About Garden of Lamentations
• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (November 14, 2017)
Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are drawn into separate investigations that hold disturbing—and deadly—complications for their own lives in this powerful mystery in the bestselling series.
On a beautiful morning in mid-May, the body of a young woman is found in one of Notting Hill’s private gardens. To passersby, the pretty girl in the white dress looks as if she’s sleeping. But Reagan Keating has been murdered, and the lead detective, DI Kerry Boatman, turns to Gemma James for help. She and Gemma worked together on a previous investigation, and Gemma has a personal connection to the case: Reagan was the nanny of a child who attends the same dance studio as Toby, Gemma and Kincaid’s son.
Gemma soon discovers that Reagan’s death is the second tragedy in this exclusive London park; a few months before, a young boy died in a tragic accident. But when still another of the garden residents meets a violent end, it becomes clear that there are more sinister forces at play. Boatman and Gemma must stop the killer before another innocent life is taken.
While his wife is consumed with her new case, Kincaid finds himself plagued by disturbing questions about several previous—and seemingly unrelated—cases involving members of the force. If his suspicions are correct and the crimes are linked, are his family and friends in mortal danger as well? Kincaid’s hunch turns to certainty when a Metropolitan Police officer close to him is brutally attacked. There’s a traitor in the ranks, and now Kincaid wonders if he can trust anyone.
As Gemma begins to see a solution to her case, she realizes she holds a child’s fate in her hands. Can she do the right thing? And can Kincaid rely on his friends, both inside and outside the Scotland Yard force, to stand beside him as he faces the deadliest challenge of his career?
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About Deborah Crombie
Deborah Crombie is a New York Times bestselling author and 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, three cats, and two German shepherds.Connect with her through her website, Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.
My Thoughts:
Garden of Lamentations is the newest book in the Gemma James and Ducan Kincaid mystery series.
It was also my first book by Deborah Crombie, and I have to say I was hooked from the get go.
I'll start by saying that anyone who knows me, knows full well what a huge Anglophile I am and anything that is related to England, takes place in England or comes from England, immediately grabs my attention.
One of the first things that peeked my interest was the fact that the main characters, Gemma and Duncan, are not only both investigators on the police force, but married as well. They have two children, Toby and Charlotte and I'm sure a pretty big history between them, one which I am going to love going back and reading about when I start on the series from the beginning. The intricacies of keeping a family together and parenting while both being pulled in different directions with different cases, is quite interesting to see.
So the story begins with the murder of a young nanny named Reagan, who happens to be the nanny of a kid that attends the same dance school as their son, Toby. Gemma is pulled into that investigation by a friend of hers and from that moment on, it's twists and turns at every corner.
While Gemma has her hands full trying to solve this mystery, Duncan has his hands full with a completely different case, one that hits much closer to home and sends him into high alert, fearing for his and his family's safety.
I think that as much as I enjoyed the story, I did find it a little confusing at times because there was mention of characters that I'm pretty sure must have been from previous books in the series. But, that doesn't take away from the book at all and it's definitely one you can read on it's own, if anything it just made me really want to go back and find out who and what and where.
Really enjoyed my first book by Deborah Crombie and can't wait to find the first in the Gemma and Duncan series.
