Customer Reviews

And Justice There Is None

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really loved this book and was torn between reading it quickly to find out what was going to happen next or reading it slowly to savor the pleasure for as long as possible. Crombie keeps getting better and her two main "detectives", Kincaid & James, are endearing, interesting characters who you grow to care about in this series. I can hardly wait to find out what will happen to them in the next book.

The plot for this book involves events from the 60s, and periodically the present day story will be interrupted by pages telling another story from the past. Of course by the end of the book, you understand why that 60s story explains these current day murders, but it takes a long while to put 2 and 2 together. A young woman, pregnant with her lover's child, is found savagely murdered in the driveway to her upper class home in Notting Hill, a trendy London neighborhood. The woman's disreputable antique-dealer husband is the obvious suspect -- perhaps too obvious. Gemma James is in charge of the murder investigation, but since there is a possible connection to a murder being investigated by Duncan Kincaid, these two (now living together but no longer working together) end up working together again on this case. Perhaps the same person who killed another woman two months previously -- a case Kincaid was in charge of -- also killed this Notting Hill woman, since the method was so similar. But what is the connection and why were they killed?

There are a lot of unusual neighborhood characters, including a couple of veterinarians and a man who feeds the homeless.

Although I guessed the killer about half-way through the book (based not on clues but on a shrewd guess based on my knowledge of mysteries in general), it didn't diminish from my enjoyment of the book. I used to think Deborah Crombie was almost as good as Elizabeth George, but now I think Elizabeth George is almost as good as Deborah Crombie.

Deborah Crombie is a masterful suspense novelist. Her densely plotted "And Justice There is None" is concerned with mothers and babies of several generations. Policewoman Gemma James, whom we have met in earlier Crombie novels, is pregnant with the child of her lover, Duncan Kincaid. He finds a lovely place in Notting Hill to become home to their blended families, including the coming child.

The first murder victim, Notting Hill resident Dawn Arrowsmith, is also pregnant with her lover's baby; her husband, wealthy antique dealer Karl, had a vasectomy years ago.(Those readers who saw the Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant film, "Notting Hill", can easily visualize the gentrified neighborhood.)

As usual with Crombie's work, the plot quickly thickens and the reader's interest will intensify accordingly. Several mother/child relationships are uncovered as Gemma pursues the killer. (I wonder if Crombie herself was pregnant while writing this book. One would think so.)

"And Justice There is None" is a mystery done up to perfection, including authentic British-English (Car Park for parking lot, Inland Revenue for IRS, mobile for cell phone, and so on) despite the fact that Crombie lives in Texas. Recommended.

"And Justice There is None," by Deborah Crombie, is an excellent addition to her mystery series featuring Scotland Yard Detective Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James. Duncan and Gemma were once partners, but some time ago, their relationship moved beyond the professional. Gemma is now expecting Duncan's child, and they have decided to move into a home together.

Meanwhile, James is investigating the brutal homicide of a lovely young woman named Dawn Arrowood. Dawn had a much older husband and a young lover, and either one might have killed her in a fit of anger or jealousy. The case becomes more complicated when Duncan ties it to a similar unsolved murder. Soon, a third murder occurs, and the pressure is on for James and Kincaid to find the perpetrator quickly.

Crombie brings a whole array of characters to vivid life in this novel. There is Dawn's husband, Karl, an antiques dealer who has tried to forget his humble beginnings, and who now behaves with ruthless arrogance. Dawn's lover, Alex, is also an antiques dealer, but, unlike Karl, he is extremely sensitive and emotional. Also figuring in the complicated plot is Angel, a mysterious woman who descends into poverty and hopelessness when her parents die. Suddenly, a handsome man who pretends to be her savior rescues her, but Angel finds out that her rescuer is not the man that he appears to be. All of these people are inextricably bound together, and only by understanding how these and other lives have interconnected in the past, can Duncan and Gemma get to the bottom of the murders. In addition, Duncan's and Gemma's relationship is strained not only by the challenging homicide investigation, but also by the impending changes in their domestic arrangements.

"And Justice There is None," is a deeply felt psychological novel that deals with the nature of true love and commitment, as opposed to relationships based on infatuation and manipulation. Crombie also explores one of the favorite themes of mystery writers, namely how the secrets of the past come back to haunt people many years later. This is a well-written and intricate mystery that will enthrall Crombie's fans and leave them eager for the next novel in the series.

I am a fan of the early entries in this series but the last few additions - including this book - have been disappointing. The series tracks two British homicide detectives - Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James - who while solving crimes have become somewhat more than just partners. (Reading this series in chronological order is not necessary but definitely helps with respect to said relationship between our two heroes as well as with reccurring characters.) In the earlier books, the author did a very good job in juggling this romance, police procedures, character development of suspects/victims, while spinning a very good mystery. In this volume, Duncan and Gemma find themselves hunting the murderer of a young beautiful woman married to a rich antique dealer in the environs of Notting Hill. The blending of multiple story lines highlighted above that worked so well in the past simply falls flat here. Connections between the under-developed characters defy belief including the use of "anonymous" flashbacks. The procedural is disjointed and the "personal" aspects of this story are at the very least jarring - the ending right out of a "B" movie. Because of all of this the mystery itself was readily apparent to this reader about a third of the way through - and "solving" the mysteries I read is not something I pride myself on. Pass on this one.

With this book, I think that Deborah Crombie proves her right to be up there with P.D. James and Elizabeth George. This is a beautifully written, though complex tale of love, possession, hate and evil. In this book Gemma has a murder in her patch. It's her first big case as Inspector, and the murder is of prominent woman who had her throat cut in her own driveway. Gemma and her new team try to put the pieces together and as they start to do that it becomes apparent to her and to Duncan Kincaid that there are striking similarities between this case and one that happened in Duncan's territory. They get to work together to try to prove a connection. At the same time Duncan and Gemma are combining their households and moving in together. It should be a completely happy time for them, but they both find that this case is going to cause tragedy to a number of lives, maybe even their own. This is a rich, complex, psychological thriller that is extremely complex and multi-faceted. I take my hat off to Ms. Crombie

Deputy Inspector Gemma James and Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid are finally getting their act together. With a baby on the way, Gemma agrees to buy a house with Duncan so that his son and her son from previous marriages, and their son to be born baby from can live together as a family.

In her professional life, Gemma is assigned a high profile murder case to solve as quickly as possible. Dawn Arrowood, a trophy wife married to a rich antiques dealer twice her age, is brutally killed near her home, her throat slit. An autopsy shows that she was six weeks pregnant and since her husband had a vasectomy the probability is it was her lover's child. As Gemma burns the midnight out, Duncan joins the inquiry because there are similarities between this case and one he was investigating a few months ago.

The romantic relationship between the two protagonists is developing naturally and creates a sense of continuity throughout the whole series. Deborah Crombie has written a delicious mystery with so many viable suspects that readers really won't have a clue as the identity of the killer is until the stunning climax. AND JUSTICE THERE IS NONE is a clever police procedural as well as an exciting relationship drama.

Harriet Klausner

I think it's clear that you can count on Crombie to come through with a fine, serviceable and well-crafted mystery. She is not going to win the Nobel for Literature since mysteries are only appreciated by those who "get it", but Crombie is a first-rate practicioner of good mysteries.

What a relief to find Deborah Crombie back in stride, after her disappointing previous outing, A Finer End! I know many people thought highly of that book, but I wasn't one of them; I even feared that she had fallen prey to what I think of as Charles Todd Syndrome, which is what happens when a good mystery writer churns out too many books too fast, with the result being a precipitous drop in quality.

But with And Justice There is None, Crombie is back at the top of her game. She writes so evocatively about Notting Hill, the neighborhood becomes another character in the book. She handles the plot masterfully, doling out information in just the right amounts and at just the right pace that the reader always has a glimmer of an idea about what's going on, but the full picture doesn't become clear until just before the end of the book. And she does a nice job of interweaving the strands of Duncan's and Gemma's personal and professional lives.

I'm giving this book four stars instead of five, because I have a few quibbles about it. At one point, Crombie tries to create a diversion by having suspicion fall on a character on the basis of "evidence" that's so flimsy, smart cops like Kincaid and James would never have taken it seriously for a minute. And the character of Kit is, frankly, too good to be true, considering his age and what he's been through recently. But maybe Crombie is saving his adolescent rebellion as a plot device to use in her next book. If she is -- and if it's as good as this book -- I look forward to reading it.

Deborah Crombie is one of my favorite authors, and I pounce upon her books (or order them through Amazon) the instant they become available. This book is her best yet. It is gripping, well written, and all too plausible.

Ms Crombie handles the difficult literary device of the flashback with immense skill, integrating them beautifully into the current story and giving the reader sufficient hints so that he or she can figure out who the characters in the flashbacks are. Her two main characters are superbly drawn, and I continue to be riveted by the developing relationship between the two detectives. She cleverly figured out a credible way for them to work together in this novel, even though they are no longer in the same district. (This will pose a challenge in future novels.) The London setting of this novel works to perfection, and the minor characters are both beautifully described and appealing. Everyone acts in character in this novel, a truly remarkable achievement. This consistency is probably what gives this book its completely absorbing nature. The suspense was so great, and the need to find out what became of everyone so strong, that I was incapable of doing anything else until I had finished the book!

Ms Crombie is an unusual author: each of her books is better than the one before. Usually, particularly with a series, the books have an unfortunate tendency to become weaker. That is not true of this author. She goes from strength to strength.

This book, like the others in the series, is supposed to be a mystery. But virtually half of the book is about Duncan, Gemma and their "family", and has nothing to do with the mystery at all.

The other half, the mystery, is unfortunately disjointed, confusing and hard to follow. As a result, it's sometimes even tedious.

After the promise of the first few volumes in this series, this one -- and the previous one -- come as a disappointment.