No Mark upon Her (Duncan Kincaid / Gemma James Book 14)

I’ve been drawn into these books based on a friend’s recommendation and each one is a gem. Great characters, who have flaws but seem like people I would want to know. Great plots where the information needed doesn’t magically appear but builds up throughout the books. Many have well done maps that bring London and the UK environs to life. Highly recommend but be warned, you’ll not be able to stop after one book.

You would be hard pressed to find an author who can create such a tightly plotted and richly detailed mystery than Deb Crombie. No Mark Upon Her is another hit by this fantastic author showing that she's still got plenty of ideas left in her bag of tricks for Duncan, Gemma and company as well as the skills to pull them off.Each one of her novels holds a different flavor. This time she combines her well thought out and well told police procedures along with K9 rescue teams and the cherished heritage of the sport of rowing. When Becca Meredith, a one time olympic hopeful rower and senior officer at the MET, is found drown in her boat on the banks of the Thames its up to Duncan to find out who the murdered is and why she was killed. What follows is a finely spun and intricately detailed mystery with many twists and turns, suspects and subplots.Crombie is a MASTER at dropping clues every so often that make total sense in the end without giving away the culprit. No detail is insignificant in a Crombie novel.Crombie is also a master of fleshing out and giving life to the supporting characters. From the victim to her ex husband to the K9 unit that perform the search and rescue, everyone has their back story and everyone is interesting and fun to read. The usual supporting cast are back as always from Doug Cullen who has his own life changing events going on during the telling as well as Melody Talbot who has found herself missing working for Gemma while she's been out on family leave.Another staple of these novels is the juggling act that Duncan and Gemma have to perform in order to balance their hectic work schedules along with maintaining a semblance of normalcy with their unorthodox family. At the time this story is told, they're in custody of Charlotte, the little three year old they took under their care from the previous novel and Gemma is home on leave that is nearing its end while Duncan is still working. The case complicates matters because Duncan is fighting the case, his schedule and the higher ups at the yard to get it done quickly and quietly while knowing his life is due to change when he is set to take leave from work while Gemma goes back until Charlotte is old enough for pre school. It's the human element, the realism of this type of situation that adds the personal dynamic to all of Crombie's characters and novels. These characters are more than just their jobs. They have lives outside of work and nothing is simple for them (as it is for us all in real life) so there's a vast amount of empathy.I really can't say enough good things about this novel or the series and author as a whole. Her plots, her characters, the way she changes the feel of each and every novel and researches to the point where she can make the reader understand any new subject her story revolves around...well, needless to say she's a favorite for a reason. When an author can write this many novels featuring the same core cast and make you want the next one as soon as you turn that last page, they've got you hooked.If you're reading this and you haven't read any of this series before, I highly encourage you to start at the beginning (A Share in Death) and enjoy the ride. I envy people that haven't read the series yet because they're in for a treat!

This was the first in this series I've read. I liked it quite well and will start now at the beginning and get some background on how the interesting characters came together. Good writing,good plot.

The story begins with the death of a woman -- Rebecca Meredith -- who is both a London police detective and an accomplished rower. She is found dead in the Thames, apparently a drowning accident that occurred while she was out rowing at twilight. Those who know her can't believe the death is an accidental drowning - she is too accomplished -- and sure enough, it turns out to be a murder. Although the murder takes place outside London, in the well-known rowing center of Leander Club in Henley, Duncan becomes involved in investigating the case, and -- to a lesser extent -- Gemma. I probably learned more about competitive rowing than I would have volunteered to learn, but it was presented in a way that was interesting, and it was probably necessary to the story that the reader learn about this sport, so beloved of the British. The suspects include a number of people who knew the victim and had a possible motive -- fellow police staff, an ex-husband, other rowers, etc. I can't say that I was particularly surprised when the killer was revealed, but I enjoyed the journey so much that I wouldn't fault the book very much for that.I discovered Deborah Crombie a number of years ago, before she'd become so popular, and have read her books as they've been published. I saw her get better and better, but recent books have not, in my opinion, been as good as some of her earlier works. In particular, I have been disappointed by increased emphasis on the private lives of the lead characters, British police detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid. I've also missed having Duncan as a major character (other than as Gemma's husband) and not shared the author's affection for Gemma. I have no interest in her private struggles. I very much prefer Duncan to Gemma, and I prefer to keep the focus on the mystery, not the private lives of the detectives. Thankfully, this book had more of Duncan than other recent books have had, and more emphasis on the mystery and less on their married life.Nonetheless, I did find that I was still reading far too much about Gemma and Duncan's family life, and it lengthened the book unnecessarily and detracted from the continuity of storytelling. For example, I thought the author should have excluded the whole business about the Alice in Wonderland birthday party for the child G & D have brought into the family. Frankly, who cares? It's irrelevant and too cloying - like one of those television shows where the kids are wearing amazing Halloween costumes clearly custom made by professionals. I don't really understand the author's obsession with this totally artificial child. I buy her books to read a well-plotted mystery, not to get dewy-eyed over a precocious orphan toddler.So - although I gave the book five stars, I was really on the fence. This is not, in my opinion, as good as some of her earlier work, but it's very good, and it's moving back in the right direction, with more emphasis on being a very well written police procedural in a very British setting.

I've read several of the Duncan Kincaid & Gemma James books, enough to keep their ongoing plot straight and the recurring characters. This is such a good series, I should really go back and just read them in order, but I keep getting different ones on sale.Anyway, this was one of the best that I've read in the series. Interestingly, Duncan is preparing to go on child leave to take his turn caring for Charlotte, their newly adopted daughter. But first, he must solve the murder of a fellow policewoman and Olympic-caliber rower. It becomes much more complicated the further he gets into the investigation.I especially liked the information on rowing/skulling? and learning about the work of Search and Rescue teams. Both these bits added a lot to the story. Gemma's reactions to the adoption of their daughter also gives the reader a lot to think about. And the murder(s) mystery was also good as I count any story where I can't tell who did it a success.

I began reading the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James books in the middle of the series - Water Like a Stone - and was hooked but, to be honest, I wouldn’t have read all Deborah Crombie’s 18 in the series had I started at the first which Is good but not as rounded as the later novels and I held off commenting on any until completed the marathon. Firstly, I can say, without fear or favour, that I thoroughly enjoyed all of the mysteries. They are all whodunnits but centred around an expanding group of families and friends. While each book covers a separate mystery and murder(s) there is the recurrent theme of the family that runs through all the stories - and often murders come to Duncan and Gemma - separately and together. Because of the titles there is no need for a spoiler alert to the readers of the first book to know that Duncan and Gemma become an item and then a family - not as quickly as one might think. Having read a number of books that have been turned into TV series I’m surprised that no-one has attempted to turn what I believe to be one of the finest of the genre - I have not come across another series that so economically but finely draws its main characters. However, I notice that many of the current TV series have relatively few central characters and that perhaps the increasing cast of friends and family (despite losing a few on the way) might put producers off.

I think one of the reasons Crombie's Kincaid & James detective novels are so hugely popular is that the author takes her own good time to get her stories just right, refusing to let fans, editors or the calendar dictate her deadlines. This 14th in the series has had a longer than usual gestation but, as always, the wait turns out to have been worth it. Can't help but wonder, though why it is taking half a year longer for this one to appear between covers on my side of the pond than in Britain.This one's a story about a murder with quite a few potential suspects. A metropolitan police officer and rower, in training for the upcoming Olympics, is found dead on the banks of the Thames at Henley. As usual, suspicions fall on the ex husband, but Kincaid isn't ready to buy that, at least not yet. Well then, how about her former coach, who may not want a rower of Becca's caliber competing against his current crew of rowers? Or her current lover, the former oarsman and Iraq combat medic who's now involved in search and rescue work? Or the high echelon copper who's rumored to have been molesting women officers for years and blackmailing them into not reporting it? Or none of the above? And how does one of the four dogs in this novel become instrumental to its solution?Of course, as always, this is also a story that gives equal time to the personal lives of the just-married and merged Kincaid-James family, which has now been joined by young Charlotte, who was left orphaned in their previous case. Because the course of the characters' personal lives in a Crombie novel is equally as important as their crime solving, I strongly recommend reading this series from the beginning. Here's the list, in order: 1. A Share in Death, 2. All Shall Be Well, 3. Leave the Grave Green, 4. Mourn Not Your Dead, 5. Dreaming of the Bones, 6. Kissed a Sad Goodbye, 7. A Finer End, 8. And Justice There Is None, 9. Now May You Weep, 10. In a Dark House, 11. Water Like a Stone, 12. Where Memories Lie, 13. Necessary as Blood and 14. No Mark Upon Her.Sidenote: Last month, I just missed grabbing a pre-publication advance readers' copy of this novel via the U.S. Amazon Vine program, so I decided to give myself an early Christmas present of the British edition. First time I've ever done that, so I don't know if it's unusual or not, but the version I've just read is set in much larger type than I'm used to seeing from American publishers--so much larger, in fact, that it runs 86 pages longer than its upcoming U.S. counterpart. To my surprise, the book that Amazon.uk said would get to me here in Washington in about three weeks or so, actually arrived via Royal Mail in just over a week.

This book has a better structure, and a more solid feel than previous ones, as if the author has just got right in their mind how everyone relates to each other. The development of the supporting characters is also much improved, with these characters seemingly less one-dimensional, as they are developing back stories and relationships with each other rather than being seen purely in terms of the relationship with the main characters. I am looking forward to the next instalment.

struggled a bit with this at first - the first 30 or so pages introduced so many new characters I had to draw a chart to get my head round it but I got into it gradually and a good yarn based around the Thames rowing fraternity

I just had to have it. This is another wonderful book by Deborah Crombie. I keep thinking that she will have to put out a weak one...something 'less' than the others, but if so, not yet. The story is engrossing, the plot devious and the characters very real. I love this author and wish I could find more like her!*If you like Crombie, you might also like Louise Penny