Customer Reviews

All Shall Be Well

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Because of this board I found Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series by Deborah Crombie. This author is from Texas but writes like a British author. This is my second in the series and am I glad to have found it. I am adding her to my collection of P. D. James, Minette Walters, Ngaio Marsh and Elizabeth George and Dick Francis. Excellent story - you can feel the British landscape, smell the aroma of hot, brewing tea. A comfortable read. On to the next installment..

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and was very impressed with the author's ability to develop her characters in such a way that the reader is almost distracted from the "mystery" and becomes involved entirely with the characters. She also is very descriptive and insightful in even the smallest details of the story. I will definitely seek out her other books.

I've read all of Deborah Crombie's novels about Duncan Kincaid to date, and this is probably my favorite. It's the second in the series, and it's the one in which you really will get attached to Duncan and Gemma, and the one that will make you read all the rest.
Crombie is very good at weaving together elements of character, emotion, plot, and setting, and this novel is a shining example of her writing abilities. Warning: you'll find it hard to put down, so block out a big chunk of time for it!

Jasmine Dent has terminal lung cancer, so her neighbor Duncan Kincaid is not surprised to find her dead body in her apartment one morning. But several small details make Duncan uneasy, and as a Scotland Yard Superintendent he's in the position to do something about it. With the help of Sergeant Gemma James, he launches an investigation to find out whether Jasmine's death was suicide or something more sinister.

Suspects are plentiful: a shy friend Meg who helped Jasmine prepare suicide plans, Meg's shiftless boyfriend Roger, Felicity the home-care nurse, Jasmine's unsuccessful brother Theo, her reticent downstairs neighbor Major Keith, and of course Jasmine herself. Duncan and Gemma methodically dig into the questions of motive and opportunity. As the investigation progresses, Duncan reads through Jasmine's journals in hopes of gaining insight from her past.

It was nice to watch Duncan and Gemma move from a strictly profession relationship to something more personal. However, I found it slightly bleak that not a single character in the book was in a solid relationship. I did like getting to know the victim through her journal entries. The plot is sound and the uncertainty about whether or not a murder was actually committed made for an interesting twist. Altogether, All Shall Be Well is an quietly entertaining procedural and a quick read.

When Duncan Kincaid's neighbor, Jasmine Dent, dies in her sleep, it comes as no great surprise. She has been wasting away with a fatal illness for some time. Still, Kincaid is bothered by some of the details. Was Jasmine's death a natural one?

ALL SHALL BE WELL is the second book in Crombie's ongoing Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. It's another solid outing and builds nicely on the characters and relationships introduced in A SHARE IN DEATH. It has a dark mood, owing to an undercurrent of loneliness and isolation that pervades the plot. The mood fits seamlessly into a well-developed and engrossing tale. Like all good mysteries, it gives the reader plenty of opportunity to theorize, and keeps you turning the pages to find out whether your ideas are right or wrong. Ms. Crombie has made good progress with this book, but I'm hoping she's going to get even better. Enjoy this one and stick around for more.

After giving A Share In Death a shot based on my Amazon recommendations (although for the life if me, I can't figure out what happened to my review!!!) I became a near instant fan of the Kinkaid/James novels. All Shall Be Well leaves me confident that A Share In Death wasn't just a happy accident that turned into a fun and entertaining whodunnit.

In All Shall Be Well, a reclusive yet friendly neighbor of Duncan's suddenly dies in her sleep one night. Jasmine had been diagnosed with cancer and her health was steadily deteriorating so while her death was expected it still seemed sudden to Duncan and those whose lives intersected with hers. Duncan, being the good copper that he is refuses to see the scene as anybody else would however. What someone would just think of a person in declining health just having their body go out on them, Duncan has to dig. Was it suicide or murder? Duncan's involvement nearly turns to obsession. Over the course of his impromptu investigation he gets to know Jasmine's caretakers, another neighbor they had in common who was equally reclusive as Jasmine as well as Jasmine herself. Kincaid realizes that he never truly knew her but she touched his life in a positive way all the same.

The Kincaid/James novels don't really rely on a lot of action, but that doesn't make them dull. They're great character driven mysteries. Don't mistake lack of action with inactivity. Much DOES happen in this book and its predecessor.

Crombie also has a great sense of place. She finely balances descriptive language talking about time and place, landmarks and scenes without being so overly descriptive that you feel it's just too much. In addition she never leaves the character exposition on the back burner. As Duncan and Gemma interact and investigate crimes, we learn more about them, and they also learn about themselves and each other.

So consider me a fan from here on out as I look forward to seeing what these two coppers get into next and where relationship takes them next!

This was an entertaining mystery that mostly managed to hold my attention. It seemed a little old fashioned to me, almost as if I'd stepped back into time but sometimes that's a good thing.

When an investigator's friend dies of a morphine overdose he doesn't believe it was suicide. The book then delves into the dead woman's life to discover the culprit. I found this all pretty interesting and the eventual outcome surprised me.

ALL SHALL BE WELL by Deborah Crombie's 2nd installment in the series will keep you waiting for the next to be published.
A neighbor is dead--suffering from terminal lung cancer Jasmine Dent's death is a blessing. Duncan Kincaid, a neighbor who discover the body suspects the demise was earlier than it should have been and he is in a position to set things right.
Kincaid with the help of his assistant Gemma James begin an investigation that leads them to a twist of good and evil.
Ms. Crombie is an excellent story telling in the British style.
Nash Black, author of QUALIFYING LAPS.

The second offering in this wonderful police procedural series, "All Shall be Well" confronts the issue of assisted suicide. The carefully crafted development of both lesser characters and the main characters, Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his Sergeant Gemma James, and the attention to art and architecture and cultural mores reminds one of P.D. James. Start at the beginning with:A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels).

We care about Gemma's little boy, Toby, and Theo Dent, the murder victim's brother, and Margaret Bellamy, who might have murdered Jasmine Dent. We even care about Sidhi, Jasmine's cat, and we are relieved when Duncan adopts him and changes his name to just plain "Sid."

We watch the relationship between Duncan and Gemma develop and hope it will become more than just friendship. And we look forward to the next book in the series:Leave the Grave Green (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels).

The series has thirteen titles, the latest being:Necessary as Blood. If you haven't read Deborah Crombie, don't miss out. I am re-reading the series and loving it all over again.

Added note: Because of vision problems I usually write my reviews in caps, much to the annoyance, apparently, of fellow Amazon.com customers. So with apologies, I tried it this way(smile).

A suspicious death, Scotland Yard, and a full cast of suspects make for an enjoyable whodunit. Kincaid and James as the main police characters are not as vivid as Elizabeth George's Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers, but they have promise. In any case, their characters are in the background, as the bulk of the novel deals with the lives of the suspects. The book is enhanced by Michael Deehy's excellent reading.