IN A DARK HOUSE
Deborah Crombie, . . Morrow, $23.95 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-06-052525-5
A serial arsonist nutter is on the loose in London in Crombie's assured 10th book starring Scotland Yard Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid and his lover/partner Det. Insp. Gemma James. When a nude, charred female corpse turns up in a burned warehouse, the police discover that the unidentified victim, one of four possible women, was murdered beforehand. Duncan and Gemma also look into the abduction of 10-year-old Harriet Novak, a pawn in her parents' ongoing acrimonious divorce. As the investigation by both fire officials and police evolves, it becomes clear that the abduction is connected to the murder. Young, eager firefighter Rose Kearny, who found the body in the burning building, works the case on her own and comes up with a theory that may explain the arsonist's unusual motive. Fanny Liu, confined to a wheelchair, fears the worst when her roommate goes missing, and a nearby home for battered women apparently connects several aspects of the case. It's a web of gossamer-thin clues that police, under the patient Superintendent Kincaid, work to untangle as they race against time to find the imperiled Harriet. Myriad subplots that have accrued from past entries slow the action in places, but Duncan and Gemma are such interesting and attractive characters that few readers will mind.
Reviewed on: 10/04/2004
Genre: Fiction
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-0-7927-3341-6
Compact Disc - 978-1-4815-1927-4
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-7927-4414-6
Hardcover - 431 pages - 978-1-58547-562-9
Hardcover - 435 pages - 978-1-4050-3441-8
MP3 CD - 978-1-4815-1926-7
Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-06-052526-2
Open Ebook - 400 pages - 978-0-330-53030-9
Open Ebook - 384 pages - 978-0-06-135471-7
Other - 384 pages - 978-0-06-182970-3
Other - 384 pages - 978-0-06-135476-2
Paperback - 448 pages - 978-1-4050-5484-3
Paperback - 450 pages - 978-1-4472-7293-9
Peanut Press/Palm Reader - 384 pages - 978-0-06-135474-8
