In a Dark House

Michael Deehy delivers an outstanding, nuanced reading of the most recent in Crombie's popular police procedural series about Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James, of Scotland Yard. In this one, they cope with serial arson, missing women, spousal abuse, murder and gambling, while handling their own social and familial relationships. The individual threads are woven together expertly to form a rich and coherent whole. It's a whole made even better by Deehy, who creates distinctive, revealing voices for the characters and reads with beautiful pacing. In a burning building with fire-fighters, for example, we hear their fear and their self-control without being aware of Deehy the narrator. This is a superb performance from start to finish. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

October 4, 2004
A serial arsonist nutter is on the loose in London in Crombie's assured 10th book starring Scotland Yard Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid and his lover/partner Det. Insp. Gemma James. When a nude, charred female corpse turns up in a burned warehouse, the police discover that the unidentified victim, one of four possible women, was murdered beforehand. Duncan and Gemma also look into the abduction of 10-year-old Harriet Novak, a pawn in her parents' ongoing acrimonious divorce. As the investigation by both fire officials and police evolves, it becomes clear that the abduction is connected to the murder. Young, eager firefighter Rose Kearny, who found the body in the burning building, works the case on her own and comes up with a theory that may explain the arsonist's unusual motive. Fanny Liu, confined to a wheelchair, fears the worst when her roommate goes missing, and a nearby home for battered women apparently connects several aspects of the case. It's a web of gossamer-thin clues that police, under the patient Superintendent Kincaid, work to untangle as they race against time to find the imperiled Harriet. Myriad subplots that have accrued from past entries slow the action in places, but Duncan and Gemma are such interesting and attractive characters that few readers will mind. Agent, Nancy Yost.