The Sound of Broken Glass: A Novel (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels, 15) - Hardcover

Crombie, Deborah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061990639 ISBN 13: 9780061990632

Publisher: William Morrow, 2013

Synopsis

Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are on the case in Deborah Crombie’s The Sound of Broken Glass, a captivating mystery that blends a murder from the past with a powerful danger in the present.

When Detective Inspector James joins forces with Detective Inspector Melody Talbot to solve the murder of an esteemed barrister, their investigation leads them to realize that nothing is what it seems—with the crime they’re investigating and their own lives.

With an abundance of twists and turns and intertwining subplots, The Sound of Broken Glass by New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie is an elaborate and engaging page-turner.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Crombie is a native Texan who has lived in both England and Scotland. She now lives in McKinney, Texas, sharing a house that is more than one hundred years old with her husband, two cats, and two German shepherds.

From the Back Cover

In the past . . .

On a blisteringly hot August afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great Exhibition, a solitary thirteen-year-old boy meets his next-door neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in the tight-knit South London community. Drawn together by loneliness, the unlikely pair forms a deep connection that ends in a shattering act of betrayal.

In the present . . .

On a cold January morning in London, Detective Inspector Gemma James is back on the job now that her husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is at home to care for their three-year-old foster daughter. Assigned to lead a Murder Investigation Team in South London, she's assisted by her trusted colleague, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Their first case: a crime scene at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace. The victim: a well-respected barrister, found naked, trussed, and apparently strangled. Is it an unsavory accident or murder? In either case, he was not alone, and Gemma's team must find his companion—a search that takes them into unexpected corners and forces them to contemplate unsettling truths about the weaknesses and passions that lead to murder. Ultimately, they will begin to question everything they think they know about their world and those they trust most.

Reviews

While husband Duncan Kincaid remains at home to help foster-child Charlotte adjust, Gemma James works a gruesome murder in Crystal Palace, an area of London named after a magnificent glass exhibition hall that was destroyed in the 1930s. The discovery of a dead barrister in a seedy hotel room leads Gemma and colleague Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot to a talented young guitarist who grew up in the neighborhood. Andy Monahan doesn’t seem like a killer, but it’s clear to Gemma that he’s keeping something back. When a second barrister is killed in a similarly gruesome fashion, Andy’s link to both victims and to Crystal Palace puts him dead center in the investigation. The question, of course, is, “Will Andy be next?” More predictable than usual and not the best choice to introduce readers to the series, this will nevertheless please Crombie’s many fans. They will already be invested in James-Kincaid family dynamics and know toddler Charlotte’s tragic story, which began in Necessary as Blood (2006) and is referenced without much explanation here. --Stephanie Zvirin

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061990639
• ISBN 13: 9780061990632
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368