Garden of Lamentations - Mystery Blog Tour Review

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?

My Thoughts:

I've loved this mystery series since the very first one - A Share in Death -  was published.  Crombie has never disappointed and Garden of Lamentations was no different.  Right away I was pulled in and enjoying the mystery.  While I am a long time reader of this series I have missed the last 3 books and while I think it might have made my understanding of some of the issues in Duncan's case a bit better I didn't have any problem figuring out what was going on.  Crombie does a good job of giving you enough information to get the idea without overloading on unneeded information.  Gemma is my favorite character and I enjoyed watching her investigate even though she was a little outside of her usual world.  She's a smart intelligent and compassionate investigator and her case was interesting and heartbreaking.  This was one of those books I'd sit down to read "just a couple of pages" and before I knew it I was 4 chapters down.  This is a compelling and gripping mystery but not one that made me jumpy and feel like I needed to go check my locks and bar the door.  My only problem with this book is I wanted to shake Duncan a time or two for his lack of communication with Gemma especially.  While I did want to grab Duncan by the ear and make him use his words it didn't really keep me from enjoying the book.  In fact it made me question just why I haven't read the previous three books and plan to do a reread of the whole series starting next year.  If you like British police procedural mysteries this is a series you must not miss and this latest entry was a page turning read.  Rating:  Very Good

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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.