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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Sound of Broken Glass by Deborah Crombie

Another Crombie masterpiece - what a treasure! With "The Sound of Broken Glass", Crombie may have out done herself; this is possibly her best book yet. As with all of Crombie's novels, we focus on, and learn about, a particular part of England; in "The Sound of Broken Glass", we learn about Crystal Palace, an area of South London. And like most of Crombie's books, it gives us a pleasant mix between the present and the past. We also learn about guitars.

As expected with a Crombie book, there is a body - a dead body. And, of course, at the center of it all are Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid. As Duncan continues on leave to care for their foster daughter, Charlotte, Gemma is transferred to South London, where her team is assigned to the dead body. Crombie masterfully leads us through the convoluted investigation and the James/Kincaid family complexities.

Although Crombie writes mysteries, her novels tend to be literary novels that just happen to involve a mystery. "The Sound of Broken Glass" is no exception.

"The Sound of Broken Glass" continues Crombie's literary journey. The writing meets the high standards we have come to expect from Crombie. Although  Crombie continues her tradition - Gemma and her team solve the mystery, and the complexities of the James/Kincaid household are well explained. A nice surprise is the time that Crombie takes to further develop some of her tangential characters. "The Sound of Broken Glass" is one of the best - if not the best - books that Crombie has written.

Highly Recommended.

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