In The Sound of Broken Glass, the 15th novel in Deborah Crombie's mystery series starring the husband-and-wife team of Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James, Kincaid is on family leave, caring for their two boys and helping their foster daughter, Charlotte, adapt to life with them, while James is busy investigating a gruesome murder.
The victim is a respected London barrister, found naked, bound and strangled in a very seedy Crystal Palace hotel. Gemma and her sergeant, Melody Talbot, quickly trace the victim back to his usual pub, where they learn that he was involved in a fight, then left with a mysterious woman. Is she the killer?
The investigation is juxtaposed with flashbacks to 15 years earlier, as a young boy tries to care for his alcoholic mother. A beautiful woman moves in next door and they become unlikely friends--until something terrible happens.
Crombie crafts an elaborate crime with roots extending many years into the past, as well as a fair number of apparently coincidental connections that turn out to be not quite coincidental. Minor characters from earlier books in the James-Kincaid series play a larger role here, and Duncan and Gemma’s own relationship is developing and changing, as they adapt to their different parenting and working roles.
The Sound of Broken Glass is an excellent mystery on its own, but even better as the latest entry in a great series. Fans of Deborah Crombie won't be disappointed, and The Sound of Broken Glass is bound to create new Crombie enthusiasts. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm