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Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James #6
Kissed a Sad Goodbye
Crombie weaves a tale of two boys who become allies, then friends, in a story of trust and betrayal whose repercussions echo across six decades.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
875 people are currently reading
1401 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Crombie
53 books2,518 followersDeborah 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.
Crombie lives in McKinney, Texas with her husband, two German Shepherd Dogs, and two cats. She travels to Britain frequently to research her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 488 reviews
January 29, 2018
Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie is a 2001 Bantam publication.
In this sixth installment of the Kincaid & James series, Duncan and Gemma look into the murder of a beautiful young woman and the connection between two families that dates back decades and harbors many painful secrets- but are they worth killing for?
When I added this book to my ‘currently reading’ status, I noticed how many four and five star ratings it had. In fact, it was a rare, near unanimous verdict. This had me so excited, I pushed away some newer releases so that I could read this one right away.
But, for some reason this segment in the series, didn’t grab me the way I thought it would. First of all, the plot is very complex. That is usually not a problem, but for some reason, I had a hard time staying focused and had to re-read passages and go back and double check things because I felt lost. I don’t know if, at the end of the day, I really understood it. I got who the killer was, but the motive? It seemed murky, but to explain why I disagreed with the plausibility of it, I'd have to reveal too much information. So, let's just say I found it unsatisfactory, but I never in a million years would have guessed who the killer was, so there's that.
I was also let down by Gemma’s dalliances and her wishy washy “I don’t really know what I want” crap. What brought all that on? I did think Kincaid’s storyline with Kit was well done, and had a very touching and emotional ring to it, as well as stressing the pressures of being a single parent.
I think, if I ever have a little extra time, I may revisit this chapter of the series. Maybe a re-read of it will help me put all the pieces together a bit more firmly. But, for now, I am going to move on to the next book in the series and see where that takes me.
3 stars
In this sixth installment of the Kincaid & James series, Duncan and Gemma look into the murder of a beautiful young woman and the connection between two families that dates back decades and harbors many painful secrets- but are they worth killing for?
When I added this book to my ‘currently reading’ status, I noticed how many four and five star ratings it had. In fact, it was a rare, near unanimous verdict. This had me so excited, I pushed away some newer releases so that I could read this one right away.
But, for some reason this segment in the series, didn’t grab me the way I thought it would. First of all, the plot is very complex. That is usually not a problem, but for some reason, I had a hard time staying focused and had to re-read passages and go back and double check things because I felt lost. I don’t know if, at the end of the day, I really understood it. I got who the killer was, but the motive? It seemed murky, but to explain why I disagreed with the plausibility of it, I'd have to reveal too much information. So, let's just say I found it unsatisfactory, but I never in a million years would have guessed who the killer was, so there's that.
I was also let down by Gemma’s dalliances and her wishy washy “I don’t really know what I want” crap. What brought all that on? I did think Kincaid’s storyline with Kit was well done, and had a very touching and emotional ring to it, as well as stressing the pressures of being a single parent.
I think, if I ever have a little extra time, I may revisit this chapter of the series. Maybe a re-read of it will help me put all the pieces together a bit more firmly. But, for now, I am going to move on to the next book in the series and see where that takes me.
3 stars
May 16, 2017
The frustrating thing about this Kinkaid and James series is that once I've got about 70% through, I just can't seem to put them down: my household chores are pushed aside, my family give me funny looks, my timetable is rearranged, but I just have to find out what happens in the end! And I agree with Claude, "Kissed a Sad Goodbye" was my favourite so far!
2nd Reading: I'm upping this to the full 5 stars! After listening to the audio version, I can truthfully say that this is a wonderfully written novel, beautifully plotted out, and my favourite of the whole series. The emotions are so palpable, and the characters so endearing, one really cares what happens to them.
2nd Reading: I'm upping this to the full 5 stars! After listening to the audio version, I can truthfully say that this is a wonderfully written novel, beautifully plotted out, and my favourite of the whole series. The emotions are so palpable, and the characters so endearing, one really cares what happens to them.
September 17, 2012
In her previous novel, "Dreaming of the Bones" Deborah Crombie explored a new structure intertwining two story lines--past and present. And IMO she was not particularly successful in that first attempt.
In "Kissed A Sad Goodbye" she uses the same technique but with much better effect. The modern murder mystery was plotted with the precision and attention to characterization and setting that have become a hallmark of her books, while the back story forms such a poignant and historically significant tale that it could be successfully rendered as a stand alone novel. She slips flawlessly between the two.
The only exceptions were the chapter quotations in which historical arcania of Dog Island were cited. These were extraneous and IMO served neither to advance the plot or enrich the setting.
But as I have come to expect with her books, an underlying value is explored as well, here, for me, it was about fatherhood and how formative a force it can be in a child's life.
With her final chapter, a very satisfying string of vignettes resolves all the disparate conflicts and brings most of the actors some modicum of peace and justice.
The arc of Gemma and Duncan's personal lives has not been neglected either with Duncan facing the challenges of fatherhood and Gemma, self-discovery and temptation. But pursuing their story lines means moving on to the next book in the series, which has undeniably always been a strong incentive for this reader.
In "Kissed A Sad Goodbye" she uses the same technique but with much better effect. The modern murder mystery was plotted with the precision and attention to characterization and setting that have become a hallmark of her books, while the back story forms such a poignant and historically significant tale that it could be successfully rendered as a stand alone novel. She slips flawlessly between the two.
The only exceptions were the chapter quotations in which historical arcania of Dog Island were cited. These were extraneous and IMO served neither to advance the plot or enrich the setting.
But as I have come to expect with her books, an underlying value is explored as well, here, for me, it was about fatherhood and how formative a force it can be in a child's life.
With her final chapter, a very satisfying string of vignettes resolves all the disparate conflicts and brings most of the actors some modicum of peace and justice.
The arc of Gemma and Duncan's personal lives has not been neglected either with Duncan facing the challenges of fatherhood and Gemma, self-discovery and temptation. But pursuing their story lines means moving on to the next book in the series, which has undeniably always been a strong incentive for this reader.
September 28, 2018
I really liked this one-the best I've read in the series so far! Excellent historical details of this part of London pre-WWII and a super map on the end pages (I love when books have maps to help with picturing the setting)! I don't know who illustrated the map but it was very well drawn. I also enjoyed the Hammond tea factory and would've like more of that incorporated in the plot.
October 20, 2013
This book is exceptional! The plot centers around of the murder of a very beautiful and successful woman. Soon the detectives discover that she has many secrets in her life, and the plot is very complicated and lives of the characters in the story are very intertwined. Once again, Deborah Crombie kept me entertained from cover to cover. This is book #6 in the English murder mystery series of Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James of Scotland Yard. I am looking forward to book #7!
June 30, 2011
Deborah Crombie is one of my favorite mystery writers. Usually when I find an author I like (Donna Leon, say, or Charles Todd) I read the books very slowly, waiting six months or longer between them. I just don’t have the self-discipline to do that with Deborah Crombie’s Gemma James and Duncan Kinkaid series. I’m gobbling them up at a rate of one a week.
Kissed a Sad Goodbye was as usual very well plotted. The characters, including of course James and Kinkaid, are complex. And the setting is terrific: the east end of London, Docklands, Canary Wharf, Greenwich (across the river by tunnel). The murdered woman was the head of an old family tea-importing company, which I found no end interesting. And the book employed flashbacks, a device I particularly like.
We follow a young boy as he is evacuated from his loving home in the Isle of Dogs to an upper-middle-class household in the country where he is given an opportunity to get an education he would never have had in London. Flash! We are in 1999 London interviewing the officers of the tea company who are very worried what will become of them without the hard-charging CEO who has been found dead in Mudchute Park.
Back to World War II and the friendship that develops between the evacuee and the young people who live in the country house. Flash! Back to London and Gemma’s interview with a most unlikely busker. And on it goes. I love it. I put it down and immediately picked up the next book in the series.
2011 No 94 Coming soon: A Finer End
Kissed a Sad Goodbye was as usual very well plotted. The characters, including of course James and Kinkaid, are complex. And the setting is terrific: the east end of London, Docklands, Canary Wharf, Greenwich (across the river by tunnel). The murdered woman was the head of an old family tea-importing company, which I found no end interesting. And the book employed flashbacks, a device I particularly like.
We follow a young boy as he is evacuated from his loving home in the Isle of Dogs to an upper-middle-class household in the country where he is given an opportunity to get an education he would never have had in London. Flash! We are in 1999 London interviewing the officers of the tea company who are very worried what will become of them without the hard-charging CEO who has been found dead in Mudchute Park.
Back to World War II and the friendship that develops between the evacuee and the young people who live in the country house. Flash! Back to London and Gemma’s interview with a most unlikely busker. And on it goes. I love it. I put it down and immediately picked up the next book in the series.
2011 No 94 Coming soon: A Finer End
June 22, 2011
What do you do when you like the characters in a series but don't like the plots? This makes two Crombie mysteries in a row with lame storylines. This one had a serious "out of the blue" moment at the end that left me sick instead of suspended. I love the Kincaid and James characters, so I want to follow their story, but the language/sex is worsening with each novel. What to do?
February 3, 2017
Don't trust me; absolutely don't rely on this review.
This book is number 6 in a 12-part series (or more). I read it out-of-order for reasons. Quite possibly when I read the books in order I'll change my rating and my impressions.
First off, the book was well-written, and I thought the characterizations were very fine. Unfortunately, I didn't really like any of the characters and was confused by who was who. I did, however, like all the dogs. People were awfully dreary and seemed unsure of who they were. That may account for all the unaccountable behavior and general discomfort. It did not help that every day was scorching hot, and everyone was deeply affected by the heat and looked and felt like a
mess. I particularly disliked the presentation of one of the bad guys. He was a badly scarred
pilot who served as tutor and was the lynchpin for the subsequent suffering that scarred the lives of many of the suspects. He did NOT have to be a caricature of a homosexual bent on assaulting and terrorizing young men.
The story focuses on the murder of a sublimely beautiful young woman and the possible guilt of all her acquaintances. Almost everyone was divorced with children who got on my nerves. the local police-woman seems to be present simply to reinforce the misery of the heat, the unfairness of her life and feel put upon by the major characters. Duncan and Gemma are the superior investigators. They too are at sea about their lives, their relationships, how to do their jobs and what to wear in the heat.
Tea is vitally important to this story. The murder victim is a tea retailer who combines an active sex life with her tea obsession. ... In addition, I'll add that the story might have been many pages shorter if every social or investigative encounter did not include making, serving and drinking tea.
Forgive my tone here. I did read the whole book, though it seemed very long, and am all set to read another by the same author.
This book is number 6 in a 12-part series (or more). I read it out-of-order for reasons. Quite possibly when I read the books in order I'll change my rating and my impressions.
First off, the book was well-written, and I thought the characterizations were very fine. Unfortunately, I didn't really like any of the characters and was confused by who was who. I did, however, like all the dogs. People were awfully dreary and seemed unsure of who they were. That may account for all the unaccountable behavior and general discomfort. It did not help that every day was scorching hot, and everyone was deeply affected by the heat and looked and felt like a
mess. I particularly disliked the presentation of one of the bad guys. He was a badly scarred
pilot who served as tutor and was the lynchpin for the subsequent suffering that scarred the lives of many of the suspects. He did NOT have to be a caricature of a homosexual bent on assaulting and terrorizing young men.
The story focuses on the murder of a sublimely beautiful young woman and the possible guilt of all her acquaintances. Almost everyone was divorced with children who got on my nerves. the local police-woman seems to be present simply to reinforce the misery of the heat, the unfairness of her life and feel put upon by the major characters. Duncan and Gemma are the superior investigators. They too are at sea about their lives, their relationships, how to do their jobs and what to wear in the heat.
Tea is vitally important to this story. The murder victim is a tea retailer who combines an active sex life with her tea obsession. ... In addition, I'll add that the story might have been many pages shorter if every social or investigative encounter did not include making, serving and drinking tea.
Forgive my tone here. I did read the whole book, though it seemed very long, and am all set to read another by the same author.
September 20, 2021
Though this book has much in common with the prior entry in the series, including a lot of time shifting and compelling developments in the personal lives of the mail characters, it works less well while still being just satisfying enough.
It tries to do a great deal, and ends up trying to focus on too many story lines, characters, and shifting among them. Then, the conclusion of the actual mystery is anti-climactic and breaks some key principles of the genre, to its detriment.
Still, the writing is quite good and I’m happily invested in the characters, even though, or maybe because, one or the other of them is always getting on my nerves with their personality-consistent foibles.
It tries to do a great deal, and ends up trying to focus on too many story lines, characters, and shifting among them. Then, the conclusion of the actual mystery is anti-climactic and breaks some key principles of the genre, to its detriment.
Still, the writing is quite good and I’m happily invested in the characters, even though, or maybe because, one or the other of them is always getting on my nerves with their personality-consistent foibles.
July 27, 2020
Multilayered and spanning both actions in the past as well as the present, Deborah Crombie has given us a dousey of a mystery in Kissed a Sad Goodbye.
A young woman — Annabelle Hammond, managing director of Hammond Teas — is found murdered. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Scotland Yard Detective Duncan Kincaid, who has befriended his ex-wife's son who he suspects is his son too.
And as the story develops and Kincaid and his associate and lover Gemma James investigate the murder, the relationships of children and their parents — and things that happened as their parents grew up during World War II, create a not only interesting mystery but a truly compelling story.
These characters are all so realistic and their stories are so believable, it sometimes became hard to read about them and their pain. And equally impossible to not keep reading.
The story has it all, the suffering of children growing up in England during the Blitz, seeing loss and destruction hit their home towns and their families, and then, with the younger generation, facing different loss and destruction in family expectations and challenges. This is indeed good reading.
A young woman — Annabelle Hammond, managing director of Hammond Teas — is found murdered. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Scotland Yard Detective Duncan Kincaid, who has befriended his ex-wife's son who he suspects is his son too.
And as the story develops and Kincaid and his associate and lover Gemma James investigate the murder, the relationships of children and their parents — and things that happened as their parents grew up during World War II, create a not only interesting mystery but a truly compelling story.
These characters are all so realistic and their stories are so believable, it sometimes became hard to read about them and their pain. And equally impossible to not keep reading.
The story has it all, the suffering of children growing up in England during the Blitz, seeing loss and destruction hit their home towns and their families, and then, with the younger generation, facing different loss and destruction in family expectations and challenges. This is indeed good reading.
March 7, 2010
I confess. Instead of reading the books "I'm currently reading," I read this one. So many books. So little time. Another one in the Kincaid/James series. The body of a beautiful woman is found in a park on the Isle of Dogs. She been laid out in a manner suggesting she was killed by someone she knew. Who might it be? The fiance she with which she just had a quarrel? A jilted lover? A member of her family? Somehow this is all linked to events during World War II and the evacuation of children to the countryside. Old grudges die hard and have a way of poisoning the present. In contrast to the previous books, this time there is much more emphasis on Gemma's point of view and an effort is made to develop her character a bit more as she tries to figure out who she is and where her life is going. Oh yeah, and there is a great deal about tea.
February 5, 2019
3.5 stars.
The history lesson on the London Blitz and the Docklands was interesting. I think I sort of guessed the killer quite early on so was actually more invested in Gemma's dilemma and the continuing drama with Duncan's son.
The history lesson on the London Blitz and the Docklands was interesting. I think I sort of guessed the killer quite early on so was actually more invested in Gemma's dilemma and the continuing drama with Duncan's son.
July 4, 2022
Kissed a Sad Goodbye, Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James #6, Deborah Crombie, 1999.
This one has extra unpleasantness.
Set on the Isle of Dogs, a peninsula formed by a loop of the Thames in east London, formerly docks and working-class people, now being gentrified.
Map of the Isle of Dogs: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Isl...
Quotes from :
Memories of Childhood on the Isle of Dogs, 1870-1970, Eve Hostettler, ed., 1993:
Chapter 3: The Mudchute is an area of land which originally belonged to the dock authorities. Covering about 30 acres, roughly square in shape, it has high clinker banks (on which grass and wildflowers now flourish). These banks were built to contain a lake of silt dredged up from Millwall Dock in the 1880s and 1890s.
Chapter 6: Bounded on three sides by the river Thames, and communications hindered (in those days) by the swing bridges at the entrances to the working docks, the Island had (and still has) a special feeling of isolation, which separates it from the rest of East London.
Chapter 7: That 'The Island is not what it was,' is a sentiment with which every Islander over forty would agree … whilst recalling with affectionate regret the days when 'every door was open,' and 'everyone knew everyone else.' Such phrases recall a neighbourliness, and a sense of local identity, both of which have been threatened with destruction by almost everything that has happened on the Isle of Dogs since 1939.
Chapter 8: The Island population had reached its peak of around 21,000 in 1900. … The green fields had been replaced by docks, warehouses, factories and streets of terraced houses. In this predominantly working-class community, young people found a job, married and set up home not far from their parents.
Chapter 9: For the lonely cowherd of medieval times, when the Isle of Dogs was a desolate, windswept marsh, as much as for the youngsters who lived in the crowded streets of the industrialized Island, the river has provided over the centuries a moving, colourful pageant of ships and boats, and a link with the life of the great oceans and the wide world beyond the estuary.
Chapter 10: Another favorite haunt of Island children for their outdoor games was Island Gardens, a small park on the riverbank opposite Greenwich, created by the London County Council in 1895.
Chapter 11: The great ships were brought into the Island to loom over back yards and gardens and the foreign sailors were set down in the dusty streets where the children played.
Chapter 13: The trade and industry which had first brought work and workers to the Island in the nineteenth century was now in terminal decline. One by one, in the 1970s the remaining factories closed their gates and moved away; rumours that the Docks too might close, proved to be all too true. The last ships came and went.
Chapter 15: Trade-union and community campaigns to prevent this decline were transmuted in the 1980s into campaigns to redevelop the area in the best interests of local people, to encourage investment which would bring more jobs, to improve transport, schooling and health care. Alongside these concerns was a concern that the community should not lose touch with its roots.
Dockland: An Illustrated Historical Survey of Life and Work in East London, North East London Polytechnic, 1986:
Chapter 1: The old dockland is still clear in the minds of Londoners. Generations of children grew up in streets where the houses were dwarfed by ships, whose sides rose like cliffs over their back gardens. --George Nicholson
Chapter 4: By 1797, over 10,000 coasters and nearly 3,500 foreign-going vessels were coming up to London annually. The West India vessels contributed particularly to the river's traffic jam. … In September 1793, the West India Merchants held a meeting in an attempt to resolve it, which was to lead in due course to the building of London's first commercial docks. --Theo Barker.
Chapter 5: Isle of Dogs, the intended site of the West India Docks, was then a lonely, boggy waste used for the pasturing of cattle. It was said to have only two inhabitants: one drove the cattle off the marshes and the other operated the ferry to Greenwich. --Theo Barker.
Chapter 12: The Docks were easily identifiable from the air and were attacked more than any other civilian target. Nearly 1,000 high explosive bombs and thousands of incendiaries were dropped. … At the same time large areas of residential Dockland were devastated. During the whole of the blitz, 30,000 people were killed. Slightly more than half of these casualties were in London and a high proportion of these were in Dockland. --Paul Calvocoressi.
Chapter 14: For the majority of families whose livelihood depended on river trade activity, the abandonment of the upstream docks was as unexpected and destructive as a natural catastrophe. It was their Great Fire. They could only watch and accept the consequences of a process which they had no part in initiating and little chance of controlling. --George Nicholson
Chapter 16: There is a growing movement determined to bring the river back to life. --George Nicholson
This one has extra unpleasantness.
Set on the Isle of Dogs, a peninsula formed by a loop of the Thames in east London, formerly docks and working-class people, now being gentrified.
Map of the Isle of Dogs: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Isl...
Quotes from :
Memories of Childhood on the Isle of Dogs, 1870-1970, Eve Hostettler, ed., 1993:
Chapter 3: The Mudchute is an area of land which originally belonged to the dock authorities. Covering about 30 acres, roughly square in shape, it has high clinker banks (on which grass and wildflowers now flourish). These banks were built to contain a lake of silt dredged up from Millwall Dock in the 1880s and 1890s.
Chapter 6: Bounded on three sides by the river Thames, and communications hindered (in those days) by the swing bridges at the entrances to the working docks, the Island had (and still has) a special feeling of isolation, which separates it from the rest of East London.
Chapter 7: That 'The Island is not what it was,' is a sentiment with which every Islander over forty would agree … whilst recalling with affectionate regret the days when 'every door was open,' and 'everyone knew everyone else.' Such phrases recall a neighbourliness, and a sense of local identity, both of which have been threatened with destruction by almost everything that has happened on the Isle of Dogs since 1939.
Chapter 8: The Island population had reached its peak of around 21,000 in 1900. … The green fields had been replaced by docks, warehouses, factories and streets of terraced houses. In this predominantly working-class community, young people found a job, married and set up home not far from their parents.
Chapter 9: For the lonely cowherd of medieval times, when the Isle of Dogs was a desolate, windswept marsh, as much as for the youngsters who lived in the crowded streets of the industrialized Island, the river has provided over the centuries a moving, colourful pageant of ships and boats, and a link with the life of the great oceans and the wide world beyond the estuary.
Chapter 10: Another favorite haunt of Island children for their outdoor games was Island Gardens, a small park on the riverbank opposite Greenwich, created by the London County Council in 1895.
Chapter 11: The great ships were brought into the Island to loom over back yards and gardens and the foreign sailors were set down in the dusty streets where the children played.
Chapter 13: The trade and industry which had first brought work and workers to the Island in the nineteenth century was now in terminal decline. One by one, in the 1970s the remaining factories closed their gates and moved away; rumours that the Docks too might close, proved to be all too true. The last ships came and went.
Chapter 15: Trade-union and community campaigns to prevent this decline were transmuted in the 1980s into campaigns to redevelop the area in the best interests of local people, to encourage investment which would bring more jobs, to improve transport, schooling and health care. Alongside these concerns was a concern that the community should not lose touch with its roots.
Dockland: An Illustrated Historical Survey of Life and Work in East London, North East London Polytechnic, 1986:
Chapter 1: The old dockland is still clear in the minds of Londoners. Generations of children grew up in streets where the houses were dwarfed by ships, whose sides rose like cliffs over their back gardens. --George Nicholson
Chapter 4: By 1797, over 10,000 coasters and nearly 3,500 foreign-going vessels were coming up to London annually. The West India vessels contributed particularly to the river's traffic jam. … In September 1793, the West India Merchants held a meeting in an attempt to resolve it, which was to lead in due course to the building of London's first commercial docks. --Theo Barker.
Chapter 5: Isle of Dogs, the intended site of the West India Docks, was then a lonely, boggy waste used for the pasturing of cattle. It was said to have only two inhabitants: one drove the cattle off the marshes and the other operated the ferry to Greenwich. --Theo Barker.
Chapter 12: The Docks were easily identifiable from the air and were attacked more than any other civilian target. Nearly 1,000 high explosive bombs and thousands of incendiaries were dropped. … At the same time large areas of residential Dockland were devastated. During the whole of the blitz, 30,000 people were killed. Slightly more than half of these casualties were in London and a high proportion of these were in Dockland. --Paul Calvocoressi.
Chapter 14: For the majority of families whose livelihood depended on river trade activity, the abandonment of the upstream docks was as unexpected and destructive as a natural catastrophe. It was their Great Fire. They could only watch and accept the consequences of a process which they had no part in initiating and little chance of controlling. --George Nicholson
Chapter 16: There is a growing movement determined to bring the river back to life. --George Nicholson
January 15, 2021
4.5 stars Contains mild spoilers for other books in the series
The best books in this series have an almost haunting quality to them, and that was definitely present in this installment. The killing of a tea company executive in East London at first appears to be a tragic murder, but as Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James start to dig into the crime, they start finding threads of older, unsolved mysteries rooted further in the past.
The modern-day investigation in this matter is interpersed with scenes from WWII. A young boy evacuated from East London finds himself at a gracious country home where his path collides with the owner's family in ways that detectives in the 1990s start to gradually untangle. The story glides between past and present and without giving away too much, I will simply say that it is haunting and generally well done.
In this series, we also see Gemma at a crossroads as she must choose between her budding relationship with Duncan, or perhaps a chance with a different suitor. In addition, we see Duncan in the very familiar struggle to balance his desire to spend time with his long-lost son versus the demands of his job. While the personal stories of the leads take something of a back seat to the investigation in this installment, I still enjoyed seeing that side of the larger story arc moving forward. The last book in this series didn't work for me, but this mystery was quite well done and I definitely enjoyed it.
cw:a few homophobic remarks(mostly countered), description of sexual assault against an adolescent character
The best books in this series have an almost haunting quality to them, and that was definitely present in this installment. The killing of a tea company executive in East London at first appears to be a tragic murder, but as Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James start to dig into the crime, they start finding threads of older, unsolved mysteries rooted further in the past.
The modern-day investigation in this matter is interpersed with scenes from WWII. A young boy evacuated from East London finds himself at a gracious country home where his path collides with the owner's family in ways that detectives in the 1990s start to gradually untangle. The story glides between past and present and without giving away too much, I will simply say that it is haunting and generally well done.
In this series, we also see Gemma at a crossroads as she must choose between her budding relationship with Duncan, or perhaps a chance with a different suitor. In addition, we see Duncan in the very familiar struggle to balance his desire to spend time with his long-lost son versus the demands of his job. While the personal stories of the leads take something of a back seat to the investigation in this installment, I still enjoyed seeing that side of the larger story arc moving forward. The last book in this series didn't work for me, but this mystery was quite well done and I definitely enjoyed it.
cw:a few homophobic remarks(mostly countered), description of sexual assault against an adolescent character
September 18, 2012
I just love Deborah Crombie's series about Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James!!!
Duncan and Gemma work for Scotland yard. He is her superintendent and she is his sergeant. Gemma is a single mom of 3 year old Toby. Her husband abandoned them when Toby was born and then later disappeared so he is not even paying child support. Duncan had been divorced for 12 years from Victoria who had just run off on him and then married Ian, an academic. She was murdered in the last book and Duncan discovered that her 11 year old son Kit is really his. She had tried to pass him off as Ian's but he is the spitting image of Duncan and was born in a time range that meant he was conceived when Victoria was still with Duncan.
In this book, Duncan is trying to build a relationship with Kit and has the boy visiting him but has to let the child down repeatedly due to a new murder case. He spills the beans to the horrified child that he is his real father and that Ian, who ran off with a sexy grad student, was not. To make matters worse, Ian's grad student dumps him and he decides to just walk back in and be daddy as if nothing happened.
A man walking a dog finds Annabelle Hammond, the young managing director of Hammond Teas, murdered in the park. Oddly enough, her clothes were arranged in a way to keep her modestly covered.
So who did it? There are a lot of options. Annabelle was a beautiful, selfish, and ruthless woman. After her mother died of cancer, she had an affair with her brother in law which broke up her sister's marriage. Did the brother in law who hates her for breaking up with him and telling her sister which cost him his home and kids kill her? Did her sister Jo? How about the much cheated on co-worker and fiance she broke it off with Reg? Or was co-worker Teresa jealous of her and Reg and decide to bump her off to get Reg? How about her father's old friend from childhood Lewis who she had an affair with or his son Gordon, a busker, who she also had an affair with. In fact, who the hell has this bimbo and user not had an affair with?
Everyone from her dad, fiancee, lovers, sisters, and others have a motive and few alibis. Part of the answer lies in the back story, interwoven in with the modern day action, that tells the story of Annabelle's dad and Lewis when they spent 2 1/2 years as kids during WW2 sent away from London for their own safety. These childhood roots have reached to the modern day to strangle the life from Annabelle.
I honestly suspected almost everyone- including Janice, the local cop who resented Duncan and Gemma being sent in on her case. The guilty party is actually the one I didn't suspect! There is an odd little thing that goes on with Gemma and the basker Gordon and I wonder why Deborah Crombie insists on putting these weird attractions for no reason in her stories.
Duncan and Gemma work for Scotland yard. He is her superintendent and she is his sergeant. Gemma is a single mom of 3 year old Toby. Her husband abandoned them when Toby was born and then later disappeared so he is not even paying child support. Duncan had been divorced for 12 years from Victoria who had just run off on him and then married Ian, an academic. She was murdered in the last book and Duncan discovered that her 11 year old son Kit is really his. She had tried to pass him off as Ian's but he is the spitting image of Duncan and was born in a time range that meant he was conceived when Victoria was still with Duncan.
In this book, Duncan is trying to build a relationship with Kit and has the boy visiting him but has to let the child down repeatedly due to a new murder case. He spills the beans to the horrified child that he is his real father and that Ian, who ran off with a sexy grad student, was not. To make matters worse, Ian's grad student dumps him and he decides to just walk back in and be daddy as if nothing happened.
A man walking a dog finds Annabelle Hammond, the young managing director of Hammond Teas, murdered in the park. Oddly enough, her clothes were arranged in a way to keep her modestly covered.
So who did it? There are a lot of options. Annabelle was a beautiful, selfish, and ruthless woman. After her mother died of cancer, she had an affair with her brother in law which broke up her sister's marriage. Did the brother in law who hates her for breaking up with him and telling her sister which cost him his home and kids kill her? Did her sister Jo? How about the much cheated on co-worker and fiance she broke it off with Reg? Or was co-worker Teresa jealous of her and Reg and decide to bump her off to get Reg? How about her father's old friend from childhood Lewis who she had an affair with or his son Gordon, a busker, who she also had an affair with. In fact, who the hell has this bimbo and user not had an affair with?
Everyone from her dad, fiancee, lovers, sisters, and others have a motive and few alibis. Part of the answer lies in the back story, interwoven in with the modern day action, that tells the story of Annabelle's dad and Lewis when they spent 2 1/2 years as kids during WW2 sent away from London for their own safety. These childhood roots have reached to the modern day to strangle the life from Annabelle.
I honestly suspected almost everyone- including Janice, the local cop who resented Duncan and Gemma being sent in on her case. The guilty party is actually the one I didn't suspect! There is an odd little thing that goes on with Gemma and the basker Gordon and I wonder why Deborah Crombie insists on putting these weird attractions for no reason in her stories.
March 20, 2015
This series is a very interesting series, but the last couple have been so depressing that I haven't wanted to get started on the next right away. Detective Superindendent Duncan Kincaid and his Seageant, and girlfriend, Gemma James have been assigned to solve the murder of a beautiful girl who is the owner and manager of a tea business called Hammonds. This case is a strain on Duncan and Gemma's relationship and to solve this case they have to go back in time to the war to find the motives for murder. I had a hard time understanding Gemma's motivation and behavior in this story. It seemed very out of character for her. She wants to find something to call her very own, that no one else has a part of but yet she has done this all her life. She didn't go into her parents business and she has always follwed her own path against her parent's wishes, especially when she became a police officer. So I didn't understand why she seemed so unahppy in this book. Her behavior and motivation was not clear to me and I have always loved Gemma's character until this book, where I thought she became a little needy and that is why I rated it so low. Her character was not the same. It was an interesting story, but it is hard for me to be motivated to read the next when they are all so sad. You really have to be in the right mood. I however did learn a lot about tea.
December 20, 2016
I have been working my way through this series and have enjoyed all of the books so far. This one perhaps a little less than the others--I think the murderer in this case is a lot harder to accept, perhaps a motive that is much less believable than in the other books. I also did not feel the flirtation with a suspect made a lot of sense, given the weak premise on which is was based. But I did enjoy reading the older story woven in, with the impact on the children of WWII. Overall, a good book, but a little less engrossing that previous ones in the series.
November 26, 2017
I’ve been enjoying this series for the most part. I’ve been listening to it on audiobook and preferred the initial male narrator as Jenny Sterlin’s voice grates. This particular book was overly convoluted and the parallel history and current story felt very forced. The backstory was weak and very flawed. Despite the excessive detail in the backstory, it failed to provide sufficient reason and motivation for the current story. This book could have used some serious editing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2017
Another great Kincaid / James episode. Maybe my favourite so far. I liked the flashbacks into WWII with evacuee children, although usually, I don't like too many flashbacks. And I loved the encounter with one of the recurrent secondary character in the series, the clarinet playing busker.
Looking forward to more of the series.
Looking forward to more of the series.
February 7, 2022
A very worthy addition to these English murder mysteries by a Texan--Deborah Crombie. Each is set in a different carefully described locale--this one on the Isle of Dogs across the Thames from Greenwich. I would advise reading the hardback version which has a very useful map of the area; the tiny reproduction on Kindle is useless. Here we have a generations-old tea import and blending company, falling on hard times. Much fascinating lore about the history of tea, how it is picked, dried, and blended, and how to prepare and serve it (milk in first!). A beautiful woman is murdered, and acquaintances differ widely over exactly what kind of person she was. Secrets, only very gradually revealed, go all the way back to a couple of young boys evacuated from London to a country house during the blitz. It all turns out far more complicated than I expected, but Crombie keeps it clear and surprising to the very end. As usual, the novel is all about characters and how they interact, and is entirely believable.
August 23, 2018
Another good mystery in the Kincaid and James series. The crime is connected to the evacuation of children from London during World War II and there are a number of flashbacks to that era throughout this book. It helped me realize how truly devastating that war was in Britain where bombs were regularly killing civilians and all were preparing for an imminent invasion. It also reveals how insults and trauma experienced in childhood are carried internally throughout life...and can lead to murderous consequences.
October 17, 2022
Maybe even better than Dreaming of the Bones. I loved the WWII back story and the setting on/historical tidbits about the Isle of Dogs. The family tea business plot point was an added bonus.
June 17, 2024
I liked learning about the Isle of Dogs, where this mystery is set.
March 21, 2020
This is the 6th Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery and they have gotten progressively better. This book was excellently well written and weaves the past and present into a intricate murder mystery, whose ending I did not see coming. The descriptions of East London and the docks really bring the area to life.
June 17, 2020
Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie is the 6th book of the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James police procedural mystery series set in contemporary London with flashbacks to WWII in London and Surrey. Annabelle Hammond was a beautiful woman, head of her family business, Hammond's Teas, on the Isle of Dogs. After she's murdered, finding her killer proves a difficult puzzle for Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Sergeant Gemma James.
Annabelle was engaged to Reg Mortimer, who served on the board at Hammond's Teas along with his father Peter, Annabelle's father William, and their Chief Financial Officer Teresa. On the night of her death, Annabelle and Reg had quarreled and abruptly left a dinner party at her sister Jo's. When questioned by police, Reg and Jo at first try to hide the true nature of the quarrel. Walking through a tunnel, Annabelle stopped to speak with a busker (musician). Reg tries at first to trivialize that encounter and deny Annabelle knew the man (Gordon Finch). Gordon and his father Lewis did know Annabelle. But Gordon and Annabelle did not know that Lewis and William Hammond had spent years together in the countryside during WWII.
When Lewis's older brothers enlisted, his parents sent Lewis away to the countryside for his safety, along with many other children who were evacuated from London's East End. Lewis and William grew up together at William's great-aunt Edwina's estate in Surrey. Lewis Finch survived the war and returned to become a successful developer in Docklands. William's daughter Jo didn't know why her father had turned away from Lewis, just assumed they had a feud of some kind.
Rejecting his father's successes revitalizing and rebuilding Docklands, Gordon lived simply, making a just-enough living by playing a clarinet as a busker (street musician). Gemma is startled to recognize Gordon is the busker she used to enjoy listening to on her lunch breaks in Islington. Their mutual attraction leads Gordon to open up personally, and provide Gemma a richer understanding of his relationship with Annabelle. Likewise, Gemma's empathy for the challenges Jo faces as a divorced parent enables her to eventually learn the truth from Jo about Annabelle's and Reg's argument.
All through the series we've seen how Gemma struggles as a single parent to balance her career with caring for her young son Toby. Now it's Duncan's turn to experience the guilt when he puts work first, breaks commitments to newfound son Kit, and destroys the fragile trust they had built.
Chapters alternate between Duncan and Gemma's actions to find a murderer, and gradual unfolding of decades-past events that changed William and Lewis forever. Well-paced breakthroughs in the investigation add layers of complexity, with the deepest and richest character development yet in the series. For best enjoyment and full understanding of Duncan's and Gemma's backstories, definitely read this series in order.
Annabelle was engaged to Reg Mortimer, who served on the board at Hammond's Teas along with his father Peter, Annabelle's father William, and their Chief Financial Officer Teresa. On the night of her death, Annabelle and Reg had quarreled and abruptly left a dinner party at her sister Jo's. When questioned by police, Reg and Jo at first try to hide the true nature of the quarrel. Walking through a tunnel, Annabelle stopped to speak with a busker (musician). Reg tries at first to trivialize that encounter and deny Annabelle knew the man (Gordon Finch). Gordon and his father Lewis did know Annabelle. But Gordon and Annabelle did not know that Lewis and William Hammond had spent years together in the countryside during WWII.
When Lewis's older brothers enlisted, his parents sent Lewis away to the countryside for his safety, along with many other children who were evacuated from London's East End. Lewis and William grew up together at William's great-aunt Edwina's estate in Surrey. Lewis Finch survived the war and returned to become a successful developer in Docklands. William's daughter Jo didn't know why her father had turned away from Lewis, just assumed they had a feud of some kind.
Rejecting his father's successes revitalizing and rebuilding Docklands, Gordon lived simply, making a just-enough living by playing a clarinet as a busker (street musician). Gemma is startled to recognize Gordon is the busker she used to enjoy listening to on her lunch breaks in Islington. Their mutual attraction leads Gordon to open up personally, and provide Gemma a richer understanding of his relationship with Annabelle. Likewise, Gemma's empathy for the challenges Jo faces as a divorced parent enables her to eventually learn the truth from Jo about Annabelle's and Reg's argument.
All through the series we've seen how Gemma struggles as a single parent to balance her career with caring for her young son Toby. Now it's Duncan's turn to experience the guilt when he puts work first, breaks commitments to newfound son Kit, and destroys the fragile trust they had built.
Chapters alternate between Duncan and Gemma's actions to find a murderer, and gradual unfolding of decades-past events that changed William and Lewis forever. Well-paced breakthroughs in the investigation add layers of complexity, with the deepest and richest character development yet in the series. For best enjoyment and full understanding of Duncan's and Gemma's backstories, definitely read this series in order.
February 26, 2016
I made the mistake of beginning this without realising that I had not yet read its predecessor - which is rather crucial! Luckily I stopped and read the 5th volume before returning to this sixth episode in the Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James series. I'm so glad I did, because it explained too much for 'Kissed a Sad Goodbye' to stand alone. If anything, the fifth book enhances the sixth.
There is quite a complex weaving together of two different stories and two time periods (one set in WWII) here, and initially there are many characters to absorb. There are also sections at the beginning of each chapter devoted to the history of Docklands / Isle of Dogs, the London setting of the book, and I found it easier to stop reading these because they simply added to the confusion - and I wasn't interested anyway!
I ended up enjoying both stories, sometimes frustrated by the switch between the two, but always wanting to know the outcome.
I give the book four and a half stars. Would I read it again? Yes. I would also recommend, but only as part of the series!
There is quite a complex weaving together of two different stories and two time periods (one set in WWII) here, and initially there are many characters to absorb. There are also sections at the beginning of each chapter devoted to the history of Docklands / Isle of Dogs, the London setting of the book, and I found it easier to stop reading these because they simply added to the confusion - and I wasn't interested anyway!
I ended up enjoying both stories, sometimes frustrated by the switch between the two, but always wanting to know the outcome.
I give the book four and a half stars. Would I read it again? Yes. I would also recommend, but only as part of the series!
January 16, 2023
Pros: Multiple POV and multiple timelines
Cons: Main characters with no sense of proper boundaries between each other or with suspects
The mysteries in this series are solid and often have a deep backstory that is unwound as the murder at hand is investigated. They are well paced and the audio books are well narrated. But woo boy these two main characters are head scratchers to me. I still don’t understand how these two are in a relationship and she continues to report to him at Scotland Yard.
Pros: Strong female characters
Cons: One of whom is the victim whose sex life is a main plot point
Why is it such a common trope for the female victim to be 1) a stunning beauty who illuminated every room she entered, 2) a brilliant and occasionally cutthroat businesswoman, and 3) a sexually liberated adult who is mourned because of #1, demonized for #2 and #3, and whose death had practically zero to do with any of these things that were delved into ad nauseam?
I have a love/hate relationship with this genre and this series in particular.
Cons: Main characters with no sense of proper boundaries between each other or with suspects
The mysteries in this series are solid and often have a deep backstory that is unwound as the murder at hand is investigated. They are well paced and the audio books are well narrated. But woo boy these two main characters are head scratchers to me. I still don’t understand how these two are in a relationship and she continues to report to him at Scotland Yard.
Pros: Strong female characters
Cons: One of whom is the victim whose sex life is a main plot point
Why is it such a common trope for the female victim to be 1) a stunning beauty who illuminated every room she entered, 2) a brilliant and occasionally cutthroat businesswoman, and 3) a sexually liberated adult who is mourned because of #1, demonized for #2 and #3, and whose death had practically zero to do with any of these things that were delved into ad nauseam?
I have a love/hate relationship with this genre and this series in particular.
July 14, 2025
I absolutely hated the first third of the book and was tempted to put it aside, but I forged ahead and it did improve. I would give the first third of the book zero stars if that was possible and the last two thirds three to four stars. I found the constant "flipping time periods" to be highly distracting, making it hard to figure out who was who, especially in the early part of the book. I enjoyed the first five books in the series, so I will try one more book, but if it contains the same "time shifting viewpoints", it may be the end of the series for me.
March 18, 2024
I think I could like Kincaid and Gemma.
However I found the treatment of their children awkward, and this plot clunky and dragged out with way too much often irrelevant or unnecessary information about too many characters.
The backstory from World War II, dribbled in here and there, was the most annoying part of all. The resolution had a few red herrings tossed into that backstory that clinched my dislike of the book.
I finished it, but won’t be lining up for another Deborah Crombie book in the near future.
However I found the treatment of their children awkward, and this plot clunky and dragged out with way too much often irrelevant or unnecessary information about too many characters.
The backstory from World War II, dribbled in here and there, was the most annoying part of all. The resolution had a few red herrings tossed into that backstory that clinched my dislike of the book.
I finished it, but won’t be lining up for another Deborah Crombie book in the near future.
October 26, 2016
Another great book in the series. I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks to WWII-era England through the eyes of a young evacuee from London.
Note: I could not find an audio version of this at any library, so I read the ebook version in order to continue on with the series. This is not a series where you can skip a book; each one advances the interpersonal plot between Duncan and Gemma, as well as adding to their individual character development.
Note: I could not find an audio version of this at any library, so I read the ebook version in order to continue on with the series. This is not a series where you can skip a book; each one advances the interpersonal plot between Duncan and Gemma, as well as adding to their individual character development.
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