Garden of Lamentations audiobook

Garden of Lamentations by Deborah Crombie is a 2017 William Morrow publication. Another strong, gripping installment in the Kincaid and James series! This seventeenth installment is very involved and busy. Gemma is asked to help solve the murder of a young nanny found in the exclusive London Park. In the course of their investigation, they uncover even more deaths in the area, one of them, a child. Meanwhile, Duncan is drawn ever deeper into the cases he thinks are related, which involve members of the force. When a Metropolitan police officer is attacked, Duncan is now positive there is a rat in their midst, and he doesn’t know who he can trust. The situation has Duncan spiraling down a dark path as his alcohol intake increases and his secrets from Gemma begin driving a wedge between them. If you haven’t been faithfully reading this series in order, you might want to make sure you have read the two previous chapters in this series before tackling this one. There are many references to events in the last book and because there is so much going on it could be quite confusing if you aren’t familiar with what has transpired up to this point. For the first time we see Gemma and Duncan hit a serious and worrisome rough patch in their relationship and each of the recurring characters are individually haunted – both professionally and personally. Both cases are suspenseful and compelling, although the overall tone of this installment was different from any before it, in my opinion. While we love Gemma and Duncan’s teamwork, the relatively mild moments of doubt and the insecurities they encounter, has never truly put their relationship to the test. It was realistic to expect them to face relationship bumps, and to show their humanity and flaws. Overall, this was another excellent episode in the series, and it wraps up a few threads and opens the series up for deeper connections with the characters and for stronger bonds between Gemma and Duncan and their friends and colleagues.While I’m looking forward to the next chapter in the series, I’m going to wait a little while before reading it. It’s the only one I have left to read before I’m all caught up, and then I’ll have to start waiting for the next release like everyone else. It’s been rewarding to read the series from start to finish. It has grown stronger and stronger over time and has become one of my favorite British mystery series! 4 stars

Favorite Quotes:Pathologists are insatiably curious. That’s why we do it, most of us. Although maybe there are some who just like really bad smells and have no people skills. Don’t say you don’t want to speak ill of the dead. The dead are dead and it won’t hurt them.Lisa Su, Gemma decided, might have been pretty if not for what seemed a perpetually angry expression. Her eyes protruded slightly, as if pushed out from the pressure within.My Review:I was stunned when I noticed I was reading an author for the first while picking up book number seventeen in a series. I had not contemplated such a vast amount of books in one series since my Nancy Drew years. While I am certain I would have had an easier time beginning the tale had I read the previous books, prior experience was not necessary as the story was more than steady on strong dancers legs and quite capable to stand-alone. The plot was complex, ingenious, and brilliantly crafted. Ms. Crombie must be wicked smart and at least a tad twisted to have such a profound facility for evil genius lurking about her headspace. I doubt her neighbors ever fully relax or dare to disturb her peace. Her writing was hypnotic, packed with peculiar and intriguing characters, and densely detailed with a treasure trove of fascinating and multi-faceted story threads knitting themselves into vivid imagery. I covet her mad skills.

Let me see if I’ve got this straight. There are lots of cops in Deborah Crombie’s latest detective novel, Garden of Lamentations. Six of them, for starters. Co-protagonists Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James are married. They’ve been reassigned from New Scotland Yard to separate precincts elsewhere in London. The pair have an adopted teenage boy, a 3-year-old foster daughter, and an even younger boy of their own. In addition to Kincaid and James, there are two lower-ranked officers, Doug Cullen and Melody Talbot. Melody’s father is Ivan Talbot, a London press lord, but she’s keeping that a secret. Then there’s Kincaid’s “guvnor,” Detective Chief Superintendent Denis Childs, who has been mysteriously missing for several months. Oh, and Ryan Marsh, also a police officer, had died in some unstated way three months earlier after he and Talbot rushed into a fire started by a grenade tossed into a crowd. Oh, yes, and Kincaid and James’ friends, Hazel and Tim, also figure in the story. The pair had been involved in an earlier case in Scotland, where Hazel had moved to manage the family’s distillery. I think that’s the gist of it. It took me quite a while to figure all this out.In other words, it would pay to have read the preceding novels in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. This is the 17th. I’d read many of the others, but too long ago to remember so many details.If you understand all those things, you’re good to go. As Garden of Lamentations opens, a young nanny is murdered, Denis Childs is assaulted and left for dead after hinting at police corruption, and Kincaid and Talbot are still puzzling over the death of Ryan Marsh. The story that unfolds is engrossing and suspenseful. You’ll find yourself caught up in a tale that involves corruption at Scotland Yard, undercover police, a locked-garden murder mystery, and the travails of a complicated family with two parents holding professional jobs.

I am a huge Deborah Crombie fan and was thrilled to receive this paperback in a goodreads giveaway just as I was about to purchase it! Duncan Kinkaid and Gemma James’ 17th book in this series is a continuation of the disturbing police corruption and murder story laid out in To Dwell in Darkness. We jave the solution to so many of the puzzling actions and deaths in the prior book and, perhaps, the root of all that evil. As always, the atmospere is rendered in a way that takes me there- this time to one of the interior garden squares (think Notting Hill) and those intertwined communities. The supporting characters all have their roles as do the children, cats and dogs. These are police procedurals with plenty of procedure but also filled with the lives of the humans involved. Read this series if you haven’t but don’t start here or you will be lost. Love Crombie’s plotting and her descriptions of place and relationships.

I started this series with Garden of Lamentations, which is the 17th installment. I was so nervous to do this, since I usually only start with the first book in the series, but I am really enjoying British mysteries and crime stories these days, so I figured why not? Ultimately I’m glad that I took this leap; I liked this one enough that I want to go back and start from the beginning.Gemma and Kincaid obviously have an extensive history since this series is named after the both of them: the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James Series. By this time in the series, the two are married with a young child, Charlotte, that they are parenting after her biological parents were killed, presumably in an earlier installment in this series. In Garden of Lamentations, Gemma is investigating the death of a young girl found in a garden in a Notting Hill neighborhood and Kincaid is investigating corruption in the police division, which leads him down a trail of attacks and past murders.If I am being honest, I have to admit that I expected these two to cross paths with their work more than they did. I was surprised that their cases were two almost-independent storylines. The story read (to me) like two married people with similar jobs who are both working, but on different cases. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this – it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I loved that throughout the story, while there was the police procedure and investigation going on, there was also the relationship between Kincaid and Gemma. Their marriage and personal lives sort of hovered over the story. I personally tend to love the domestic, private side of fictional detectives’ lives and how their lives intersect their investigations, so I enjoyed it very much when I got glimpses into the inner workings of their family.I loved getting to know these characters and their network of friends and coworkers. This book has a remarkably British feel to it, down to the verbage and the setting. I absolutely love that. There is an amazing map in the front of the book that I put to good use. I found the story – especially Gemma’s portion of the story – easy to visualize as I followed the clues along with her, tracking down the young girl’s killer. I was thrilled that I did not suspect nor figure out the whodunnit in either case – Gemma’s nor Kincaid’s – which kept me on my toes throughout the entire story and made the reading consistently interesting for me.Of note: There are tons of references to what I can only assume are things from earlier books – things like earlier investigations, past relationships, friends or coworkers that have died in installments prior to this one, and so forth. While I was able to pick this book up and follow along easily enough, there were plenty of “past things” in the story that I wish I could have known more about. For example, it is mentioned in the story about Charlotte not being the biological child of Gemma and Kincaid and that’s okay, but it makes me fidgety about how much I don’t know about the backstory. In addition, in the previous book, there was a deadly bombing that some of these characters are still adjusting to emotionally. As a new reader to this series, I didn’t know much about this and had to do a little bit of backwards research because it was referenced multiple times. Again, none of these things affected how much I enjoyed Garden of Lamentations, but I am itching to go ahead and start back at the beginning as soon as possible because I feel like there are so many of the pieces of this puzzle missing and it drives me a little crazy.I’m honestly not sure if this is the end of the series or not, since I’m new to Gemma and Kincaid and their world. I hope not. Now that I’m here and I’ve looked around a little bit, I want more. It seems that these two detectives have a very loyal fanbase. I think Garden of Lamentations is a solid story with great characters and a fabulous London setting, and I’m so thrilled to have found a new author and series to dive into.I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, William Morrow Books!Find this review and more like it on my blog, Into the Hall of Books!

This is one of my favorite modern series of books. I love the characters, the storylines, and the way Deborah Crombie sprinkles Londonroad names and places throughout. I like to pause and look at a map while reading and there is usually a delightful one in the front of the book. Now that I have been to many of the streets of London mentioned I am even more delighted. This was a wonderful trip with old friends back to London.

Garden Of LamentationsByDeborah CrombieThis book is in a series that I have read and loved for years. It involves Kincaid and Gemma and all of their children and animals! It's a mixed family that only grows closer and closer the longer they are together. Gemma has her own forensic issues to solve...a murder of a young nanny...while Kincaid is working on finding rotten apples in the department. The book is intense and really good. Readers who love this kind of book should love this one! They are always beautifully written. They are always intense. They are always a delight to read. Fondly...Patty

Deborah Crombie never disappoints! Great to see her carry story lines over more than one book.