The Sound of Broken Glass

A James and Kincaid Novel, Book 15

By: Deborah Crombie

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

In the past...

On a blisteringly hot August afternoon in Crystal Palace, once home to the tragically destroyed Great Exhibition, a solitary 13-year-old boy meets his next-door neighbor, a recently widowed young teacher hoping to make a new start in the tight-knit South London community. Drawn together by loneliness, the unlikely pair forms a deep connection that ends in a shattering act of betrayal.

In the present...

On a cold January morning in London, Detective Inspector Gemma James is back on the job now that her husband, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, is at home to care for their three-year-old foster daughter. Assigned to lead a murder-investigation team in South London, she's assisted by her trusted colleague, newly promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot. Their first case: a crime scene at a seedy hotel in Crystal Palace. The victim: a well-respected barrister, found naked, trussed, and apparently strangled. Is it an unsavory accident or murder? In either case, he was not alone, and Gemma's team must find his companion - a search that takes them into unexpected corners and forces them to contemplate unsettling truths about the weaknesses and passions that lead to murder. Ultimately, they will begin to question everything they think they know about their world and those they trust most.

©2013 Deborah Crombie (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

The Sound of Broken Glass By Deborah Crombie

This is the 15th Novel a James and Kincaid story read by Gerard Doyale .
I truly enjoyed this book, it kept moving along with lots of intrigue and excitment as you are drawn into the daily routines of Gemma and Duncan and their family life. They work so well together solving crimes . There is romance and love abounding as well in these stories can't wait for the next book in the series.
Gerard Doyale is a very good reader as well .

Mystery, History, Human Relationships

Engaging mystery plot with interesting characters tied to a historical context of a whimsically romantic structure defining an area of London that was a bit of inspiration to residents. It's read by a narrator whom I found engaging from the first. Plotting character-driven and realistic. I hated to have it end. I think this would appeal to a wide variety of listeners.

Satisfactory

The narrator lacked a little testosterone for my taste. But he did the various voices pretty well and his diction was clear. The story was OK and the plot was interesting. The characters were also interesting and the dialog was convincing. I can’t rave about it but it was worthwhile, at least.

More Than A "Police Procedural"

To be clear - I enjoy "police procedurals". This book goes beyond that classification.

Several fascinating story lines are woven together over the course of the book. I was intrigued to see how all the characters would eventually fit together. I was surprised and pleased by how the author did it..

I quickly became enthralled in the story and found it difficult to stop listening. The characters were interesting and the mystery had me guessing until the very end.

Narrator Gerard Doyle is superb! He differentiates the various character voices just enough. The changes are distinct, but not distracting.

I look forward to reading more books in this series.

Incredible Storytelling

How much do I love Deborah Crombie's stories? I love how Crombie takes care of all of her characters. Not only do the principals, Gemma and Duncan, advance and change in every book, but each character is impacted in some important way as the series continues. The children are growing, each one developing and changing. Many conditions in Gemma and Duncan's home life revolve around Charlotte's needs in this story.

Much of The Sound of Broken Glass is focused on the two detective sergeants, Melody and Doug. While Doug falls and breaks his ankle, Melody also falls, but in a completely dufferent way. Even the characters who only appear briefly, like Hazel, have something new happening in their lives. And, an incidental character from a previous book reappears, playing a central role. Jumping between two timeframes, we learn about Andy Monahan's back story. Will he become an endearing and lasting character? We'll see.

Expertly read by Gerard Doyle, this is one of my favorite series!!

Characters to care about

I’ve gotten quite hooked on Deborah Crombie books. And Gerard Doyle as narrator does not disappoint. She writes characters you can really care about, and though the devices used to move the story along are sometimes, well, surreal, the outcomes to the cases are always satisfying. I’m on # 16 now and will be quite bereft when there are no more to hear!

Deborah Crombie just cannot write fast enough!

The Sound of Broken Glass continues the story of Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James in a most satisfactory way, this time focusing more on Gemma. I find it hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Crombie's novels so much more satisfying than most others in this genre. Many combine engaging characters with interesting story lines, but somehow Crombie makes hers come alive. I feel as though these fascinating people exist somewhere, doing things of interest that I just cannot wait for Crombie to tell me about. The narrator also does an excellent job, moving easily from one character's voice to another without the disarming jolts that sometimes come from a male voice reading both male and female characters. I am always delighted to see an addition to the series coming out, anxious to listen to it (or read it), and sorry when it ends. If you don't know these books, start at the beginning of the series and give yourself the treat of many hours of engrossing story telling.

Brilliant as always!

This is the third time I've listened to this wonderful complex story. It always sounds as intriguing
as the first time.

Always an Interesting and surprising twist.

Truly love the build of the story line, with subplots, and sub stories. Our narrator is truly fabulous. And the end like all the others has a twist, making us excited for the next book.

Excellent addition to a consistently good series

Would you consider the audio edition of The Sound of Broken Glass to be better than the print version?

Don't know--have read all the ones before this, and this is the first I've listened to. I'd be just as happy to read them or listen to them.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

I would not say it was edge of the seat, but the plot was one that was very intriguing! Crombie wrote this on several entwined levels. She interspersed the history--and ultimate destruction--of the Crystal Palace in London in and out of the back story of characters whose lives had connected such, that over time, a form of destruction which had been building among them was almost inevitable.

In this unfolding--one witnesses the connections and ultimate destruction of a set of people whose lives came together seemingly by chance--but who would remain emotionally connected for many years into the future (that is, the present day). Which, of course, is when the mystery is taking place.

What I especially liked was the way the three layers of story moved in and out leading the reader to the conclusion--along with Gemma, Melody (and Kincaid--though he was more involved in their personal story than as a detective in this book) to the ultimate end. And it was more than just solving a mystery--it was an ending that brought all the pieces of the earlier story together and brought their connections to a different place as well.

What does Gerard Doyle bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

At first I couldn't decide--he has a nice warm, mellow sort of voice--one that almost lulled me rather than evoking that kind of inner excitement that goes with a good mystery. By the end of the book, however, I felt that his voice and his reading had been a very good choice. Because it was perfect for the revelation (as the back story) of the lives of very flawed people who had found each other (for good, for bad, for disaster) and become inextricably connected to each other--something told with the sound of great compassion (even for those who proved to be less than likable).

Any additional comments?

I felt that there were several less prominent issues in the story of the lives of Gemma and Kincaid that were left unfinished--or that of some of the people around them. But I assume we can look forward to learning more about all that in the next book--which I await with pleasure!

This writer has done a very good job of creating good mysteries and weaving in credible and engaging stories of the main characters--that stand on their own merits. Some mysteries seem to have background asides of the main characters' lives as sort of "filler" material. But a few do a wonderful job of making the reader feel really connected to them as people who live lives apart from their detecting--and one wants to read the next book just to find out what is happening there.