Rating: 
Summary: Highland whisky, ancient feuds
Review: "Now May You Weep" takes us with detective Gemma James and her best friend, Hazel Cavendish, to the Scottish Highlands for a culinary weekend. Hazel has deep family roots in the beautiful area, famous for flavorful, aged whisky made in picturesque distilleries. Her homecoming reveals some of the details of her earlier life and a previous romance with the handsome Donald Brodie, whom Gemma is surprised to find, has never completely left Hazel's life. Crombie uses a flashback technique, quoting the diaries of two women in the late 1880s, to weave a tale of passion, fortune, and long-kept secrets. The reader will be swept along as Gemma pieces together disparate evidence to solve a tragic murder, and as she comes to know her close friend Hazel on an even deeper level. Kudoes to Crombie for another great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Loved the story!
Review: Deb Crombie writes comfortable books. Had to get this one in quickly before her newest one is published soon. Gemma James stars in this book but Duncan comes in to prop her up soon enough. She travels to a country Inn with her best friend Hazel and discovers things about Hazel that she questions severely, only to doubt herself. Hazel's girlhood lover is done in and the procedural begins. I actually felt sorry for these star-crossed lovers by the end of the book. It's fairly easy to guess who dun it, but it is nicely done, easy to keep up and I'll read anything by Ms Crombie anyway. I also enjoy all the titles of her book. They are very different.
Rating: 
Summary: Will the real Deborah Crombie please stand up?
Review: Deborah Crombie is a puzzling writer: how can someone who is capable of writing a book as good as And Justice There is None (her previous mystery) produce a clinker like this one, or like A Finer End (the one before And Justice There is None)? It's hard to put my finger on precisely what makes this book fall flat, but fall flat it does. Part of the problem is Crombie's attempt to weave together two stories: a late-19th-century story and an early-21st-century story, both of which take place in the same part of the Scottish highlands and involve members of the same families. In theory, this isn't a bad idea, but in practice, the stories never relate to each other in any meaningful way. Another problem is the amount of research that went into this book. The good news is that, as usual, Crombie did her research thoroughly. The bad news is, she wasn't able to keep her research from sticking out all over the book like the proverbial sore thumb. There's so much information in this book about how Scottish whisky is made, at times it almost reads like a how-to-start-your-own-distillery handbook. And at one point, she brings the plot to a screeching halt while one of the characters gives the recipe for an appalling-sounding dish called Cullen Skink. Then there are the cars. Crombie spends an inordinate amount of time explaining where every car is at every point in the story, and who borrowed whose car to go where. I suppose that, if you're writing a mystery, it's important to keep a chart showing where every character and every car is at every moment, so you don't inadvertently put someone in a place where he couldn't possibly be. But, unless the "Who drove whose car?" issue is essential to the plot (and it isn't, here), the reader doesn't need to see that chart -- and, far too often, I felt like that's exactly what I was looking at. I don't know if there's a pattern developing here, but I noticed that, of Crombie's last three books, the only one I thought was successful was the one set in London (And Justice There is None), while the two that I found disappointing were set in the Scottish highlands (this one) and Glastonbury (A Finer End). Can it be that Kincaid and James simply don't travel well? Here's hoping that Crombie's next book -- which I will read, despite my reservations about this one -- will represent both a return to London, and a return to form for her.
Rating:
Summary: Love, sex and murder in the Scottish Highlands
Review: Even if you've never read the previous eight books in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series, Now May You Weep would be a standout. Author Deborah Crombie -- in her usual fashion -- gives us characters so real you feel they might walk right off the page, sets them in motion in a beautifully drawn setting and starts things off with a bang -- quite literally -- in her meticulously developed plot. This book goes down as smoothly as the malt whiskey that plays an important part in the story. A real treat.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat a disappointment from a master
Review: I am a fan of Deborah Crombie's Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid mysteries but this one is a disappointment. The plotting is not only rather weak but somewhat implausible. It smacks of a typical rote-romantic mystery which is quite unlike Crombie's usual novels.
Gemma travels with her friend, Hazel Cavendish, to Scotland and whiskey distilling country and she finds out on their arrival, that Hazel had set up the weekend to reunite with her first lover. Although, married to a fellow therapist and seemingly happy in previous novels, it seems that Hazel has never gotten over her first lover, Donald Brodie, the owner of a successful distillery with a long history in Scotland. When Donald is murdered, Hazel is initially suspected. Kincaid makes a brief appearance but Gemma ultimately solves the murder. The murderer seems to have a somewhat weak motive for the crime but then the entire narrative plot is also weak.
An ongoing historical narrative seems to be added to give meat to the plot but is a little fanciful and melodramatic, particularly when it is hinted that Hazel is plugging into this 100 year old story.
All in all, a disappointment from a usually excellent writer. I look forward to her next offering.
Rating:
Summary: Now May You Weep
Review: I am a huge fan of the series and have contacted Deborah to praise her writing on previous Kincaid/James titles but this one missed the mark. Duncan and Gemma were flatine, their growth arc non-existant, Gemma was unrecognisable and Hazel's 'past life' did not ring true knowing her as we do through this series,the storyline was forced and contrived, the back story did not contribute to the mood as in the other novels. I re-read the book prior to posting and still feel the same.
Hopefully book 10 in this series tentatively titled 'One Blood Will Tell' gives us back the texture on which this series was built.
Rating:
Summary: Will the real Deborah Crombie please stand up?
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I found that Gemma on her own as she is for most of this book is a nice touch. Although I like Kincaid, I find him somewhat of a "stuffed shirt". I also love Scotland, and this book has some wonderful descriptions of the Scottish countryside in the spring, which to my mind would be when I would like to visit. This book slips back and forth between two times - the present and 1898 so there is a parallel storyline here. I think Ms. Crombie handles this very well, and she certainly makes it clear that the old adage is true - "
The sins of the fathers are visited on the sons." in the book Gemma's friend Hazel has asked her to accompany her to the place where she grew up for what she terms a "cookery weekend", at a Bed and Breakfast. Once they get there Gemma finds that what she thought she knew about Hazel is totally wrong, and she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle which turns into a murder. Along the way we learn how fine whiskey is made. A good read!
Rating:
Summary: Love, sex and murder in the Scottish Highlands
Review: I've been waiting what seemed like forever for the next Kinkaid/James novel from Deborah Crombie and ran right out to buy Now May you Weep. Crombie doesn't disappoint. She kept me reading far into the night. The novel, set in Scotland, is rich with atmosphere and the characters really came to life for me. Not only that, but I learned a lot about making (and enjoying) whiskey because of Ms. Crombie's impeccable research. It was interesting to see how Duncan and Gemma's relationship has progressed since And Justice There is None. Can't wait for the next installment!!!
Rating:
Summary: Gemma can't help herself, if it's Murder, She has to but in
Review: Sergeant Gemma James is off to Scotland for a weekend, but not with her partner, Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. She's going to have a small vacation away from him and do a cooking class weekend with her good friend Hazel Cavendish at a countryside B & B. Even before their arrival, it's clear that Hazel's not been completely honest about what's going on. It seems there is some interesting chemistry between her and Don Brodie, the attractive owner of a local distillery. Add to that the unspoken history and tensions among the guests in the bed and breakfast and that cooking class weekend begins to fall apart and it deteriorates rapidly when Don is found shot dead, murdered. There are motives and suspects galore, not to mention Hazel, all that interesting chemistry and all, you know. Much to Gemma's frustration, local Detective Chief Inspector Alun Ross makes it perfectly clear to her that she is not going to be involved in the investigation. Gemma calls Kincaid for assistance, but gets no joy as he's got problems with his son, so she is on her own. Can she just sit back and let the locals solve the crime? Of course not! I'm a big fan of Gemma and Duncan's and I think if you give them a try, you will be too. Ms. Crombie knows how to set up a mystery, knows how to keep her readers involved, knows how do draw them into the setting. I really felt like I was in Scotland and I didn't guess whodunit before I should have. Karen Holtz, New Jersey Book Girl
Rating:
Summary: Best book in a while......
Review: Sometimes I think having an association with a favorite writer is like marriage-for better or worse. I have not liked several recent mysteries by Deborah Crombie, but I hung in there, reading her latest book waiting for another DREAMING OF THE BONES or KISSED A SAD GOODBYE. I have been rewarded by her latest book-NOW MAY YOU WEEP.
Folks talk about the perfect storm-and this book is the perfect book. First of all it is a really good read and I read it in two sittings. The main characters-the two detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid-are back and in fine form, and mostly behaving like the professional cops they are supposed to be. Gemma and Duncan have found a way to live together and work together without actually being on the same payroll together-thus sparing the sensibilities of those of us who grow weary of watching coworkers sleep their way to the top. The plot of the book, while not ingenious is very good-and believable, and the setting is to die for. The development of the supporting characters, especially longtime friend Hazel is quite credible and long overdue. Crombie's description of child and animal behavior is also quite good. According to the book jacket Crombie lives with three cats and a dog, so she is obviously aware and observant, and possesses a skill for understanding feline and canine behavior.
One of the best features of the book, from my perspective, is that Crombie describes the art of whiskey manufacture without overwhelming the reader with too much information. As the relative of a long line of Scots who made `fine" whisky in the hills of Kentucky and who went on to make liquor long after Prohibition was the law of the land (didn't everyone have a grandfather with a still in the chicken house and a grandmother who put up `medicinal' dandelion wine?), I greatly appreciated the detail about Scotch whiskey making.
This is a sad book. Even though I could tell from the telltale foreshadowing who the victim would be, I kept hoping it was not so. I could also figure out just ahead of the detectives who the murderer was which every mystery reader likes to do. Probably the thing I liked the best about this book is that Crombie has acknowledged ever so skillfully and subtly that divination and clairvoyance are quite real (either that or she has moved into the area of fictional writing known as magical realism-either way it is great!!). Good police work and good parenting are often quite intuitive. Keep it up Ms Crombie. This is the best so far.
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