It has been several years since fans have been able to catch up with Duncan Kincaid, Gemma James, their police teams, and their family. A Killing of Innocents, the nineteenth in the series, doesn’t disappoint.

Detective Sergeant Duncan Kincaid noticed the young woman while he was sitting in a pub waiting for Detective Sergeant Doug Cullen. He wonders afterward if he could have prevented her murder. Just twenty minutes after she left, Sasha Johnson was stabbed to death in London’s historic Russell Square, and Kincaid and Cullen are called to the scene. The only witness is a five-year-old boy, although he’s a better witness than most. He saw a large hooded figure, and even knew what direction he went.

Duncan calls his wife, Gemma James, because her team is working on knife crimes. But, Kincaid’s victim doesn’t seem to fit the pattern. She’s a doctor, a trainee at a nearby hospital. She’s not involved with a gang or using drugs. But, as Kincaid’s team digs in, they discover Sasha has secrets, and she isn’t the only one on the staff at the hospital who came there under a cloud. The media sends chills through London when they cover a second stabbing, but Kincaid suspects there are personal connnections.

Without revealing too much, I can talk about Crombie’s strengths. She excels at combining the police procedural investigation with the personal lives of her characters. Their family lives are integral to the stories, affecting the work lives of Duncan and Gemma. But, Crombie is skilled at handling that combination with the other members of their teams as well, personal and professional lives. And, she brings the same skill to development of the minor characters, victims, friends and relatives of the victims. Even witnesses are developed in Crombie’s books.

A Killing of Innocents is the nineteenth in the series. I sometimes think, when an author has been writing for so long, we tend to take their books for granted, and forget about the skill and creativity that goes into each book. Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James books are as entertaining and well-developed, with the same depth, as books by some of my other favorite authors, Louise Penny and J.D. Robb. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to discover that readers appreciate the same qualities in all these books – atmospheric stories, well-developed plots, and beloved characters.

Deborah Crombie’s website is https://deborahcrombie.com/

A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie. William Morrow, 2023. ISBN 9780062993397 (hardcover), 368p.


FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley to review for a journal.