book I’m reading now for our local book club and a book I’d share with my adult daughter. Before Kindles, family holidays were always occasions when we each carted armloads of already read books to each others’ houses and each person took what she wanted.
Yeah, sometimes a book is just too good to read it slowly!
Thanks for being a part of the tour.