{"id":965,"date":"2013-04-01T17:37:54","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T23:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=965"},"modified":"2013-04-01T17:37:54","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T23:37:54","slug":"deborah-crombie-the-sound-of-broken-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/deborah-crombie-the-sound-of-broken-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"Deborah Crombie: The Sound of Broken Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deborah Crombie\u2019s new novel explores the world of music and the limits of friendship. Set in the neighborhood of London known as the \u201cCrystal Palace,\u201d after the legendary and long ago burned down icon of Victorian progress, the neighborhood itself is not so legendary.\u00a0 It\u2019s instead a bit gritty, and in the past it\u2019s home to a miserable 13 year old boy who is looking out for his alcoholic mother, learning to play the guitar, and being befriended by his next door neighbor, an \u201colder\u201d woman who seems exotic to him.\u00a0 The woman, Nadine, often shares her dinner with him, sensing he\u2019s hungry; it\u2019s the first time an adult has looked out for him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fast forward to the future, and Gemma James is on the trail of the killer of a local barrister who is found trussed up and strangled in a seedy hotel.\u00a0 Her husband Duncan is still on stay at home dad duty with their new foster daughter, Charlotte, but he\u2019s more or less itching to get back to work.\u00a0 As Crombie has gotten Gemma and Duncan happily married, she\u2019s still brought interesting tension to their relationship by having them divide child care duties.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the miserable 13 year old of the past has grown into a real musician, and his path intersects with Gemma\u2019s investigation and with her second in command, Melody, at several points.\u00a0 While I never for a minute thought the grown up Andy was involved in the crimes Gemma is investigating, he still has an uncomfortable proximity that has to be explained.<\/p>\n

Crombie is truly excellent at several things.\u00a0 One of them is creating fully realized characters who are so appealing and interesting you want to know more about them.\u00a0 That\u2019s certainly the sign of a skillful storyteller.\u00a0 The other thing she\u2019s excellent at is telling a true mystery story, with connections that aren\u2019t clear, clues, and red herrings.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also interested in exploring a theme in each novel \u2013 this one seems to be about the limits of friendship.\u00a0 What happens when betrayal or even simple disappointment enters the mix?\u00a0 How far do you go for your friends and family?\u00a0 What ripple effects to family members have on one another?\u00a0 All of these themes are being worked through as Crombie tells another mesmerizing mystery story.\u00a0 She\u2019s definitely one of the very best crime writers at work at the moment, carrying on a legacy established by the likes of Ruth Rendell, P.D. James, and Elizabeth George.\u00a0 While those writers may no longer be at their peak, Crombie is.\u00a0 Long may the streak continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deborah Crombie\u2019s new novel explores the world of music and the limits of friendship. Set in the neighborhood of London known as the \u201cCrystal Palace,\u201d after the legendary and long ago burned down icon of Victorian progress, the neighborhood itself is not so legendary.\u00a0 It\u2019s instead a bit gritty, and in the past it\u2019s home … 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],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-british"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","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=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}