Deborah Crombie celebrates a “sweet
sixteen” with her latest book To Dwell In Darkness
that has strong characters and an intense plot. Her style
is evident as she engages readers in the crime solving storyline
while allowing them to get to know the characters with scenes
of their home lives that include children, dogs, and a litter
of stray kittens.
There are two simultaneous plots that married detectives
Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid are immersed in and trying
to solve. Gemma attempts to build a case against electronics
shop clerk, Dillon Underwood for kidnapping, raping and murdering
12-year-old Mercy Johnson. This secondary case takes a back
seat to the case of Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, recently
demoted and transferred to the London borough of Camden from
Scotland Yard headquarters. Duncan’ new murder investigation
team is called to a deadly bombing at historic St. Pancras
Station by Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot, who witnesses
the explosion. In this seeming act of domestic terrorism,
a young man dies while setting off a bomb in the St. Pancras
underground, leaving Duncan and his team attempting to discover
his identity and motive. The victim was taking part in an
organized protest, yet the other group members swear the young
man only meant to set off a smoke bomb.
Throughout the story, Crombie has the reader gathering the
facts alongside Kincaid as he attempts to find every piece
of the puzzle in this unexpected pattern. This includes the
disappearance of a mysterious bystander who appears to be
Ryan Marsh, an ex-cop gone underground.
Crombie commented, “I got the idea from what happened
at the end of the book No Mark Upon Her, when a couple
of cops went off the rail. This is the first time I have written
a continuing crime arc. I really wanted to tell the story
of that corruption. It is shocking all the stuff that is going
on there. The genesis for Ryan Marsh’s character came
from something I read a couple of years ago about a true story
of an underground British cop named Mark Kennedy. He infiltrated
protest groups for three to five years. Afterwards he was
disavowed by the Met and they outted him as well. He ended
up losing his family and became suicidal. He is now living
with his brother in the US. I want to show what happens to
these officers. How the corrupt officers have so much to cover
up and what lengths they will go to. In the next book Duncan
will have to deal with this while Gemma will have her own
crime to solve.”
A welcome tangent to the dark plots is the dilemma the Kincaid-James
household is having over what to do with a cat and four newborn
kittens they found starving and freezing in a locked shed.
The scenes involving the dogs and the children’s reaction
towards the kittens are a pleasant and timely relief to the
intense and serious plot.
Crombie stated that she writes animal segments because of
her love for dogs and cats, noting: “Each of the dogs
in my stories has a realistic basis. We have three German
Shepherds at home, a ten year old, one that was two on 9/11,
and an adopted puppy, Jasmine, which is why over the years
I have different German Shepherds in my books. My husband
always wanted German Shepherds ever since he was a little
boy. Because Jasmine came to us from an abusive home where
she was neglected, we have absolutely spoiled her rotten.
As you can tell, we absolutely adore her. She is a pill and
so sweet. Gemma’s dog is based on a Cocker Spaniel I
had, who died of cancer about fifteen years ago. I wrote in
Geordie as Gemma’s dog as a blue roan cocker spaniel,
the dog of my heart, and my fantasy dog.”
She went on to say, “In this current book the dogs
got short shrift. They usually get more face time. The scenes
with the kittens are based on a realistic event that happened
to my family. It was my happy based fantasy. We had a female
cat that turned up on our doorstep and looked like the cat
in the book, although she was not pregnant. She was the sweetest
thing, but had not eaten for about a week and was all skin
and bones. After taking her to our vet to get checked out
we found out she was micro chipped. So they were able to contact
the owner. After the lady took the cat back, a couple of weeks
later, the cat was run over and killed in the street. What
the children in the book said about the owner was me writing
out my grudge toward the real owner.”
Whether discussing the interaction between the dogs and kittens
or between the characters themselves a strong thread throughout
the book is the relationship amongst them. Readers are able
to identify and relate with the characters either in their
personal lives, while solving the crime, or understanding
the grief the families must go through when a loved one is
killed.
Crombie believes, “The reader should know everything
the detectives know. When I read a mystery I feel cheated
if someone comes out of the woodwork. I also want them to
be able to identify with the characters. These are really
books about relationships with a crime thrown in. The crimes
emphasize the crucial decisions made, including between the
good and bad characters. Even if the books do not have happy
endings justice has to be served. The bad guys should get
their comeuppance. A lot of my books deal with grief. If you
are writing crime novels that are any way realistic you have
to. I am always very interested in how people handle grief.
Do they get angry, suffer quietly, and what are their coping
mechanisms. How do they face that unexpected tragedy?”
To Dwell In Darkness has very riveting storylines
that deal with resolving the tragedy of murder. The plots
and characters are authentic and believable. Crombie leaves
the reader yearning for the next book hoping to get answers
including the mystery behind Marsh and the backstory on Duncan’s
demotion as well as his new partner.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Share
in Death #1
Leave
the Grave Green #3
Mourn
Not Your Dead #4
Dreaming
of the Bones #5
Now
May You Weep #9
In
a Dark House #10
Water
Like a Stone #11
Where
Memories Lie #12
The
Sound of Broken Glass #15
To
Dwell In Darkness #16
|
