Necessary as Blood (original 2009; edition 2010)

I suspect that had this book been written by another author I would have given it five stars, but it's not quite as good as Crombie's [b:Dreaming of the Bones.|573127|Dreaming of the Bones (Kincaid/James #5)|Deborah Crombie|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175905051s/573127.jpg|545180] On the other hand, not many books are. Gemma and Duncan, she in a local precinct and he at Scotland Yard, both become involved in investigating the murder of a young father whose wife disappeared a few months earlier. There are numerous red herrings on the way to the shocking conclusion. The book is set in the East End of London, where yuppies, artists, working-class people and the underclass coexist precariously. Gemma and Duncan continue to struggle with jurisdictional and ethical conflicts, as well as with their own personal concerns. I was happy to see the growing importance of Melody Talbot and Doug Cullen, respectively Gemma's and Duncan's assistants. Very highly recommended. ( )

Das Atmosphärische, die Sprache, die Erzählweise, die Figuren – ich liebe diese Serie! Und ich mochte auch dieses Buch sehr, wobei "Water Like a Stone" weiterhin mein Lieblingsband bleiben wird. Kleine Punktabzüge bei "Necessary as Blood": Trotz aller Problemchen sind Duncan/Gemma/Kit/Toby mir etwas zu perfekt als Patchwork-Familie. Zu perfekt jedenfalls, um wahr zu sein. Wenigstens der 16jährige Kit darf jetzt bitte mal in die Pubertät kommen und ein bißchen Trouble verbreiten! Aber das kommt ja vielleicht noch. Der konkrete Fall ist außerordentlich spannend und mitreißend, wenn mir auch die Auflösung etwas zu abrupt war. Da hätte der Spannungsbogen ruhig etwas gleichmäßiger sein können. Aber, wie schon angedeutet: Das ist Jammern auf ansonsten verdammt hohem Niveau!

Atmosphere, language, narrative style, characters – I love this series! And I liked this book, although "Water Like a Stone" will remain my favourite volume. Minor flaws of "Necessary as Blood" in my view: Despite some comparatibly petty problems Duncan/Gemma/Kit/Toby are a bit too perfect as a patchwork family. At least 16-year-old Kit may as well hit puberty now and cause some trouble! But perhaps this is still to come. The book's case was very thrilling and touching, but the ending and solution came all too sudden to my taste. But that's admittedly all first-class whining. ( )

Another very well written story by Ms. Crombie. I'm pleased my second selection from the author's Kincaid/James series (again way out-of-order at #13), stands well on its own. At no time, did I feel left out because of "missing" character or scene history. An added bonus is the snippets from books, articles, (etc.) that begin each chapter. They effectively set the tone for the scenes to follow, and provide this American reader with glimpses into a country with a rich, deep history.

I'd like to add that using Ms. Sterlin as the book's reader, is an excellent choice. She's very consistent in keeping the pitch/tone of each character throughout the book. Plus, she's one of the best at voicing characters of the opposite sex. Very few of the Audiobook Readers I've listened to, do the gender cross-over, as well. ( )

Kindle
Amazon;
In this particular character-driven mystery, a young mother named Sandra Gilles simply vanishes one day, leaving her toddler daughter with a family friend for what she promises will just be an hour or two. Then, months later, her husband also disappears; Charlotte, the 3-year-old daughter, can say only that her Mummy went away and her Daddy went to look for her. Gemma and Duncan share mutual friends with Naz, Charlotte's father and a Pakistani-born lawyer, and are in on the case early, even before the first dead body shows up. From then on, they work together and separately to resolve the mystery and help create the best possible future for Charlotte, who, if they don't act, may end up living with her maternal grandmother despite the presence of two drug-dealing uncles and the fact that Sandra had no contact with her family.

The plot itself is complex but adeptly handled so that it never feels so; the characters are all plausible and the settings so vivid that I remain astonished that Crombie is an American and not a Londoner. There's nothing here to stretch the reader's credulity. Best of all, Crombie manages to blend the plot with the developments in Duncan's and Gemma's real lives (they are trying to find a way to marry that will keep everyone happy, as Gemma's mother must cope with a recurrence of her cancer -- disclosed very early on in the book, so not a spoiler!). There are no simple answers to either their personal challenges or to the mystery of what happened to Sandra or Naz, but Crombie ably walks the narrow line between giving away too many clues or emerging at the last moment with an improbable solution to the crime.

Me: Not as enjoyable as others in the series, primarily, I think, because there were too many characters to track. I disagree that the romance took priority here; I felt that the somewhat convoluted plot reduced my enjoyment of the two leads. Maybe I just wanted more about them, not less.

Read 10/09 ( )

For those that haven’t read her, Deborah Crombie writes mysteries featuring a pair of London police detectives, Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jones. “Necessary As Blood” is the thirteenth in the series, and is set exclusively in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London. I’d describe her books as a cross between a police procedural and a high quality soap opera. In the course of the previous volumes, Crombie has established a large supporting cast of fellow detectives, parents, friends, and children, most of whom appear in this latest episode. With other authors (Martha Grimes and Sue Grafton come to mind) I often rail against this practice because the characters make an appearance with no advancement in the plot. Crombie is one of the few who actually manages to weave these characters into the lives of Kincaid and Jones in such a way that you aren’t left asking yourself the question, “Why did she put THAT in?” However, if one were to begin reading Crombie’s latest without starting at the beginning, I think you would be missing some of the fun. The domestic issues that are dealt with in “Necessary As Blood” have their roots in previous books, though they’re explained adequately for the new reader.

The mystery itself, involving disappearance of a female artist and, months later, the murder of her husband, is above average, with numerous red herrings tossed out as the investigation proceeds. As always, Crombie’s sense of place is outstanding, with atmosphere evocative enough to make me envision my second favorite city, warts and all. ( )