Skip to main content
Displaying 1 of 1
A bitter feast : a novel
2019
Availability
Large Cover Image
Trade Reviews
Library Journal Review
The chance to spend a quiet weekend at Beck House, a country estate in the Cotswolds, soon turns into a "working" holiday for Scotland Yard detectives (and husband and wife) Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James when a fatal car accident is quickly followed by several other fatalities. The deaths all seem to link to local chef Viv Holland. Viv, who's returned to her hometown after years in London, has been hired to cater a charity luncheon being sponsored by Duncan and Gemma's weekend hosts. In the 18th elegantly written installment in her long-running series featuring Kincaid and James (after Garden of Lamentations), Crombie gracefully puts a modern spin on the quintessential British Golden Age village mystery. VERDICT This superbly entertaining crime novel will delight mystery fans who crave character-rich, classically composed mysteries in the style and manner of those written by the late, great P.D. James. [See Prepub Alert, 3/25/19.]--John Charles, formerly of Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Publishers Weekly Review
In bestseller Crombie's sturdy 18th novel featuring Det. Supt. Duncan Kincaid and Det. Insp. Gemma James (after 2017's Garden of Lamentations), Det. Sgt. Melody Talbot invites Gemma, Duncan, their children, and Det. Sgt. Doug Cullen to spend a weekend in the Cotswolds, where her parents are hosting a charity luncheon catered by Viv Holland, a talented pub chef. The day the guests are to arrive, a car accident injures Duncan and kills the other driver. Another fatality is the other driver's passenger, Viv's former boss, celebrity chef Fergus O'Reilly, though an autopsy reveals that Fergus perished before the collision, from poison. Before the understaffed local PD can answer the myriad questions sparked by the crash, a hit-and-run kills yet another person with ties to Viv, prompting Gemma and company to join the investigation. Broadly drawn secondary characters erode the tale's emotional underpinnings and the denouement strains credulity, but a strong sense of place and the core cast's easy camaraderie provide ample distraction. Crombie fans and cozy aficionados will be well pleased. Author tour. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (Oct.)
Librarian's View
Displaying 1 of 1