Customer Reviews

Kissed a Sad Goodbye

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I guess I'm lucky because this was my first Deborah Crombie novel, so I couldn't compare it to earlier "better" works as I read it. I enjoyed it so much, however, I checked out all the other Crombie novels from the library and read them. I can see a definite progession in her writing (not the story line between the two detectives but actual improvement in her ability to develop her characters.) She seems to write more and more satisfying novels as she goes along.

While I read "Kissed a Sad Goodbye" I pulled out one of my maps of London, and followed the trail. This may have helped me enjoy it. I like to follow maps while I read if the author is naming and describing places. I also may have enjoyed the book more because I was in the Docklands in last fall, and walked the tunnel under the Thames to Greenwich and through the little village itself. I had wanted to see the tunnel since I read P.D. James novel "Original Sin". Mudchute was also featured in "Playing for the Ashes" written by Elizabeth George, and I think the area was captured in the film "Career Girls" too.

Also, I am an inveterate tea drinker and fan, so I loved the description of the tea business.

I've read all the books in this very enjoyable series, and this one's definitely the best so far. I'd recommend to anyone interested to read the books in chronological order. Crombie has developed the characters of her two detectives beautifully. The skill with which she weaves the plots of the mysteries together with the personal relationship growing between the two detetctives is exceptional. I'm impatient for the next entry.

Deborah Crombie has done it again. It's amazing that this Texan writes such "English" mystery novels. This time out, she fashions an intricate plot involving a present-day murder, and a World War II mystery. In addition, Duncan and Gemma are having personal problems, in the style of Elizabeth George. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Okay, should you read this one and then go back and read the others?

This is newest in a line of very good books. I think that as in most cases, it is better to go back and find the first books and then read them in order. It makes more sense to me to follow the character development so you can enjoy how far the characters have come and how they came to be the people they are now. Go back and read All Shall Be Well, Leave the Grave Green, Mourn Not Your Dead, Dreaming of the Bones, and then Kissed a Sad Goodbye. Duncan and Gemma deserve your reading their stories.

I was very disappointed in this book! I have loved the others in the series, and I re-read them in the two weeks preceding my purchase of this book. I found myself much more interested in Duncan and Gemma's personal problems than in the murder. They both are so likable, I want things to work out for them. Why was Gemma being so cold to Duncan? Why wasn't she helping him out a little with Kit? "Welcome to single-parenthood" seems a little unworthy of a young woman who has been struggling so hard to stay afloat herself. Duncan always tried to be supportive of her when she was having problems. And why is she looking around at other men? Neither of the characters seemed to be themselves in this book, and I think their strong personalities and their normality are what sets this series apart. Even Duncan's boss seemed to be edgy and not his reasonable self! The mystery of Annabelle's murder was much too convoluted, and the solution was totally unbelievable. Way too many characters!

This is not a bad entry in the Kincid/James series, but I too was somewhat disappointed with this story. I have read some excellent examples of stories where the feelings and actions that have occured in the present have come about because of some of the protaganists' histories. Jill McGown and Elizabeth George both have wonderful examples of this type of sub-genre. This one attempts this, but it seems to fall flat in a way. The ending seems hurried somehow, and the two storylines don't seem to flow together until they meet explosively. I thought the book seemed long as I was reading, and it just didn't seem to gel. I really enjoyed "Dreaming of the Bones", and was looking forward to this book, so I was disappointed. Also, the relationship with Gemma and Duncan seems to stagnate. There is no sexual tension, and the relationship seems to be struggling and neither one seems to notice and to do something about it. Hopefully the next book will be better, and we get back to some of the writing that we've seen in this series.

"Kissed a Sad Goodbye" is a workmanlike police procedural. The strengths of the books are its dialogue, which is realistic, and the flashbacks to World War II, which are nicely done. However, the plot of the "too beautiful woman who drives men mad" has been done to death (excuse the pun). It is a tired cliche. As the plot line dragged on, and the red herrings piled up, I became restive. The books could have been edited and the ending was far too melodramatic. The author's attempt to make a downbeat book a little more upbeat by getting some couples together at the end falls flat. Elizabeth George, P. D. James and Ruth Rendell do it better.

I recently found this series of novels, and I continue to be impressed. Kincaid and James' relationship remains fresh and interesting because their flaws ring true. They are not a perfect couple and this keeps the reader interested. In this novel, Gemma is confronted with a "what if" moment. Should she open a door to new possibilities, or continue down a road that has no certain outcome? The supporting cast of characters are also well developed and there is a great deal of WW II history in this book. What keeps me coming back, though, is Kincaid and James.

I enjoyed this mystery. I don't think I've read Crombie before (but I may have lost track given the amount of books I read!)
This story had several sub-plots intertwined with the main mystery, the murder of a beautiful young woman in a park. Much of the sub-plots had to do with parent-child relationships between both the primary investigator, Duncan, and his chort, Gemma. Both have children who have lost a parent for one reason or another, and both are coping with guilt over having to leave their children to perform their respective jobs. This is a real problem in today's world, and it is not easily coped with.

It is not until the mystery is solved that it become apparent that it also deals with family relationships. I got led off on several other possibilities for the woman's murderer, but they all were too pat, and I should have known better. There is a twist at the end that does make sense in some ways, though physically I wondered if the murderer had the strength to do the deed.

I enjoyed the history of the Docklands (snippets at the front of each chapter) and the history of the children in Britain who were forced from London into homes that were alien in the countryside due to the WWII Blitz by the Germans. I always like a little history with my mystery....

Karen Sadler

turner beautifully written with compelling characters and lots of information about the recent history of Britain. I love the series in general.

The plot involves a beautiful woman found dead in a park in the Docklands area of London, a death that involves several long-time residents of this gentrifying area (which had more or less been destroyed by bombing during World War II and subsequently redeveloped). From time to time, the story is interrupted by a story from World War II, about children evacuated from London to live in the country -- a story of distant events that is clearly relevant somehow to this murder because the same names keep popping up. The romance between the two detectives (Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James) continues to develop -- and flounder a little -- as they attempt to solve this murder.

I felt this book could have been edited, made about 50 pages shorter, with certain subplots (particularly that involving Gemma's temptation by another man) deleted for a tighter, more satisfying book. I also was disappointed by the ending -- although I guessed the killer halfway through the book, the reason for the killing did not seem adequate at all.

If you love the series, read this book, but if this is your introduction to the Kincaid/James series, start with an earlier book, not this one. I personally did not feel this was her best work although it is well worth reading -- even Crombie's not-so-good books are very good.