A Finer End by Deborah Crombie

I ordinarily wouldn't have read two books by Crombie (or anyone else) back to back, but I spent last evening in the emergency room - and couldn't connect to a wireless network to download the book I was reading on my desktop, so I had to read something that was already on my Kindle. By the way, everyone is going to be fine - even the dogs whose fight sent us to the emergency room.

This one was certainly different. I had read it before, but the parts I remembered, while central to the story in one way, were not really connected to the murders. I remembered the Lost Chant and that it was eventually discovered, but I had managed to forget all the murders and stuff.

I did not remember the supernatural angle at all. It was a complete surprise to me. Nothing like that has appeared in any of her previous novels - at least not in this series. The police investigation still went pretty normally, but the element of mysticism in many forms was an overlay to the whole thing. The artist painting over and over a face that she didn't know - the student of the Old Religion - the communication with the 800-year dead monk. And still the usual suspects - greed, passion, and guilt were fully present in their present-day guises. I suppose that setting the story in Glastonbury may have forced the issue.

The story took longer to coalesce that even the one immediately preceding it. We were fully 25% in before everyone who was introduced in a personal narrative was on the scene and more or less connected. Gemma and Duncan did not seem nearly as central to the story as usual. Of course, they were off their own "patch" or patches, now that Gemma is a full inspector with her own shop to run.

When they finally manage to get married, they will be bringing quite a lot of baggage to the business. There is Gemma's toddler son, Toby, who has been around since the first book. In the second book, Duncan inherits Jasmine's cat, Sid. In the book before this one, Duncan's ex-wife is killed - and he discovers that her eleven year old son, Kit, is actually his. In this one, we get a double. Gemma is pregnant, and finally gets around to telling Duncan - and she inherits a dog, a spaniel named Phoebe. Oh yes, Kit brings with him his dog, Tessa, which he rescued during the chaos and horror of his mother's murder and the investigation. That adds up to a fairly substantial household already. An adolescent, a toddler, an infant to be, two dogs, and a cat - I think they are going to have to find a house.

After the awful Americans in the Elizabeth George story, I was looking for references to Americans in this one, since Crombie, too, is an American writing in a British setting. There was one, but he was charming and slightly eccentric with a frequently mentioned hint of a Texas accent. Appropriate, considering that Crombie herself is a Texan.