Gerard Doyle narrates this installment of the London-based crime series featuring Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jones, now husband and wife. Doyle's female voices are credible and well differentiated. But this time out, Duncan Kincaid is taking a backseat as house husband—parenting three lively children—and the story features three female police officers. With this focus on women, a female narrator may have been a better choice for this installment. Two barristers have been found strangled and bound, and the only link is a young virtuoso guitarist. Crombie's deft plotting moves the story between the summer the guitarist was 13 and the present day. In Doyle’s hands, the time frames remain clear. Fans of the series will relish the character updates and historical details relating to a real London neighborhood. Newcomers will enjoy the mix of police procedural and family life. C.A.T. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Bestseller Crombie puts together past and present in her solid, finely controlled 15th novel featuring married police detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid (after 2012’s No Mark upon Her). While Duncan looks after their three-year-old foster daughter at home, Gemma and Det. Sgt. Melody Talbot investigate the murder of barrister Vincent Arnott, found in a seedy hotel in London’s Crystal Palace area, naked, tied with a belt, and strangled. When the body of a second barrister, killed in exactly the same way, turns up, physical evidence proves the same person murdered both men. Gemma and Melody painstakingly and methodically unravel the clues, finding connections that began 15 years earlier in the Crystal Palace area. Flashbacks show how the meeting of a lonely 13-year-old boy and a recently widowed teacher had grave consequences. The unfolding domestic relationship between Gemma and Duncan softens and humanizes them. The city of London, foggy, blustery, and historic, provides a seductive background. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary Agency. (Mar.)

…Deborah Crombie never falters. Her novels are a delight, and with The Sound of Broken Glass, she keeps her impressive creative streak intact.” — Miami Herald

“An intriguing, atmospheric London murder mystery set in both the past and the present.” — People

An intriguing, atmospheric London murder mystery set in both the past and the present.

…Deborah Crombie never falters. Her novels are a delight, and with The Sound of Broken Glass, she keeps her impressive creative streak intact.

…Deborah Crombie never falters. Her novels are a delight, and with The Sound of Broken Glass, she keeps her impressive creative streak intact.

Gerard Doyle narrates this installment of the London-based crime series featuring Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jones, now husband and wife. Doyle's female voices are credible and well differentiated. But this time out, Duncan Kincaid is taking a backseat as house husband—parenting three lively children—and the story features three female police officers. With this focus on women, a female narrator may have been a better choice for this installment. Two barristers have been found strangled and bound, and the only link is a young virtuoso guitarist. Crombie's deft plotting moves the story between the summer the guitarist was 13 and the present day. In Doyle’s hands, the time frames remain clear. Fans of the series will relish the character updates and historical details relating to a real London neighborhood. Newcomers will enjoy the mix of police procedural and family life. C.A.T. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Friendships go seriously awry. When DS Melody Talbot spends the night with guitarist Andy Monahan, a witness and possibly even a suspect in a murder case, she can't decide which is worse: having to confess her indiscretion to her boss, Acting DCI Gemma James, or to her good mate Doug Cullen, a copper laid up with a bad leg. Andy had argued with barrister Vincent Arnott, the victim, between sets at a pub in the Crystal Palace area. Could the musician have followed Arnott to the sleazy Belvedere Hotel, plied him with drugs, stripped him naked, trussed him up, then strangled him with a scarf that left threads embedded in his neck? With an assist from her husband, Duncan Kincaid, now on leave from his Scotland Yard purview to take care of little orphan Charlotte, whom they hope to adopt, Gemma interviews Andy's manager, a record producer hoping to pair Andy with new sensation Poppy, band members and kin. When another barrister, Shaun Francis, is murdered in identical fashion, the only link between the two dead men seems to be Andy. It is not until Duncan listens to a tale of a 13-year-old's betrayal that tawdry gossip and legal shenanigans come to light, implicating a widowed French teacher and a much-bullied boy nursing grievances that cry out for revenge. Another solid outing for the reliable Crombie (No Mark Upon Her, 2012, etc.), who turns a judicious eye on secrets that can overwhelm what they're meant to protect despite the best intentions.