A Share in Death (Crime Case) [Import] [Hardcover]

Deborah Crombie (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan (January 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333604806
• ISBN-13: 978-0333604809
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,764,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Deborah Crombie grew up near Dallas, Texas, but from a child always had the inexplicable feeling that she belonged in England. After earning a Bachelor's degree in Biology from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, she made her first trip to Britain and felt she'd come home. She later lived in both Chester, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland, where she failed to make as good a use of being cold and poor as JK Rowling.

It was not until almost a decade later that, living once more in Texas and raising her small daughter, she had the idea for her first novel, a mystery set in Yorkshire. She had no credentials other than a desire to write and a severe case of homesickness for Britain. A Share in Death, published in 1993, was short-listed for both Agatha and Macavity awards for Best First Novel and was awarded the Macavity.

Crombie's fifth novel, Dreaming of the Bones, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1997, was named by the Independent Mystery Booksellers as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century, was an Edgar nominee for Best Novel, and won the Macavity award for Best Novel.

Subsequent novels have been published to critical acclaim and in a dozen languages. Crombie's fourteenth novel featuring Metropolitan Police detectives Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James, No Mark Upon Her, will be published by Harper Collins in February 2012.

The author still lives in Texas but spends several months out of the year in Britain, maintaining a precarious balance between the two, and occasionally confusing her cultural references.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Start, December 29, 2001

By 

booknblueslady (Woodland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Share in Death (Paperback)

Deborah Crombie's first book A Share in Death in her series about Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid and his Sergeant Gemma James shows great promise for the series. Duncan is taking advantage of a vacation at a timeshare in Yorkshire which his cousin has offered him. He looks forward to the week away from his professional responsibilities. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that it will not be as relaxing as planned when Duncan discovers a body in the jacuzzi. Duncan realizes that he will have to participate in some capacity with the investigation for it to be resolve successfully.

It is a classic plot for a mystery with all of the suspects in one spot and forced to examine each others motives. People's mistakes lead them in to further danger. They begin to suspect each other and emotions heighten . To aid in the investigation, Duncan sends his capable sergeant Gemma on a fact-finding tour about the resident guests of the time share.

Characters are done with interest and the reader is caught up hoping that some are not involved in the felony and that others will not perish. Crombie skillfully uncovers a bit of information at a time until it is clear who the culprit is and there is the right amount of tension in hoping for apprehension.

At the conclusion of the book the reader is ready to read the next of the series.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant and professional, April 23, 2001

By 

Stan Vernooy (Henderson, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Share in Death (Paperback)

This is exactly what most readers of "cozy" mysteries want when they sit down to read a new book. Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid is on holiday at a time-sharing resort in Yorkshire when the assistant manager of the resort is electrocuted in the swimming pool. The local police official, who is both obnoxious and incompetent, is predictably unhappy with Kincaid's presence, and Kincaid compounds the situation with his inability to restrain his curiosity. A second murder soon follows, and a third seems imminent.

There are ample suspects, some of them likeable and some downright nasty. Every character seems to have at least a minor skeleton in his or her closet, and Crombie keeps the reader asking why Mr. X did that, or why Ms. Y was where she was at such-and-such a time - all the elements you're supposed to have when reading a mystery.

In short, nothing spectacularly memorable here, but a debut for Ms. Crombie which certainly makes me want to read the rest of her books.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well done update of a classic potboiler, April 4, 2001

By 

Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Share in Death (Paperback)

Mystery fans are more than familiar with the classic premise of a murder at an isolated country house. Crombie updates that idea by making her house a time-share retreat. Our hero, Duncan Kincaid, has been given a week and finds himself sharing more than cocktails with the eclectic group of guests.

This is a pleasant, well paced read. There aren't any huge surprises or novel concepts. It's not a surprise that virtually every one of the guests has a secret or two. And the reader knows from the start that one of the guests must be the killer. Still, Crombie did a nice job of keeping me guessing. While the book isn't a page turner, it is an entertaining read.

I read this book mostly because it's the first in the Kincaid/James series that achieved a MacCavity award and Agatha and Edgar nominations for the fifth book in the series - Dreaming of Bones. I expect to enjoy the three books in between as I work my way to the award winning book.