{"id":37,"date":"2011-12-27T23:50:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-28T05:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=37"},"modified":"2011-12-28T13:24:13","modified_gmt":"2011-12-28T19:24:13","slug":"deborah-crombie-no-mark-upon-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/deborah-crombie-no-mark-upon-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Deborah Crombie: No Mark Upon Her"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deborah Crombie\u2019s skills as a sophisticated novelist have only increased over time.\u00a0 What began as a standard, though excellent, police series based in London, has evolved into a series that\u2019s richly populated with detailed, complex characters, vivid settings, and themes.\u00a0 She\u2019s neck and neck with authors like P.D. James and Elizabeth George, though she doesn\u2019t share their sometimes completely bleak viewpoint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Deborah Crombie also often highlights something interesting about England in each book \u2013 in this novel, she\u2019s chosen sculling, and the Oxford University rowing culture.\u00a0 Her victim is a cop who had Olympic aspirations \u2013 Becca Meredith \u2013 and who has been contemplating a last shot at the Games.\u00a0 She\u2019s last seen out with her boat, and her ex-husband gets worried about her.<\/p>\n

Like any truly gifted novelist, Crombie understands that the way to get a reader fully invested in a murder mystery is to make the victim come to life, warts and all.\u00a0 While Becca is described as intense and overly focused (as might be expected from an Olympic caliber athlete) all of her colleagues describe her as fair minded, and her ex seems to be truly grieving for her.<\/p>\n

While this is a wonderful setup, what makes Crombie special is her skill at addressing a theme and weaving it through the story.\u00a0 This book concerns itself with power and ambition in all it\u2019s many forms.\u00a0 She raises the question \u2013 how far is too far?\u00a0 How focused is too focused \u2013 where does it turn to obsession?\u00a0 Many of the characters have obsessions of one kind or another.\u00a0 She adds to the scenario by folding in the story of a serial rapist, which also, of course, is about power and control.<\/p>\n

Crombie has a very appealing set of regular characters in the now family of Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, married at the end of the last book, and now the adoptive parents (as well as parents of two other children) of a three year old girl, Charlotte.\u00a0 Gemma and Duncan, unlike many contemporary mystery detectives, are not full of angst (except for the angst that comes with leading a full and busy life), but are instead balanced and sane and at the same time not dull.\u00a0 They\u2019re the anchors to the story.<\/p>\n

None of the parts are separate, but tied seamlessly together, and Crombie truly brings to life the rowing culture, illustrating many of her points though a skillful use of epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter.\u00a0 As the novel gets towards the end, it\u2019s also a page turner.\u00a0 This author is one I look forward to reading without fail, and one who has never disappointed me yet.\u00a0 This is another strong entry in a wonderful and vivid series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deborah Crombie\u2019s skills as a sophisticated novelist have only increased over time.\u00a0 What began as a standard, though excellent, police series based in London, has evolved into a series that\u2019s richly populated with detailed, complex characters, vivid settings, and themes.\u00a0 She\u2019s neck and neck with authors like P.D. James and Elizabeth George, though she doesn\u2019t … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,7],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british","tag-p-i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}