A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels)

A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just whatScotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Start

By booknblueslady - December 29, 2001

Deborah Crombie's first book A Share in Death in her series about Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid and his Sergeant Gemma James shows great promise for the series. Duncan is taking advantage of a vacation at a timeshare in Yorkshire which his cousin has offered him. He looks forward to the week away from his professional responsibilities. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that it will not be as relaxing as planned when Duncan discovers a body in the jacuzzi. Duncan realizes that he will have to participate in some capacity with the investigation for it to be resolve successfully.It is a classic plot for a mystery with all of the suspects in one spot and forced to examine each others motives. People's mistakes lead them in to further danger. They begin to suspect each other and emotions heighten . To aid in the investigation, Duncan sends his capable sergeant Gemma on a fact-finding tour about the resident guests of the time share. Characters are done with... read more

Pleasant and professional

By Stan Vernooy - April 23, 2001

This is exactly what most readers of "cozy" mysteries want when they sit down to read a new book. Scotland Yard detective Duncan Kincaid is on holiday at a time-sharing resort in Yorkshire when the assistant manager of the resort is electrocuted in the swimming pool. The local police official, who is both obnoxious and incompetent, is predictably unhappy with Kincaid's presence, and Kincaid compounds the situation with his inability to restrain his curiosity. A second murder soon follows, and a third seems imminent.There are ample suspects, some of them likeable and some downright nasty. Every character seems to have at least a minor skeleton in his or her closet, and Crombie keeps the reader asking why Mr. X did that, or why Ms. Y was where she was at such-and-such a time - all the elements you're supposed to have when reading a mystery.In short, nothing spectacularly memorable here, but a debut for Ms. Crombie which certainly makes me want to read the rest of her... read more

Well done update of a classic potboiler

By Carol Peterson Hennekens - April 4, 2001

Mystery fans are more than familiar with the classic premise of a murder at an isolated country house. Crombie updates that idea by making her house a time-share retreat. Our hero, Duncan Kincaid, has been given a week and finds himself sharing more than cocktails with the eclectic group of guests.This is a pleasant, well paced read. There aren't any huge surprises or novel concepts. It's not a surprise that virtually every one of the guests has a secret or two. And the reader knows from the start that one of the guests must be the killer. Still, Crombie did a nice job of keeping me guessing. While the book isn't a page turner, it is an entertaining read.I read this book mostly because it's the first in the Kincaid/James series that achieved a MacCavity award and Agatha and Edgar nominations for the fifth book in the series - Dreaming of Bones. I expect to enjoy the three books in between as I work my way to the award winning book.