A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie

Ms. Crombie writes one of my best loved mystery series. I’ve raved about her books here on Book Barmy for many years. Her devoted readers had to wait a a very long four years for this newest installment, A Killing of Innocents. My library hold finally came through a couple of weeks ago and I happily dove right in.

Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are back, and once again, we get to read about their professional and personal lives. Their relationship and their children (one his, one hers, and one adopted) continue to change and develop throughout the series. These characters are so so well drawn, they’ve become almost real to me after 19 installments.

But wait, there is a mystery. Duncan is in a local pub waiting for his fellow officer, Dog Cullen, when he sees a young woman in hospital scrubs leaving the pub — both upset and worried . Later, when he and Doug go to leave, cutting through a park, a distraught woman and child call out to them. When they go to take look, they realize it’s the same woman, lying dead in the grass, The victim, Sasha Johnson, was a junior doctor at a nearby hospital and was stabbed. Duncan regrets that he should have known the woman was in trouble and feels an extra responsibility to solve her murder.

Duncan and his team, with the help of Gemma, his wife, try to track down a killer. The motive is not immediately apparent, and before they can uncover any clues — another body is found stabbed in the same way, but at a different location. Are the two murders connected? What connects them? The stabbings set up the suspense, but the setting in a cold and damp London which grows dark early in late November, adds a creepy atmosphere to the story-line.

Meanwhile, back at Gemma’s and Duncan’s busy household, everyone is stretched thin with ballet rehearsals, children’s nightmares, and the older son both studying and working at the cafe. While other readers may complain that these domestic details detract from the mystery, I find it gives the story depth. The sometimes strained friendship (or is it more?) between their co-workers Melody and Doug hits some bumps –and these personal tensions add to the plot.

Sometimes The Killing of Innocents teetered from an abundance of characters, as if Ms. Crombie needed to include every protagonist, their acquaintances and friends from previous novels. But I carried on, realizing that not all the characters were directly involved in the mystery itself – but rather background characters.

And just to keep the reader guessing, there is an italicized narrative by an unknown speaker throughout the mystery — which is unsettling and somewhat confusing. However, in the end, Ms. Crombie pulls off a big reveal that pulls the ending together.

The mystery–the slaying of an ambitious young doctor and other victims — has some twists and turns, as the different threads of the story come together at the end. This was a twisty mystery and I was unable to guess the solution

A Killing of Innocents is a hard-hitting portrayal of the work of busy homicide detectives, with an intriguing, multi layered plot which, turns out, is not easy to figure out.

N.B. Darn it, I forgot to take a photo of the charming hand-drawn map which have become a typical bonus with Ms. Crombie’s hardback editions. I had to return the library book.

Here’s a sample of a map from a previous book, just so you can appreciate what I’m rattling on about.