And Justice There Is None [マスマーケット]

The plot for this book involves events from the 60s, and periodically the present day story will be interrupted by pages telling another story from the past. Of course by the end of the book, you understand why that 60s story explains these current day murders, but it takes a long while to put 2 and 2 together. A young woman, pregnant with her lover's child, is found savagely murdered in the driveway to her upper class home in Notting Hill, a trendy London neighborhood. The woman's disreputable antique-dealer husband is the obvious suspect -- perhaps too obvious. Gemma James is in charge of the murder investigation, but since there is a possible connection to a murder being investigated by Duncan Kincaid, these two (now living together but no longer working together) end up working together again on this case. Perhaps the same person who killed another woman two months previously -- a case Kincaid was in charge of -- also killed this Notting Hill woman, since the method was so similar. But what is the connection and why were they killed?

There are a lot of unusual neighborhood characters, including a couple of veterinarians and a man who feeds the homeless.

Although I guessed the killer about half-way through the book (based not on clues but on a shrewd guess based on my knowledge of mysteries in general), it didn't diminish from my enjoyment of the book. I used to think Deborah Crombie was almost as good as Elizabeth George, but now I think Elizabeth George is almost as good as Deborah Crombie.

The first murder victim, Notting Hill resident Dawn Arrowsmith, is also pregnant with her lover's baby; her husband, wealthy antique dealer Karl, had a vasectomy years ago.(Those readers who saw the Julia Roberts/Hugh Grant film, "Notting Hill", can easily visualize the gentrified neighborhood.)

As usual with Crombie's work, the plot quickly thickens and the reader's interest will intensify accordingly. Several mother/child relationships are uncovered as Gemma pursues the killer. (I wonder if Crombie herself was pregnant while writing this book. One would think so.)

"And Justice There is None" is a mystery done up to perfection, including authentic British-English (Car Park for parking lot, Inland Revenue for IRS, mobile for cell phone, and so on) despite the fact that Crombie lives in Texas. Recommended.

Crombie brings a whole array of characters to vivid life in this novel. There is Dawn's husband, Karl, an antiques dealer who has tried to forget his humble beginnings, and who now behaves with ruthless arrogance. Dawn's lover, Alex, is also an antiques dealer, but, unlike Karl, he is extremely sensitive and emotional. Also figuring in the complicated plot is Angel, a mysterious woman who descends into poverty and hopelessness when her parents die. Suddenly, a handsome man who pretends to be her savior rescues her, but Angel finds out that her rescuer is not the man that he appears to be. All of these people are inextricably bound together, and only by understanding how these and other lives have interconnected in the past, can Duncan and Gemma get to the bottom of the murders. In addition, Duncan's and Gemma's relationship is strained not only by the challenging homicide investigation, but also by the impending changes in their domestic arrangements.

"And Justice There is None," is a deeply felt psychological novel that deals with the nature of true love and commitment, as opposed to relationships based on infatuation and manipulation. Crombie also explores one of the favorite themes of mystery writers, namely how the secrets of the past come back to haunt people many years later. This is a well-written and intricate mystery that will enthrall Crombie's fans and leave them eager for the next novel in the series.