Garden of Lamentations by Deborah Crombie

Good morning, everyone! Are you ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow? I know I am.

Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Deborah Crombie's Garden of Lamentations, the 17th installment in her Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series.

When a young girl is found dead in one of Notting Hill's private gardens, Gemma James isn't initially part of the investigation. She soon learns, though, that the girl was both a full time nanny and a part time babysitter and model for a good friend. At first, as a favor for her friend, she only accompanies her to offer condolences to the family. But soon, Gemma finds herself drawn into the case.

Meanwhile, Duncan has learned that his former boss is back in the office and is on the hunt for answers. Still reeling from the loss of a fellow officer, Duncan has never had an explanation about why he was transferred so suddenly out of his former position. It appears his suspicion of corruption at the Yard might be on point, cryptically confirmed by the very same old boss. But when that man is attacked just moments after meeting with Duncan, he realizes the issue is much deeper than he'd initially thought. And now he wonders if his family is at risk. 

I love this series! If you're looking for a fantastic set of mysteries with characters you can root for and a deep backlist to keep you busy, Deborah Crombie's series is it!

I've mentioned in past reviews of series installments that you can read these out of order, but (fair warning) each one does link directly to the one before. In this one, there are a lot of threads that tie back to To Dwell in Darkness. A lot! And of course by diving straight in here you do miss a lot of the backstory of these characters and their relationships.

And yet, I feel comfortable saying that the worst would be potential spoilers for the previous novel. The plotting and pacing of each new book is always stellar and Crombie pays ample attention in each new book to further developing her characters and their stories, so there is plenty to fall in love with even if you are new to the series. Enough to hook you and make you want to go back and read those earlier books!

If you want to start the series from the beginning, the series list is:

A Share in Death
All Shall Be Well
Leave the Grave Green
Mourn Not Your Dead
Dreaming of the Bones
Kissed a Sad Goodbye
A Finer End
And Justice There is None
Now You May Weep
In a Dark House
Water Like a Stone
Where Memories Lie
Necessary as Blood
No Mark Upon Her
The Sound of Broken Glass
To Dwell in Darkness
Garden of Lamentations
To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Deborah Crombie and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble