these are excerpts from my responses to a mailing list discussion of this book and as such they include spoilers. [On Lydia's letters and Vic's inklings of suicide]I didn't like Lydia much and I really wanted to see her mother's side of all those letters! The letters all came from a period early on in Lydia's life and not the time close to her death. Vic's convictions seemed to be the biggest sign that Lydia was really murdered but I had mixed feelings about those.It seemed reasonable that if she was setting a scene to die she'd have gone the whole hog and worn something 'appropriate' too, but then I didn't feel she had particularly planned her earlier suicide attempts. She caused Nathan a lot of distress in dying but I think she caused Adam a lot of distress when he found her with her wrists slit too. I don't think she left notes in the two earlier cases so why would she at the third attempt? Also since she made the second attempt with the car crash look like an accident I didn't see why she might not leave an incongruous scene at her third attempt to make that look like an accident too. The fact that she didn't seem to be in a depressed phase at the time she dies seemed to be the biggest pointer to me that something was amiss. [On the English village setting and comparisons to Christie and Sayers]I thought this book bore more relationship to an academic mystery rather than a village one. The setting didn't seem especially important to the plot and I only felt a sense of place in when Vic's office and Lydia's rooms were mentioned.I've never read Sayers and I didn't really see much resemblence to Christie. The book didn't strike me as especially English. Although the University of Cambridge plays its part I feel that the book could've equally been set around any fairly prestigious college anywhere. [On the murder coming late in the book]I wasn't expecting Vic's murder at all. I was intrigued by what happened to Lydia and looking forward to Vic finding out what happened and I was a bit shocked by the change of pace. I quite like the non murder mystery and I like books that depart from the formula so I was disappointed as much by the fact that anyone was murdered as I was by the fact that it was Vic.I'm reading this as a standalone so I don't know anything of Duncan and Gemma but I presume this is their series. I wasn't surprised by them investigating, partly because this was obviously the central story of the book, but also because I think the author set the situation up well. I thought Gemma's reactions to the situation with Vic were particularly well done and quite realistic.If I was expecting there to be another body apart from Lydia, which I wasn't really, I think I would have expected it to have been one of the people who knew Lydia, probably Adam or Nathan, but perhaps Darcy or Morgan too.I think I preferred the book before Vic died. I've only read the beginning of Part Two but I definitely feel the emphasis has changed. I suspect that if I was reading this as a series I would have found Part One an annoying break from the norm and would breathe a sigh of relief with the beginning of Part Two where a 'proper' investigation is underway. However I found Vic a more interesting person than either Duncan or Gemma and I rather wanted the book to go in a different direction. [On whodunnit ideas at the halway point]I've no idea who murdered either of them and haven't really seen anything to suggest beyond doubt that they were both murdered by the same hand. If I had to pin the tail on the donkey and guess at this point I'd say that Daphne seems a bit suspicious to me, we haven't seen much of her in Part One and she was mentioned quite a lot in Lydia's letters. I feel she's got something to hide though I don't know if it's murder. I'm also not convinced that Nathan has been entirely truthful in his description of finding Lydia dead but I don't have anything to show that he murdered her either. [On the cast being haunted by Lydia's death]I don't think Lydia's death did haunt all of these characters that much. I think only Morgan was really haunted by her death and felt that in some way he was responsible for her committing suicide because of the violence in his relationship with her.Nathan, Adam and Daphne were all upset by her death but I don't think any of them felt responsibility for it the way that Morgan did. I suspect that they all felt that they should have been more use to Lydia as friends and that it was some failing on their part that led her to commit suicide but I think they all knew that it wasn't their fault.And Darcy, who seemed the least troubled by Lydia's death, was unlikely to be haunted by it both because he was responsible for it and because, in spite of his pretentious airs, I thought he was the most straightforward character emotionally. He didn't seem to feel any remorse for any of the killings and killed Lydia and Vic just to cover up the earlier death.I felt a bit cheated that Verity's disappearance wasn't alluded to earlier in the book. Although I can see the discontinuity in Lydia's letters that signifies 'something major happened here' when she moves from dedicated student to dropping out to get married in the course of a few months I don't think there was anything to point to what that pivotal event was. [On Vic not telling Duncan about Kit]I think it's difficult to judge Vic on the facts we have but on the whole I think she made a decent decision. She was in a very difficult situation. For one reason or another she'd left Duncan and was seeing Ian. Ian says near the end of the book that she didn't know originally which of the men was the father of her baby. Ian was aware of that and he and Vic must have had a loving relationship at that time. Ian was happy at that point to bring up Kit as his son. I can't say I blame Vic for deciding that staying with Ian and simplifying a complicated situation by not telling Duncan what was going on was the best thing to do, especially as I suspect she needed to make the decision before the point where she was certain of Kit's paternity. At the point where the book begins Vic and Ian's relationship has broken down and it appears irretrievable, Vic finds another reason to contact Duncan again in his professional capacity. I think that if Vic had lived she would have told Duncan the truth before he had it pointed out to him. I think she'd realised that Ian was never going to be a good father to Kit and whilst one can't just swap in another dad I think she wanted Duncan to have the opportunity to play a role in Kit's life if he wanted to.I think Duncan's actions at the end of the book show that he wants to form a relationship with Kit. I also think that this will cement his relationship with Gemma rather than strain it as he realises more about what Toby means to Gemma and what families are all about. But then I haven't read the rest of the series so I only know Duncan and Gemma through what I've seen in this book. [On whether the ending was fair]I don't think Crombie played particularly fair. I'm not sure ifVerity's disappearance was mentioned more than a couple of chaptersahead of where it was explained. If it was I missed it entirely. Thiswas the big letdown in the book for me. I wasn't bothered that the poemwas uninterpretable, but I was bothered that I hadn't been given anyidea that a young girl's murder was involved in the explanation ofLydia's death. I think the book would have been better if things hadbeen more obvious and we all had 'ah ha!' moments when we saw the poemnear the end of the book.Darcy was one of only a handful of dislikable characters in the book andtherefore I was slightly surprised that he was the murderer since I'vecome to expect the device of one of the more sympathetic charactersbeing the real bad guy. [Final Thoughts]Well this is the only book in the series that I've read and I'd give itfour stars. I liked it but it hasn't left me desperate to read all theother episodes. I thought it stood well as a stand alone, I don't feelthat I need to know about the books on either side of it. I'd be morelikely to read another Crombie if it was a standalone I think. Whilst Iliked the central characters I liked the peripheral characters more andI'd rather read about a whole different set.
I can't claim to be a fan of the British murder mystery, nor murder mysteries of any other nationality. I read my first Deborah Crombie novel back in the day because, like Ms. Crombie, I attended Austin College, and upon her returning to the campus for a discussion, I was tasked with writing an introduction for her speech. I'm nothing if not thorough, so in addition to researching her biography and writing credits, I felt it only just that I actually read some of her actual works. While not a life-changing experiece, her first novel, "A Share in Death", was enjoyable enough that I read the next in the series, and the next and the next. Her fifth novel, "Dreaming of the Bones" sat on the shelf for quite a while before I happened to run into Ms. Crombie at a book signing at Barnes & Noble. I chatted with her, got an autograph (feeling kind of bad that it was an old hardback I bought off the discount rack instead of her new novel, which I assume she was there to sell), then promptly went home and picked up where I'd left off in her now 12 book series.How was it? Quite good, actually. Murder mysteries have never really set me on fire, as they tend to be a bit too formula for my taste. And while I've enjoyed the slow characterizations Crombie has developed for her two leads, Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, the plots of the previous four volumes have been pretty much what I've expected: cops traipsing around the countryside interviewing a dynamic cast of suspects, winnowing the list of would-be culprits down to size only to have the murderer revealed to be an unexpected killer for an unexpected motive! Despite the formula, Crombie remains readable because she does seem to go out of her way to develop her list of suspects into unique characters with interesting motivations. Also, and this is really something that impresses me, she can flawlessly recreate the British voice. You'd never realize she was born and raised in the states, particularly in Texas. Its kind of uncanny.Anyway, "Dreaming of the Bones" managed to transcend my meager expectations, demonstrating that Crombie is not a one-trick pony. To begin with, this is easily the most densley plotted of her works thus far. She was still introducing new characters (and pretty well-rounded ones to boot!) halfway in to the page-count. She also made this novel far more personal for the two detectives, using the mundane, but thorough, characterizations laid by the previous four works to build some conflict and complexity with a few plot-twists that not only throw the reader, but seemed to genuinely throw the characters as well. I know that plot-twists are a staple of murder mysteries, but the workman-like manner in which she has demonstrated her knowledge of the genre in the past leads you to expect the same here, and the twist isn't so much in the plot, but in the way Crombie herself applies it to her lead characters.Finally, this mystery is set against the backdrop of literary academia, with poets and literature professors and chaotic university English departments providing the fodder for the investigation. In this setting, Crombie seems to have been inspired to show off her actual writing chops. You don't typically step back and admire the prose in series murder mysteries. The author, here, reminds us that she's a real writer.I'm actually kind of anxious to see what happens in the next novel. Not so much concerning the who's and what's and how's of whatever mystery lies in its pages, but to see if Deborah Crombie presses forward and evolves further as a writer. I hope so.
What do You think about Dreaming Of The Bones (2007)?
A first-rate story on two different levels. Firstly the murder mystery is finely unfurled: Kinkaid and James flounder between London and Cambridge, trying to put together well-hidden clues that will eventually allow them to solve an old crime and a new one. Secondly, this novel stirs up a lot of emotion in Kinkaid, who is personally affected by one of the crimes, and in Gemma who is now his partner in both a private and professional capacity. I love the way Deborah Crombie develops these characters and their relationship, while composing a captivating and poetic police mystery.
—Sarah
Deborah Crombie provides her fans a mystery that spans all the way back to WWI.The intricate story tells of Lydia Brooke, a poet. When she was a student at Cambridge in the 1960s, she emulated her namesake, Edwardian poet, Rupert Brooke.Lydia died five years prior to the events in this story. Her death was attributed to suicide.Dr. Vic McClellan, Duncan Kincaid's former wife, calls him out of the blue and asks for his help. Duncan and his lover, Gemma Jones, have a comfortable life together. Duncan is a police superintendent at Scotland Yard and Gemma is a police sergeant there.Gemma is a bit uncomfortable with Duncan seeing his former wife but doesn't say anything. While Duncan hadn't heard from Vic since she walked out on him twelve years ago, he agrees to help.When he does, the fun begins. The complexity winds up and the literary characters jump out of the page.Vic is doing a biography on Lydia and something about her death doesn't seem right. She wants Duncan to look at the case.Although it's not in Duncan's district and he takes vacation to investigate, the facts begin to unravelThere is a major surprise and a guest of characters who might be guilty of murder. Alfred Hitchcock would be watering at the mouth thinking about directing this novel as a movie.We visit the historical times back to WWI when Rupert Brooke died in 1915. Crumbie tells us that Brooke never saw action during the war. He died of blood poisoning at Division Field Day and when Churchill and other officials read his sonnets about the war, they thought he'd make a good martyr.There is good insight into the character of Lydia through the newsy letters she writes to her mother.Overall, interesting, an excellent police procedural and as Duncan and Emma examine the suspects, it is a story that captivates the reader.
—Michael
I just couldn't make myself like it though I tried hard. I have liked the previous books in this series very much but had to drag myself through this one forcibly. It felt like a punishment. I like Gemma James a lot more than I like Duncan Kincaid and I found myself wishing she would dump him as a lover during this book and just be work partners the way they had been with no romance. As this book begins, Gemma has become more comfortable with Duncan being both her boss at Scotland Yard and her lover after hours. Her preschooler Toby likes him a lot too and they have settled into a cozy semi-family. Then Duncan gets a call. Keep in mind that Gemma's ex-husband had run out on her when she had Toby and disappeared to avoid paying child support. Twelve years earlier, Duncan's wife Victoria had done the same thing to him- ran off. She was pregnant by Duncan but didn't bother to tell him as they waited for many months for their divorce to be final. As soon as the ink was dry on the divorce, she married Ian, an academic who can't keep his pants zipped when sexy graduate students are around. Victoria also has a Phd and teaches college. She is doing research on a female poet who supposedly died of a heart attack after years of trying to kill herself.Victoria gets Duncan involved in investigating whether or not Lydia's death years earlier was what it was said to be or murder. Never mind that this is not his jurisdiction. She also does not bother to tell him that her 12 year old son Kit is his. Gemma is furious and it is easy to understand why. Duncan has shown himself prone to behaving ridiculously and he just has no concern for Gemma's feelings on the matter at all. I mean, hey, the woman who ran out and left him without so much as a note 12 years ago and had a preteen son that is his but still doesn't bother to tell him calls and oh baby, he's going to run and ask how high she wants him to jump. As usual there is a cast of weirdos, creeps and assorted nuts and fruits. There is lying, cheating, and murder. Normally I would love that but this one just seemed so boring that I wanted to get a broom and drive all of the characters (except Gemma and Toby) away. I found myself someone would bump them all off (though Duncan would just have sex with his killer before hand no doubt).
—Terri Lynn
