In a Dark House

The Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Mystery Series, Book 10

By: Deborah Crombie

Narrated by: Michael Deehy

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Superintendent Duncan Kincaid is called to investigate the shocking death of a woman found burned beyond recognition in a Victorian warehouse in south London. When his lover and partner, Gemma James, is asked to trace a friend's missing roommate, she and Duncan discover that their cases have several disturbing links.

Set against a backdrop of Dickensian Southwark, repository of old secrets, the case plunges Duncan and Gemma into the dark recesses of human relationships. Two women are missing, a little girl is abducted, and no one is really what they seem. The detectives must discover the truth, as innocent lives hang in the balance.

Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.

©2009 Deborah Crombie (P)2018 Blackstone Publishing

4

A good read for a winter weekend. I like thus author's
work. It is interesting, intelligent with great characters. The narrator of this one is excellent.

Excellent Series

I love this series. This story combines a satisfying balance of police procedural, mystery, interesting characters and a sense of place.
Narrator Michael Deehy is excellent!

I Just Don’t Understand All the 5 Star Reviews

I chose this book based on the numerous 5 Star reviews. I love mystery novels but this one fell so flat & boring for me that I threw in the towel during the fourth chapter. I just couldn’t imagine wasting 9 more hours on this. The narrator made every boring line sound so urgent.
I listen to an average of three books a week. I’m certain I’ll find a much better book to spend the hours with. This book was free from the Plus Catalog & still wasn’t worth it!

Good story

The story is engaging, but it is rather slow to unfold. I drifted off a bit with some scenes.

Short story

Duncan and Gemma and a host of interesting characters make this a good read. All the different story lines were confusing at first until they finally were connected. Can't help but feel sorry for Kit who gets a raw deal every time but it has to be difficult juggling a job as demanding as theirs as well as raising a family....a struggle all working parents face.

Not quite as good as her other stories

It held my interest enough to get to the end. I really enjoy her books but this storyline was just ok. Performance was excellent.

Good story terrible character flaws

Kincaid and James should not be raising children. Is Inspecter Kincaid the only policeman in England? Missing the hearing....really. Plus, missing persons beware in England, the police sound inept. Murders take precedence in these stories over saving people. I could give Kincaid some clues on what to do. A frustrating read.

One of the best!

This novel is one of Deborah Crombie’s best!! I highly recommend it for the writing and excellent interwoven story!

Entertaining and interesting setting

Set in the Charles Dickens section of London. It was Interesting and entertaining detective story.

Loved it!

Great twists and parallel plots. Satisfying ending and not predictable throughout. I love all of these!

Confusing

For me, there were too many characters that the book jumped between and l found that rather confusing. The story was interesting though, but the Americanisms were annoying - normalcy instead of normality and fit instead of fitted etc. I thought the narrator was good.

A book with split personality - or poor editing

The story was interesting with threads that were well-intertwined. The grating things were, as far too frequently, the Americanisation of English settings. This meant we were ‘treated’ to words like ‘normalcy’, fire house, night stand and play yard. (What British school EVER had a play yard?) The ironic thing about that though, was that the erasing of British English slipped during the book back into fire station and normality - in both senses.
The narrator was mostly good - except for some inflections that sounded almost Australian at times, and that messed with my concentration from time to time. Overall, the book was reasonably worth the time to listen to.

Interesting story

An interesting story, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t get on with the narrator.

To me, his voice seemed at times almost computer generated.

Listened to the end regardless as I got more used to it.

Included in plus catalogue, so I lost nothing by listening.

Interesting story well narrated

A few small discrepancies caused a bit of confusion but it didn’t spoil the story. It was an interesting story from an interesting view point and I loved the historical angle. Add a bit of nostalgia as the London described is very much diminished now and replaced by modern buildings during the boom times. Hopeful what’s left can be preserved and brought back to life for future generations to enjoy. I’m curious about more books now from the author but only very few are available in the UK audio and with different narrators. I’m not yet convinced as I enjoyed the male narrator far more than the various female ones. They are not bad though so should not deter the listener to go on with the series as the stories in the newer instalments are quite interesting so better not missing out on the enjoyment.

An interesting read

This book had a good pace to it. Kept me interested throughout. Good characters and good plot.

Good listen

Not perfect but an interesting plot involving arson and murder - well narrated. I will look out for more from the author.