It’s a mystery to me!

Leave the Grave Green by Deborah Crombie

A few years ago I would have told you that I didn’t read mysteries.  I didn’t like mysteries and I would never have chosen to read them. 

Then my friend Diane loaned me Blood Lure by Nevada Barr, it was set in Glacier National Park and starred Anna Pigeon, Barr’s ranger extraordinaire. I was not too excited about it being a mystery, since I didn’t like mysteries, but the fact that it was set in a National Park and the main character was a ranger appealed to me and I read it.  In just a few chapters I was hooked, I totally enjoyed Blood Lure and was excited to read the other books Barr had written!  They didn’t feel like mysteries, as the plot lines were varied – most were not simple “whodunit” type and they were very exciting – Anna facing near death in almost every book! 

I also got into the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich – they are classified as mysteries, but I don’t think they really are – they are more silliness! :-)  Stephanie is a Bounty Hunter so there’s definitely a lot crime and several people always get killed, but they also are not the traditional “whodunit” either. 

Then the first day of school this year my friend Diane again came to me with a book – A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie.  She said the whole series was really good and she thought I’d like them.  The main characters of this book, and the whole series, are Duncan Kincaid  - a Scotland Yard Superintendent and Gemma James – his sergeant.   These novels were in fact traditional “whodunits” – and I wasn’t too sure about them. 

But, I decided to give it a try and see what a thought, like Mickey and Life Cereal - “I Liked it!” :-)  Which surprised me! 

I was thinking back to why I didn’t like mysteries.  I think it was an Agatha Christie novel that I’d attempted to read in either middle school or high school – I’d quickly lost track of the plot and all the details of the characters and clues and such and it was too much work.   I’m now wondering if maybe I wasn’t ready to read her yet – if I didn't have the maturity or the reading skills yet.

When I returned A Share in Death to Diane she told me that she had the whole series that she was willing to pass along to me – so now I have all of them – there are 12 I think - and will work my way through them. 

This one that I just read is the 3rd in the series and it featured the untimely death of prominent opera conductors son-in-law and Kincaid and James are called in to investigate and figure out how he died.  The plot was interesting and kept moving, it kept me guessing until the very end.  Although I was very excited when I figured it out just paragraphs before Kincaid himself figured it out!  It came on like a light bulb to both of us!

A good quick read, making it perfect for my goal of getting as many books read in January as I can!  Unfortunately, it only fulfills requirements for 1 Reading Challenge: