A Share in Death

Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James #1

by Deborah Crombie

A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland 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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Crime, British Literature, Detective

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Deborah Crombie is the author of 17 novels featuring Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James. The 18th Kincaid/James novel, A BITTER FEAST, will be released by William Morrow in October, 2019.

Crombie lives in McKinney, Texas with her husband, two German Shepherd Dogs, and two cats. She travels to Britain frequently to research her books.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie is a 1993 publication.


This series debut got off on a solid enough footing, introducing us to Duncan Kincaid and his partner, Gemma James.

Duncan takes a reluctant, but much needed vacation at a Yorkshire timeshare, only to find himself embroiled in a murder investigation.

This book reads like a traditional or classic British cozy mystery and it’s easy to see why it quickly gained a following and is so successful.

This first installment is not overly complicated, dark, or heavy, and even has some wry humor thrown in on occasion, with a human-interest story to cap things off. Duncan is a terrific character, especially here, where is gets most of the spotlight. Gemma’s character was slightly muted, but I realize we are just getting started, and I already know her character will develop quite nicely as we go along.

This is a short read, easy read, and was lots of fun. I am feeling pretty excited about working my way through this series, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time now.

I did read a later release a long while back, but while the mystery was fine, the interpersonal dynamics between longtime recurring characters left me totally in the dark. So, it was obvious that even if the mystery elements can be read as a stand alone, if I really wanted to enjoy the series to the maximum, I’d have to start at the beginning.

I see this series now has a whopping seventeen installments, but I am determined to read through them all, and eventually, hopefully, get caught up with it.

Overall, this is an entertaining read any mystery fan can enjoy.


3.5 stars

[Terri Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh dear. A Goodreads friend recommended this author to me when I felt sad that I had read all of Edward Marston's series about the Railway Detective so I decided to try out the first book in Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James series and I love it! You know what this means. Book after delightful book to read and catch up on in this series.

Deborah Crombie is an American who writes about a detective superintendent from Scotland Yard named Duncan Kincaid who took his vacation by taking advantage of a relative's time share week out in the country in Yorkshire, England. His assistant Gemma James is a single mom with a little son who lives in a not so wonderful neighborhood with loud neighbors.

Duncan tries not to mention that he is a Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent when he arrives at the time share but it comes out when he finds two of the kids staying at the timeshare crying over the assistant manager who has been murdered in the spa by someone who threw in a plugged in appliance. The man had been very kind to the kids who have parents who don't know where they are half the time and to the teenaged girl who is a pawn in her parents divorce (the parents just want to hurt each other and don't care about the girl) and also to Duncan himself.

Naturally it comes out who Duncan is and the local police are not thrilled to find a Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent in their midst. One in particular is a rude idiot who seems to feel threatened though Duncan is respectful to him.

Naturally we can't have just one murder or incident. Another lady who is there with her sister is rather forgetful but DID remember seeing something and someone but she is bumped off before she can tell which Duncan deeply regrets. Then yet another person is shoved down a flight of stairs and nearly killed and later finds herself at gunpoint. For a quiet rural area, there is a LOT of hot and heavy action.

Speaking of hot and heavy action, the manager seems to be having an affair with more than one guest as well as being a rude bitch who hated the assistant manager, a man running for political office is shocked to find his natural mother (he was adopted at 3 days of age when the natural mom was a pregnant teen with parents who forced her to give up the baby while her dad kept in touch the boy's whole life secretly) among the guests, a man having an affair with the manager has his 14 year old daughter along and she is so unloved and miserable she acts out in an unusual way, and our Duncan almost gets lucky with two women who pursue him, finds the teen is seductive towards him, and finds himself attracted to the local doctor who is a married woman with two little girls.

Gemma too is very busy following up and researching the people Duncan tells her to check up on. I like Gemma! She is a warm, friendly, outgoing person who people trust. Duncan is frustrated when the mean local cop tries to pass Sebastian's death off as a suicide but it soon becomes apparent that there is a murderer afoot.

I loved the atmosphere of the inn and the countryside as well as the well-defined characters. I will be reading this entire series and this one was from 1993 so I have a LOT of catching up to do and many more adventures and mysteries to solve with Duncan and Gemma.

[Deborah Harkness · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful mystery with a great female protagonist.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hey guys, so, um. My entire review got deleted WHEN I WAS IN THE FUCKING MIDDLE OF WRITING IT AND I ALREADY HAD LIKE 4 LONG ASS PARAGRAPHS.

IM UPSET AT THIS 😭 so anyways… I’ll shorten everything up and then try to make more detailed reviews with the following books of the series LMAO.

Plot… meh, fast-paced but I didn’t feel that tension I’m used to or I expect to whenever I read this type of genre.

Characters…. Main character was alright, the others were okay as well but nothing very outstanding.

Plot twists were… sorta decent too.

[Terence M - [Quot libros, quam breve tempus!] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook - 07:05 Hours - Narrator: Michael Deehy
2.5 Stars rounded to 3.0
"A Share in Death" was the first book in a series recommended to me in April 2015 by a GR friend who thought I might enjoy them. Well, as I was looking for something a little quieter than the blood and gore stuff I have been reading lately, I have to say I did enjoy listening to it, but it didn't jump out as a 'I-must-hear-the-next-book-now!' story.

It was a fairly gentle, low energy tale, a police-procedural typical of some British crime writers, although I wouldn't call it a 'cozy mystery'. With a number of murders in a short period of time, at a time-share holiday venue, involving a number of possibly guilty parties, it was more "Midsomer Murders" without the steroids.

I listened to it in pretty short time and by the time I had 30 minutes to go, I had no clue who the murderer was, and I was so bewildered that when they were revealed, it took me some time to work out who they were, as well as the why, the when, and the how they managed to do so much damage in such a short time.

I have quite a few of this series in my audiobook collection and when I am in need of a soothing and relaxing, but murderous story, I will definitely listen to a couple more, perhaps a little later on in the series.

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deborah Crombie's mystery series features Scotland Yard's Det. Superintendant Duncan Kincaid & his partner, Sergeant Gemma James.

A Share in Death is the 1st novel in the series, which currently contains 16 books. I do feel that the books are best read in order.

Kincaid is on long-earned vacation at a Yorkshire time-share but his holiday is anything but relaxing. Within a few hours of his arrival, bodies start piling up both staff and guests.

Helping the local police, Kincaid uses his experience and charm to discover who the killer is before more people are murdered.

At times, this felt like an Agatha Christie book......Kincaid a modern and good looking Poirot, using his "grey" cells to solving the mystery by cracking the clues he finds. The characters are so quintessentially British...I really liked that.

I enjoyed the connection and interaction between Kincaid and James and I can't wait to finding out more about these two's history.

The feel of "place"...here in the Yorkshire moors, was vividly written that I almost felt I was part of the story.

I am really looking forward to the next book.

[Carolyn Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not an avid reader of detective whodunnits, but sometimes I come across a series that intrigues me, especially if it's set in England. I find the Elizabeth George and Kate Atkinson ones a bit too dark and grim for my devotion, and some of the cozies are too fluffy and sweet even for me. I recently came across a reference to Deborah Crombie's newest book in her series featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James and thought it sounded like something I might enjoy. I don't like entering a series in mid-stream, for in a good series the main characters will develop and relationships will grow and change or end. It's like coming into a movie halfway through or starting a TV series in mid-season. You want to know what went on before. So I went back to the first one, published in 1993. I found the character of Duncan Kincaid, the sensitive and perceptive detective Superintendent, to be sympathetic and not so disillusioned and world weary as many of his ilk. He is charming and witty in that subtle British way, and actually likes people and treats them with kindness. His new cohort Gemma doesn't get a lot of air time in this debut, but as a young, hard-working, struggling single mother, she, too, is likeable. We're told she's smart and ambitious, but we're mostly shown her softer side. It will be fun to see their relationship develop. I find it interesting that this very British novel, filled with the kind of colloquialisms we Americans find so charming, is actually written by an American who lived in the British isles for a time. As an Anglophile, she had me convinced, though I wonder if her British readers ever detect any slip-ups. She did have a character declare something as "dull as dishwater," and I think the British expression is "dull as ditchwater," at least the older version. It would be difficult to keep Americanisms out, but apparently her success indicates that she's won over her audience, whether American or British. I liked Crombie's descriptions, her sympathetic characters, her realistic setting, and intriguing mystery. She kept me guessing, but I enjoyed the unveiling of the characters more than the revealing of the murderer. I will definitely be reading more in this series, preferably in order.

[Helga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book again as much as i did several years ago.

All Superintendent Kincaid wanted is to get some well-deserved rest at a Yorkshire timeshare.
But what he gets instead is a couple of murders, a bunch of suspects and some mysterious goings-on.

I love the main characters Kincaid and Gemma and the writing style of the author that reads like a cozy mystery.

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get past the poor quality writing and one-dimensional characters to give this book more than 1 star. Perhaps, as a couple of reviewers have suggested, her writing style improved in subsequent books, which would explain her relatively solid overall rating as an author. However in this novel, Ms. Crombie overuses the simile and the passive voice to create a novel that feels artificial and contrived.

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at page 244. IMHO, I think this book was a waste of my time. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I found the plot very slow and tedious. Besides, I predicted 3 plot twists of it. Scribd.com's English text, and translation for Portuguese + audio in English from Google Translate. Continuing the Project Learning English by myself.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Thanks to the myriad of FB mystery-reading friends who’ve been hooked on this series for years… I finally tried the first book and it was pretty darn good for a freshman entry.

I liked the locked-room inspired mystery but I most liked the range of characters we got introduced to and beware, this author doesn’t have trouble getting rid of folks you are so sure will be the key that unlocks the puzzle, instead of turning into victims themselves.

Not a cozy, but not a hard hitting procedural either. Just getting to know DCI Kincaid and Officer James— their back stories aren’t exactly messy, but there’s enough there to build on in future installments… and clearly they have a future as a mystery solving duo considering there’s a ton more stories that await.

And beware, after this book, you may never think of a timeshare vacation the same way again!

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Description: A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland 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.

The crime story was solid police procedural, however the writing was hackneyed and cliche-ridden and peopled with heart-shaped faces.

I do have more in this series in the dusty storage box, yet it might be a while before I get to them.

[Christopher Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book not least because it is the first in quite a long series. It is a classic Agatha Christie type whodunnit set in a, not exactly country house but timeshare apartments-in a country house. The guests are all suspects when first the deputy manager is killed.

I think it was all quite well done in many ways and the Kincaid character in particular is not bad but all a little too formulaic and predictable for me. I hadn't realised the author is American either. Whilst this is not a problem in itself it did give rise to a few slightly odd issues and speech irregularities for dialects in particular. At one point a game of croquet is described and somebody's ball apparently hits the wicket.
Think mixed obscure English games a problem here!

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost everyone in this book had trembling hands, it got tiresome. Kincaid ogled every woman he saw, and of course they all kissed him. That got very tiresome. A few lovely descriptions of the countryside.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Share in Death (Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James, #1).

This book was a pleasure to read for several reasons. First I like the main character(s). Kincaid, Scotland Yard Superintendent, is sensitive to whatever circumstances or people he is dealing with at that moment and yet he can be stern and not allow anyone to take advantage or get the upper hand. Gemma comes on much later in the book and adds to the story by her dependability as well as their relationship building team work.
Secondly I appreciated the slow and concise steps leading up to the unraveling of the main plot as oppose to chaos as in other books. It proved to be a relaxing and interesting read.

Superintendent Kincaid has a holiday coming to him thanks to his cousin who had to relinquish his time-share in the Yorkshires due to his pregnant wife being due at any time. He arrives at Followdale House and has decided to remain an average tourist on holiday rather than let it be know that he's a Scotland Yard detective. One by one he is introduced to each guest on holiday and then he is confronted with the death of one of these acquaintances.
Happily this author and this series was recommended to me by another mystery lover and I'm so glad she did.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First in the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James cozy English mystery series and revolving around a couple of cops from Scotland Yard. This story takes place at a holiday mansion in Yorkshire.

In 1993, A Share in Death was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

My Take
It's Agatha Christie-lite in A Share in Death with its "captive" houseguests stalked by a murderer. It's certainly a soft read and lets us in on everyone's thoughts with its third-person omniscient point-of-view and a dab of the unreliable narrator with that Chekhov's gun plot device along with bits of foreshadowing. A few other devices include the Had-I-Known and Cassie's peripeteia.

There's all the mortal failings of greed, ambitions, and fear meshing in with honesty and Kincaid's inability to stand back — Duncan's investigative style appears to be the stir-the-pot kind. Of course, it could be that it's not officially his case, and he's just poking about. And poking about in romance as well.

The major conflict, of course, are the murders and how they tie together, and Crombie keeps the interest flowing with each guest's own issues.

I do have one problem with one set of interactions. Patrick's response to the bombshell that bursts for him is real, and so is the response to that response. But that conflict is resolved so quickly. No grudges, which is consistent throughout the story, as everything settles with so little drama.

I loved how Crombie slipped me right into Duncan Kincaid's and Gemma James' lives. It doesn't feel like this is their first time up, and Crombie inserts minor character conflicts to keep them interesting. Character conflict-wise, it's character vs character as well as vs self.

There's the trope of the local coppers angry that Scotland Yard is interfering, but it feels half-hearted. That's not to say that Nash isn't a complete jerkwad, for he is — how he ever got to his current rank, I'll never know, as incompetent as he is, but it's only the one character and the rest collude with Kincaid.

And there's a touch of the metaphysical in here which makes me wonder what the future holds.

The Story
A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard's newly promoted Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun.

One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another must be a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's interest in crime (and Nash's incompetence) won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to put his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James, to work.

Then a second murder occurs, and they find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.

The Characters
Duncan Kincaid is one of Scotland Yard's bright young men and has been promoted to detective superintendent. Victoria is his ex-wife. Jack is his cousin who couldn't get away for his own holiday. Gemma James is his confidence-inspiring sergeant, divorced from Rob, with a two-year-old son, Toby. Chief Superintendent Denis Childs is Kincaid's boss.

Followdale House is…
…a Georgian house converted into a series of timeshare apartments in Yorkshire. The vampish Cassie Whitlake, the sales manager for Followdale, plays queen of the manor. Sebastian Wade is her snarky assistant manager. His mum keeps the tobacconist's shop in the village.

Guests include Penelope "Penny" (her memory is failing) and Emma (loves birdwatching) MacKenzie who are sisters from Dedham Vale who recently lost their father, Rev. MacKenzie. Hannah Alcock is a biogeneticist heading up a research clinic on rare viral diseases, the Julia Sterrett Clinic in Oxford; Patrick Rennie (he's a rising M.P.) and his wife, the gin-soaked Marta, have the Thirsk Suite; Eddie Lyle (he's ex-Army who conquered the IRA singlehandedly and is now in civil engineering) and his put-upon wife, Janet, have a daughter, Chloe, in boarding school; Maureen and John Hunsinger are into organics and have two children: Bethany and Brian; and, Graham Frazer is in assurance and is here with his daughter, Angela; he's battling for custody with his ex-wife, Marjorie.

The Mid-Yorkshire CID
Detective Chief Constable Bill Nash is a nightmare. Detective Inspector Peter Raskin is much more reasonable; he's married with two kids, a boy and a girl. Police Constable Rob Trumble is the first on scene. Kincaid is attracted to Dr. Anne Percy, a small town G.P. with an obstetrician husband, Tim, and two kids — Molly and Caroline.

Miles Sterrett founded the Julia Sterrett Clinic when his young wife died of Cruetz-Jakob disease. Mrs. Milton is Miles' housekeeper. Mary owns a tea shop in Dedham Vale while George is a neighbor. Cassie's father is a construction foreman in Clapham. Evie is the sister who's still at home and refers to her sister as "Lady Muck". Louise and Major John Rennie are Patrick's adoptive parents. Helen North is Janet's neighbor and has a young son, Malcolm. Trevor is a young boy at Aysgarth Falls with his parents.

The Cover and Title
The cover has the feel of a medieval woodcut with its vintage colors of aged cream, browns, and reds, but is quite modern in its subject with a crowded bar filled with people having fun. The title soars across the top of the cover in white against a deep Wedgewood blue with a burgundy oval surrounding a gold crown in the A and the same burgundy in two short slashes under the in. A band the color of an old newspaper carries the series information in a serif font. The bottom of the cover is the same burgundy with the vintage brown for the author's name and a narrow border around the graphic.

The title is a play on the set-up, the timeshare with everyone getting A Share in Death.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 and I'm rounding up to a 3. I think the timing may have been bad for this. The writing had flashes of not brilliant but very good but as it went on it became less interesting and there wasn't enough character development to pull it through. I'm hoping that it was just the start of the series throwing it off tho and that it gets better as it goes.

The setting and the main characters are promising so I'll give the second one a try before abandoning the series. I also enjoyed the audio for this. Four stars for the audio performance.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this because I'm always looking for good serial mysteries. This was recommended, but it didn't stick on me. Sometimes this can be blamed on #1 in a series just starting, but . . .there are so many books out there to read. Don't know if I'll get to another. . . .happy to listen to anyone who thinks I'm missing the boat. . .

[Christine PNW · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've picked up several in this series over the years when they've gone on sale, without ever reading any of them, including the first one. I thought that the series would appeal to me, and I wasn't wrong.

I liked the main characters. It's a very British mystery, which I also liked (in spite of the fact that Crombie is actually a Texan, which is weird).

I liked it - it's a keeper, although I have no idea when I will be able to really dive in. I typically only buy books like this when they are deeply discounted (like $1.99 each), or when I can get them from the library. The library is a no go right now.

[JoAn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie was a great start to this mystery series set in England. Ms. Crombie did an excellent job of introducing Duncan Kincaid and it was nice to get to know him so well in this first book. I listened to the audio version of this book. The narrator, Michael Deehy, did an excellent job of the narration. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

[Sina & Ilona Glimmerfee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ganz ehrlich? Mir schwirrte der Kopf mit den ganzen Charakteren. Sie werden zwar am Anfang alle recht bildlich beschrieben, aber dann habe ich die Namen immer wieder durcheinander gebracht. Mag tatsächlich daran liegen, dass ich momentan nicht die aufnahmefähigste bin, aber hätte ich nicht gedacht 'Einfach weiterlesen, wird sich schon entschlüsseln', hätte ich das Buch abgebrochen aus dem Grund.
Der Schreibstil ist atmosphärischer, als ich es bei einem Krimi erwartet hätte. Es wird sich Zeit genommen Orte und Personen vom Aussehen zu beschreiben und so konnte ich gut eintauchen in den Mikrokosmos des Hotels im Norden Englands. Strickmuster ist das gleiche, was auch schon Agatha Christie liebte - Nimm einen geschlossenen Ort, eine Leiche und jeder könnte es gewesen sein.
Ich muss sagen, dass ich zu keinem der Ermittler einen Draht aufgebaut hätte, wenn noch am ehesten zu der Alleinerziehenden Gemma Jones, die aber immer nur kurz auftaucht. Duncan Kincaid blieb farblos auf den Seiten zurück, obwohl ich seine Sichtweise die meiste Zeit verfolgte. Es ist für mich somit kein MUSS die Krimi-Reihe weiterzuverfolgen, aber ich werde es wohl irgendwann tun. '
Ich fand den Krimi nicht wirklich spannend, sondern eher entspannend. Ich konnte gut abtauchen in das Buch, aber der Ausgang hat mich nicht wirklich interessiert, dafür waren es zu viele Personen und keine hat meine Sympathien so sehr gewinnen können, dass ich mitgefiebert hätte.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Share in Death is the first book in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series. I chose to read this book due to recommendations from mystery readers. Duncan Kincaid is on a holiday from Scotland Yard. His cousin has offered him a stay at his time share in Yorkshire. Duncan looks forward to just relaxing and does not let fellow vacationers know his profession. That soon changes when a murder happens after Duncan checks in.

The murder in not in Duncan's jurisdiction and the head local investigator resents Duncan looking in on the crime. The suspects are time share vacationers plus the management of the time share facilities. In this first introduction to Duncan, he is very capable and likable. His partner Gemma does investigation in the neighborhoods of the suspects.

It was a good mystery due to all all the suspects and plotting. I would think I had it figured out and then would change my mind that is was another suspect who committed the murders. There was a twist in the story. I am looking forward to reading more in the series and catching up with Duncan's and Gemma's lives. This was a very enjoyable read

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Share in Death is the first in Deborah Crombie’s Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery novels. Duncan works for Scotland Yard and is getting a week at a luxurious timeshare in Yorkshire since his cousin is unable to use the time he had booked. Shortly after his arrival at Followdale House, one of the employees is murdered. Local law enforcement wants to sweep the murder under the rug and call it a suicide. Duncan knows better and begins his own investigation into what happened.
I enjoyed this mystery, but there were so many different folks staying at Followdale House that is was hard to keep the characters straight. I really liked Gemma James and wish she had a larger role in the book. I’m going to try reading the next book in the series, All Shall Be Well, and see if the series improves. I know there are a lot of books in the series and it is highly regarded, so I want to give it a chance.

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nicely written cozy mystery, with a likeable detective. This is the first book in this series and a good start. The story isn't that gripping but nicely written and it was what i was looking for at the moment. I really liked Duncan and Gemma and they are the reason I would go back to this series in the future. I am curious to see how their relationship develops and to learn more about them. I kind of see Duncan as a young Inspector Lynley, but maybe that's just me...

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4* out of 5. Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is going on a holiday in a timeshare house. It doesn't take very long before one of the people running the place is found dead. All of the sudden he is drawn into a murder investigation, holiday or not. This was very much a sort of Agatha Christie closed room murder mystery - one of the guests must have done it, but who? And why? Thoroughly enjoyable and I will certainly be reading more by Deborah Crombie.

[Empress Reece (Hooked on Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters and I think the series has promise. It was a little slow for me but Im going to try the 2nd book and see if its improved any.

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Sneha Pathak (reader_girl_reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded to 4.

This was my first time reading Deborah Crombie's long running Kincaid and James series.

A Share In Death is the first book in the series. Scotland Yard's Duncan Kincaid goes to a 'time-share' holiday in a Yorkshire village where he is sharing the house with a number of other guests. When two of them are murdered in quick succession, Kincaid decides to be involved in the local police investigation, especially as he has no faith in the incompatible Nashe, who is heading the investigation.

The book has multiple characters on whom the suspicion falls, and the final twist was also well-done. But overall, the book felt a bit too long, and the characters too many to keep track of. I hope that these faults are remedies in the succeeding books which i fully intend to explore.

Recommended!

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard this author praised for her beautiful writing and was not disappointed. The characters are well drawn - especially Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid; and the mystery is well plotted. I give it a PG rating for language and its mention of several people's extramarital affairs (but with no unpleasant details).

I could hardly put it down.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deborah Crombie is an author I've heard about and recommended often, but I have to admit that I'd never picked up one of her books. It was time.

A Share in Death marks the beginning of Crombie's popular series featuring Scotland Yard superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his sergeant, Gemma James. Book one opens with Kincaid taking a much needed vacation, unfortunately this turns into a working holiday when someone is murdered and Kincaid finds himself up against the local coppers in his search to find justice.

I was surprised reading this book at how much of a "cozy" quality there was. I was expecting violence and suspense, something a little more grittier, but I didn't get that here. There was a lot of description of the details surrounding Kincaid and it lent a participatory quality to the mystery. If you paid close enough attention, you were sure to determine the guilty party.

Since I'm not a much of a mystery fan, I wasn't enamored of the level of description in A Share in Death. I tend to like the focus to stay on the main characters. The description certainly went a long way into presenting a strong sense of place as well as providing clues to solving the mystery for the reader. From the very first page, readers are sucked into Yorkshire.

Duncan Kincaid's holiday began well. As he turned the car into the lane, a shaft of sun broke through the clouds and lit a patch of rolling Yorkshire moor as if someone had thrown the switch on a celestial spotlight.

Drystone walls ran like pale runes across the brilliant green of pasture, where luminous sheep nibbled, unconcerned with their importance in the composition. The scene seemed set off in a time as well as space, and gave him the sensation of viewing a living tapestry, a world remote and utterly unattainable. The clouds shifted again, the vision fading as swiftly as it had come, and he felt an odd shiver of loss at its passing (p. 1).

While physical descriptions are liberally shared here, character development does play a role A Share in Death, and I think to get it's full impact you need to be invested in the series. What is shared in A Share in Death is an introduction to both Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Duncan seems to be at a standstill with regards to his personal life; he seems to be looking for something that's missing. While Gemma, ten years younger, is just getting by raising her young son on her own. I certainly want to know more about both characters, but I don't feel like I know either of them yet. Time to place some holds at the library.

The mystery itself was comfortably predictable. I wouldn't say this one is filled with a high level of suspense, but I was compelled to read to the end, even though I had my suspicious about the guilty suspect. There is something comforting about a certain level of predictable events and I can honestly say this is what draws me to other genre fiction like romance or fantasy. While readers do want change, there is a reason that readers turn to books that follow a conventional plot, and I think that's the case with this series.

Another thing that I did not expect was the inclusion of points of view from characters other than Duncan and Gemma. There are sections that are presented to readers from murder victims and attempted victims. I think this is another technique that lent well to the participatory quality of the narrative. Readers occasionally knew more than Duncan and could start to pull the pieces together and solve the mystery. From working in a public library, I know there is a huge market for these kinds of murder mysteries, and as a non-mystery reader, it often stumps me when helping people find similar reads.

Is A Share in Death my new favourite book? Probably not, but I did like the mystery and I do feel compelled to read further in the series to get to know the characters. And it's nice to have actually read a book that I have and will continue to recommend.

Originally published with read-alikes at The Book Adventures.