A KILLING OF INNOCENTS--OUT IN PAPERBACK for Valentine's Day!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! And I have another good reason to celebrate--A KILLING OF INNOCENTS is out in paperback today!

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to wish a Happy Valentine's Day to my own favorite fictional detecting couple, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Detective Inspector Gemma James.

I could never have imagined, nineteen (and counting) books ago, that my two single characters were starting a romantic journey together.

In that first book, A SHARE IN DEATH, we meet the newly minted professional partners. They were both divorced, Gemma juggling single motherhood with the demands of the job, Duncan dealing with the bitterness of a decade-long estrangement from his ex-wife. Neither of them was looking for a relationship.

But cupid had other plans (and who was I to argue?) Since then, over the course of the series, Duncan and Gemma have navigated love and loss, friendship, separations, and life-altering decisions. Now, in A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, we find them married, with a blended family, in a home they love. Partners, in every sense of the word. 

Readers, do you have a favorite detecting couple? I think my first must have been Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, and then, be still my heart, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. I was hooked on crime and romance! I hope my detectives have done their predecessors justice!

Here's more on A KILLING OF INNOCENTS: New York Times bestseller Deborah Crombie returns with a “gripping police procedural” (Washington Post) featuring Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James as they race to solve the shocking murder of a young woman before panic spreads across London.

On a rainy November evening, trainee doctor Sasha Johnson hurries through the evening crowd in London's historic Russell Square. Out of the darkness, someone jostles her as they brush past. A moment later, Sasha stumbles, then collapses. When Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his sergeant, Doug Cullen, are called to the scene, they discover that she's been stabbed. 

Kincaid immediately calls in his detective wife, Gemma James, who has recently been assigned to a task force on knife crimes. But Sasha Johnson doesn’t fit the profile of the task force’s typical knife crime victim. Sasha had her secrets, though, and some of them lead the detectives uncomfortably close to home. Kincaid, Gemma, and their colleagues must put everything on the line to find the killer stalking the dark streets of Bloomsbury.

Available in paperback wherever books are sold!

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Short Time Solutions

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: February may be the shortest month, but it’s absolutely packed for the Jungle Reds. Last week, Hank’s new thriller, ONE WRONG WORD, came out. Tomorrow, the 14th book in Jenn’s Library Lovers series, FATAL FIRST EDITION, is released, and on Wednesday, the paperback of Deb’s latest Duncan Kincaid/ Gemma James novel, A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, will be published. But wait - there’s more! On February 27 you can get the paperback of ALL THAT IS HIDDEN, Rhys and Clare Broyles last Molly Murphy mystery, and just two weeks after that their new hardcover, IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW, drops. Whew! 

And if that’s not enough, we’re topping the week off this Saturday with the second livestream at Reds and Readers. (We decided on the easy-to-remember 7-7-17, or to lay it out,  7 writers at 7pmET on the 17th of the month.)  

This is all to say I’ve been thinking about packing a lot in in a short period of time. Now, I’m an absolute disaster at multitasking - instead of juggling, I wind up with shattered glassware on the floor. But I’m very good at squeezing in a short job while waiting for something else. In the two minutes it takes to reheat my mug of tea in the microwave, I can shovel out the cat pan. I have six minutes when I’m boiling water in my electric kettle (yes, lots of my waiting is tea-related!) and in that time I can pull on my rubber gloves and wash the pots and wine glasses. 

It takes the dogs around ten minutes in the door yard to sniff around and find just the right place to relieve themselves; while I watch them from the porch, I delete old emails from my phone. And I have twenty minutes while my Friday night frozen pizza bakes (you can see, I’m being brutally honest here!) and in that time I can sweep the kitchen and the front hall, which, this time of year, is constantly littered with bits of bark and wood chaff from hauling in fuel for the wood stove.

I read - somewhere - that fitting chores/exercise/maintenance in between the bigger, more sustained efforts of the day is The Latest Thing. I do worry that it’s part of the “grindset” culture; you know, all the advice that wants you working and productive from morn til midnight. (Several of the Reds fall into this category naturally, but let’s face it, not everyone does.)

On the other hand, it’s nice to get to the end of the day with the glasses sparking, the kitty litter fresh, and the floor clean - while never feeling like I actually did housework. How about you, Reds? What do you fit in to the shortest parts of your day?

JENN McKINLAY: Oh, this is so great. There is a fine line between grindset and efficiency and I know I tend to cross the line into the grind more often than not. I’m working on it! Little things I do to make the most of the spare minutes are throw a load of wash in the washer or dryer while the dogs do their thing, have a daily chat with my mom while walking those same dogs (yes, they’re spoiled), delete duplicate/bad photos from my phone while waiting in line (pharmacy, DMV, what have you), clean the interior of the shower while I’m actually showering, and I do the dishes while waiting for my evening decaf coffee to brew. 

I do try to meditate, clear my mind, every morning for at least twenty minutes. I sit perfectly still and just try to make my mind blank/quiet. It gives me a calm start to my day and I don’t feel so overwhelmed by all of the have to’s. 

RHYS BOWEN:  I have inherited multi-tasking genes. My mother could never watch TV without knitting, having the crossword book in front of her and probably a half-read book as well. I start my day (after emails, Facebook and Wordle) in the kitchen by switching on the electric kettle. While it boils I unload the dishwasher, clean off the counters, put tea in the teapot. 

During the Covid lockdown when there was no sport to watch I gave myself a mini Olympics. Could I run to the bathroom, pee, and return while a cup of tea was heating in the microwave. Yeah. She did it. World record. Also timed myself on unloading the silverware and putting away correctly. I routinely tie my shoes when I’m sitting on the loo prior to going out.

But my best multi tasking is when I’m driving and I talk through the next scene I’m about to write. It’s so productive sitting alone in that little capsule and voicing the dialog out loud.

LUCY BURDETTE: OMG, I am such a slacker! I spend way too much downtime checking email and Facebook. The one good thing I’ve started to do is take my morning coffee from the Cuban Coffee Queen and combine it with a good walk for Lottie and me. That way she gets some exercise and so do I. John often listens to who knows what while he’s dog-walking, but I prefer to keep my brain unoccupied just in case a piece of a plot occurs to me.

 . 

 HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: this is my favorite thing! I try to make it like a personal Jenga, seeing what I can fit in and where. For instance. If I am going to ride the treadmill for an hour, I will start the pasta water on very low just so it starts heating up. Then I put in the laundry . I read on the treadmill, or dictate emails. Then when I come back downstairs, . I will chop the vegetables for the pasta, turn the water up higher and cover so it will boil, run down and put the laundry in the dryer, and take my shower. Then, by the time I get back upstairs, the pasta water is boiling. That I can put in the pasta  and organize the rest of the dinner.  Then, I can fold the newly dry laundry while Jonathan is cleaning up from dinner. 

 

So efficient! It makes me so happy to do this! I have to say. 

I have been known to brush my teeth, walking up and down the hall so I get more steps.

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  We are so funny! Maybe we need to do a time-saving challenge show! I walk circles in my house when I talk on the phone. (Don’t like to talk or listen to stuff when walking the dog, that time is too good for plotting.) I heat water for tea and make toast while I”m unloading the dishwasher in the morning. I fill the birdfeeder while the dogs are doing their morning business. I delete photos and emails while waiting on things like appointments. When I quit work for the day, I throw a load of laundry in the washing machine (utility room is upstairs, as is office.) Then when I come back upstairs after dinner, I throw the load in the dryer, then fold it after my bath while listening to my audio book. I love this–is that silly? But I do have a midday routine, when I break from morning work. I clean the cat boxes, water house plants, tidy the living room, and give the hardwood floors a quick pick up with the battery Dyson. It gets me moving after sitting all morning.

HALLIE EPHRON: Like Debs, I walk circles when I’m on the phone. I’m also with Julia … multitasking often leads to spills and breakage. Worse still, a house littered with half-done tasks. I like to be efficient – does that count as multitasking? 

But if I’m writing, I’m WRITING or developing materials for a writing workshop? 100%. When I need a break, I check email or answer a call or do research. But if I try to work on two projects at once I’m doomed and neither one gets properly nailed down and tucked in.

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What do you manage to fit in in the two/five/ten minutes you have to spare?   

 

Photo by Liliana Drew: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-washing-dishes-9462196/ 

Photos by Liliane Drew and  Cottonebro Studios, from Pexels.comPhoto by Liliana Drew: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-washing-dishes-9462196/

What's We're Writing--Debs on It's All in the Execution

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's What We're Writing week here on JRW! On Monday Jenn McKinlay gave us a snippet from the Library Lovers book she's finishing, in which the victim is electrocuted, and I thought, "I haven't electrocuted anyone since the very first murder in my very first book!" That got me thinking about how weird that must sound to people who don't write (or read!) mysteries. What a bloodthirsty bunch we are, always trying to come up with inventive ways to get rid of our poor victims. 

I have used, as we go through my Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series; electrocution, blunt intrument, poison, drowning, blunt instrument, poison, poison, drowning (the last three all in one book!), strangulation, drowning, hit by car, knifing, knifing, shotgun!, blunt instrument, blunt instrument, drowning, blunt instrument, hit by car (two victims again! And there's a stabbing in that one, too), blunt instrument, blunt instrument, drowning, strangulation, a bomb!, victim pushed in front of train (ick!), strangulation, gunshot, poison, and stabbing!

You can see that I'm not very inventive--I work on the theory that most murderers use the easist/most accessible means, especially if the crime is spur of the moment--and also that I have favorites in my murderous arsenal! Drowning and bludgeoning, obviously, are high on the list, but which one is it in the book in progress, Kincaid/James #20? (Working title is some iteration of The Long Cold Sleep, but we shall see...it may end up something altogether different.)

Just for fun, check out the poor drowning victim in the ridiculously awful original hardcover art for my third book, LEAVE THE GRAVE GREEN. 

The British poet Stevie Smith's poem "Not Waving but Drowning," comes to mind. Does that setting look anything like Henley-on-Thames to you? Or even remotely like a British mystery??

Here's a snippet from K/J #20 (which will hopefully have a much better cover,) in which Gemma, the detective inspector on the case, consults with our dashing favorite pathologist, Dr. Rashid Kaleem.

Raising an eyebrow, Rashid said, “Nothing like jumping back in the deep end, then. Let’s see what we’ve got.” Pulling up his hood, he crouched beside the body and began his examination. “The victim appears to be a Caucasian male, in good physical condition. Probably, judging by his clothing, a runner.” He manipulated the fingers of the corpse’s right hand, then the left. “Rigor is established, as you can see, but from the flexibility in his digits, I’d guess it’s still advancing. However,” he glanced up at Gemma, “immersion in water can play havoc with all our usual indicators, as you know. There’s some bloating and discoloration, but not much sign of marine predation yet.”

“Why is he curled like that?”

“Drowning position. Back to the surface, arms and legs dangling. Normally bodies sink in this position and may show abrasions on fingers and toes, and even the face, from scraping the bottom, but I’m not seeing that here.”

The features were distorted enough that Gemma couldn’t get a clear idea of the man’s looks, or even his age. He’d been clean-shaven and his hair, although still wet, looked dark. He wore running shoes, and above them loose-fitting jogging trousers and a gray t-shirt in some sort of moisture-wicking material.

 Rashid, who’d been examining the clothing, held up an unmarked set of keys. “Zipped in the key pocket. House keys, I imagine. There’s also a mobile phone pocket at the back of the trousers, but it’s just a slip-in type. If he had a phone, it’s come out.”

“Do you think he went in the water here?” Gemma asked. “If that’s the case, the divers may find it.”

“There’s virtually no current in the canal, so in all likelihood, I’d say the body didn’t move far.”

“And time of death?

Rashid flashed a smile at her. “You’re not pinning me down on that until I get him in the lab. But I’ll schedule the postmortem as soon as possible. Bodies that have been in water start to decompose very rapidly once they’re exposed to air.”

“So, this guy was running, fell in, and drowned?” Frowning, Gemma added. “He did drown, right?”

Rashid had moved from the victim’s torso to the head, and was now running his fingers gently over the skull. His hand went still. He looked up at Gemma, all levity gone. “He very well may have. But that would have been after someone bashed him over the head.”

This week's other exciting news, other than writing progress and a blunt instrument or two, is our new REDS & READERS private Facebook group! It's a great place to make friends, find new authors, and of course keep up with the REDS. We'll be doing live chats and LOTS of giveways! I'll be giving away a copy of Kincaid/James #19, A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, so click here to join the fun, and leave a comment there to be entered for the contest!

Readers, do you like your murders complicated, or straight up?

What We’re Writing—Debs’ Vanishing London

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have been on a listening project these last couple of months. Last summer I made myself a pledge that I would listen to the audio versions of my books, in order, something I had never done. I had not (admitting shamefacedly) ever really listened to any of the books all the way through, because I would get distracted. I’ve never done a consistent, sequential print reread, for that matter, instead just dipping into the books here and there, checking on a character or a setting or a favorite passage. But I was feeling a real need to experience a sense of flow in the series, to be grounded in it.

Around the middle of August I dug in, starting not at the beginning of the series but about halfway through, with IN A DARK HOUSE, and I am now, ten books later, a couple of hours away from finishing A KILLING OF INNOCENTS. It’s been so interesting, processing the stories this way—it almost feels as if they were written by someone else.

But it’s also been a bittersweet reminder of how much has changed in London. So many of the places featured in the books are gone!

Kitchen and Pantry, the Notting Hill coffee shop where Duncan meets his friend MacKenzie Williams, gone. (And where I had many a lunch and coffee...)

Mr. Christian’s Deli--such a Notting Hill fixture—where Gemma or Duncan could snag wine and cheese for a quick dinner, gone. 

The café across from Earl’s Court tube station where Denis Childs met his handler in GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS, now a Gregg’s.

The piano bar in Kensington High Street, gone. As is the oyster bar in the big Whole Foods there, closed during the pandemic.

The 12 Bar in Denmark Street, where Andy Monahan first plays for Melody in THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS, gone. 

Even Scotland Yard’s iconic building in Victoria Street is gone! (Scotland Yard in now headquartered in the Cecil Green building on the Thames Embankment.) Notting Hill Police Station is closed, as is Lucan Place in Chelsea.

At least some of my stalwart series locations remain! The Duke of Wellington pub in Portobello Road, check. The Jolly Gardeners in Putney, the pub across the street from Doug Cullen's house, check. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Bleeding Heart Yard, check. The Tabernacle, where Toby has his ballet classes, still there, thank goodness. Holborn Police Station, not sold off by the Met, yet. Whew. Oh, and the Bloomsbury Tavern, the pub in the cover of A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, above, is still there!

I’m a little anxious now, however, that featuring a place in my books might jinx it. At least pubs seem to be a safer bet for staying around!

But aside from the nostalgia for places past, I’ve found the listening exercise to be a great writing prompt, because I can just shift from the scene in the book to the scene in my head.

Fellow Reds, have you had favorite locations in your books vanish? (Rhys, I’d ask you the opposite—are favorite locations from your historical novels still there?)

Reds and other authors, especially those of you who write series, have you ever done a sequential reread? I will now go back to the first book in the series, A SHARE IN DEATH, and read forward again.

Readers, have some of your favorite settings disappeared?

 

And now for more current news! Today I’m in Boston, where I’m very flattered to the Guest of Honor at New England Crime Bake 2023, and I’m hoping to see many of our regular Jungle Red readers this weekend! 

What We're Writing--Debs Grapples with Weather, Seasons, and Series Time

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have been getting myself all in a twist trying to decide when exactly the book-in-progress (Kincaid/James#20) is set. There are so many things to consider. 

First, there's the progress of the series in fictional time, because while it floats outside of real-time chronology--thank heavens, or Gemma and Duncan would be retired--it's not static--the characters' lives do progress. Early in the series I'd skip six months between books, except in a couple of cases where the books butt right up against one another because a major plot point was left unresolved.

Then, with the children becoming a more important part of the series, I began to slow down that fictional time stream, putting the books closer together. I don't want Kit, Toby, and Charlotte grown up and out of the house! And unlike real children, I do get to hold on to them, at least for a while.

A KILLING OF INNOCENTS takes place in November, sliding into December. I had meant to set the next book in March/April, because of the above mentioned issue with the kids, and also because it made sense with what's going on with Gemma professionally. But then I didn't get to make my big research trip until June/July, so I started thinking I'd move the story forward to at least June, wanting to make the most of all my research/sensory cues.

But...

It just doesn't feel right. I've decided to move the story back to April, and have been going through my pages and rewriting accordingly. It's not as if I haven't spent time in London in April--surely I can wing it! 

This has made me wonder how much readers really notice all the seasonal atmosphere and description, or how time progresses in a book, or within a series. Even in my my own books I'm hard pressed to remember what time of year some of them are set--although, interestingly, the winter books all instantly jump out at me. (A Killing of Innocents being the fourth.)

Here's a snippet from Gemma's first scene in the new book:

It was the first day of the second week on her new job and Gemma James was still settling into her routine. Exiting Charing Cross tube station, she grimaced and popped her umbrella up against the persistent April drizzle. At least it wasn’t pouring—the last thing she needed was to ruin the shoes she’d bought to go with her new navy trouser suit. She’d bought two new suits, better quality than her usual Marks and Sparks work wardrobe. The price tags had made her wince, but she sensed that presenting herself with confidence and authority was going to be essential in this new post, and clothes indeed made the man—or in this case, the woman.

She ducked around behind St. Martin-in-the-Fields and into the quiet of Adelaide Street, avoiding the puddles, the Pret a Manger at the corner of William IV Street calling to her like a beacon. It had been the usual chaotic Monday morning getting the kids off to school. She’d missed breakfast and managed only a gulp of coffee, even with Duncan taking the school run, and now there was no way she was walking into her new station caffeine-less and on an empty stomach. If the queue at Pret wasn’t too bad, she’d just have time for a latte and a muffin. After the last few months spent working in the Cecil Green building, the Met’s headquarters on the Embankment, she hadn’t begun to take the buzz of Covent Garden and easy availability of food and drink for granted.

That was the upside of the new job, or at least one of them.

There is only that one little reference to the time of year, so no big rewrite necessary there! 

I'm curious about how my fellow REDs and other writers, especially writers of series, make decisions about the time progress/season stuff.

And I'm really curious about whether or not it makes a difference to readers, so chime in!

A Pictoral Visit to Key West

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have been saving up a fun show-and-tell from my visit to Key West almost two weeks ago. One of the best things about touring for A KILLING OF INNOCENTS has been the opportunity to see three out of my six Jungle Red blog sisters. I got to see Rhys in Phoenix (where we didn't take nearly enough photos) and in Key West I saw Hallie as well as Lucy. How lucky for me that Hallie was there teaching a writing class!

On the Saturday I arrived, Lucy, John, and I had a nice catch up over glasses of wine, then watched the sunset from Mallory Square.  This photo is sunrise, but you get the drift. Key West really is a little slice of paradise.

We had a nice visit with Lucy's friend Ron, the tarot reader who's the inspiration for Lorenzo in her Haley Snow books, and the now-retired Catman!

The next morning started with some delicious Cuban coffee, and a few Key West feathered friends.

And then it was time for brunch! Lucy took me to Blue Heaven, a Key West gem, where I had a fabulous avocado omelet and this amazing piece of pie! There was a gin cocktail in there, too, that was was so good I had to go back and get the ingredients, and there was even a little jazz band playing. It was just a perfect day.

Afterwards there was walking and shopping, in the course of which I found my terrific (and much needed) hat, and a plush chicken for Wren.

Naps all around, then dinner with Hallie! Several of us tackled whole deep-fried fish--that was an adventure!

Monday, we began with the much anticipated visit to the Hemingway House, which I enjoyed even more than the first time. Here's one of the Hemingway cats.

They are not the last bit fussed by all the people and cameras. I came away very inspired and even had to order a copy of Hemingway's letters.

Afterwards, we had a jolly lunch at a place called Moon Dog with Hallie and our friend Pat Kennedy. (Lots of food here, you're thinking, but what are vacations for if not eating?) A little more walking and shopping, then it was time for my library event.

Look at this lovely crowd!

Barb Ross interviewed me, and had such insightful questions that I suspect she made me sound a lot smarter than I actually am.

And here we are, your three Reds and Barb, all happy to be together.

For our last group lunch on Tuesday, we picked up Cuban sandwiches from this hole-in-the-wall place. It doesn't look very prepossessing, but I'm still dreaming about those sandwiches. 

You can see that our Lucy Burdette really is the very best tour guide and hostess and I can see how people get so hooked on Key West. I hated to leave, but at least I can visit anytime in my imagination. All I need is one of Lucy's Hayley Snow books!

READERS: do your travel plans revolve around food?

A KILLING OF INNOCENTS - Celebrating Deborah Crombie's #19!

 

HALLIE EPHRON: This week we have not one but TWO Jungle Reds launching new books. Yesterday, Hank's THE HOUSE GUEST. 

Today, Deborah Crombie's A KILLING OF INNOCENTS.

I am completely out of breath from I’m reading this wonderful new novel--Deb’s 19th (YES 19th!) Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery. I feel as if I’ve been watching a high-wire act. It’s absolutely brilliant the way Deb weaves the stories together so that the investigation of a heartstopping murder--in this case the stabbing of a trainee doctor in London’s Russell Square--is just the beginning.

Multiple characters narrate, one handing off seamlessly to the other. The marriage and family drama of Duncan and Gemma and Kit and Toby and Charlotte provide a steady counterpoint. These are real people living messy complex lives. When death occurs, it matters.

The characters feel so real. So I have to ask Debs, do they in some form actually live in your head while you’re writing? What about between books?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes, they do. I feel as if Duncan and Gemma and all the crew are leading a parallel life that I just get to tap into for the little segments of time that we see in the books. I can’t imagine not writing and not having this other world constantly running in my head.

HALLIE: In each of your books, you introduce at least one brand new character to an ever-expanding cast, creating new sources of tension and possibility, as well as as-yet-unexplored setting, along with a new backdrop. In the last series novel, A Bitter Feast, I was fascinated by the the goings on behind the scenes of a gourmet restaurant. Another book tapped into the young music scene.

What were the neighborhoods and backdrops that you researched for this book, and did what you learned affect how the murder mystery unfolds?

DEBORAH: When I moved Duncan to the team at Holborn Police Station several books back, it was partly because I knew I wanted to set a book in Bloomsbury.

Bloomsbury has such fascinating historical and literary associations. Think the British Museum, the Bloomsbury group (Virginia Woolf, Rupert Brook, etc.) Charles Dickens lived in Bloomsbury, so did Charles Darwin for a time. Dorothy L. Sayers lived early in her writing career in Mecklenberg Square (which we managed to get on the map!) and then later she lived for many years just behind Holborn Police Station. The book also takes us into neighboring Soho, which has a very different character.

London is an amalgamation of villages and each neighborhood is very different.

HALLIE: Was there a new character you introduced or a backdrop that you think you’ll continue to write about?

DEBORAH: Although she’s not a new character, we saw a lot more of DI Jasmine Sidana in this book and she will definitely continue to play a major role. 

I imagine we’ll see more of Lucy McGillivray (why did I give a character a name that’s so hard to type??) I know a good bit more about her than we’ve seen. I’d like to see more of Duncan’s case manager, Simon Gikas, too. 

As for the new characters, I loved the bar owner Darrell Cherry, and especially Howard Quirk, the retired auction house appraiser. We may see more of him and Wallace, his border terrier. Oh, and I loved Destiny Howard, Wesley's sister, and I already have ideas in mind for her.

And I think we’ll definitely see more of Bloomsbury and Soho.

HALLIE: Another commenter wrote: “It's a perfect balance of police procedure and the couple's personal life that involves parenting three children while working demanding jobs.” Never mind Raymond Chandler’s “A really good detective never gets married?”

It’s so clever the way you manage to tie up the loose ends of the murder mystery while leaving complicated and dangling threads in Duncan and Gemma’s personal life to be addressed in the next book.

How do you keep two stories in synch – the family’s ongoing drama and the murder investigation within a single book?

DEBORAH: This is a bit of a “which comes first, the chicken or the egg” question. I usually have some ideas about what’s going to happen in the characters’ lives and will adjust the murder investigation plot to fit. And vice versa. It’s different with every book.

HALLIE: And I admire your ability to switch narrators all the time, seamlessly. As a writer, is there a trick to switching gears so that the thoughts you put on the page are in a specific character’s voice?

DEBORAH: I do think about backgrounds and accents when I’m writing a character. But mostly, their voices just develop as I’m writing the viewpoint. I hear them in my head, which makes me sound a bit bonkers.


HALLIE: Even for this 19th book I know you had to do research. Where did that take you for this book?

DEBORAH: One of my jumping off points was the history of the Victorian cholera epidemics in Bloomsbury and Soho. I was fascinated by a book called The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson about the discovery of the cause of cholera by Dr. John Snow in Soho in the 1850s. People thought cholera was caused by bad air, and Snow proved it was carried by their drinking water, which was contaminated by the sewage pouring into the Thames. It was the beginning of the science of epidemiology, and of huge importance to public health.

My original plot revolved around someone deliberately infecting people with a contagious virus, which I decided was unworkable. Weirdly, I was plotting this in late 2019, and I’m really glad I didn’t try to go in that direction! We do get a little of the cholera story but not as much as I’d have liked. Sometimes the plot doesn’t cooperate.

HALLIE: Where do you think you’ll take your characters next?

DEBORAH: It will definitely be London, partly in some areas I haven’t written about before. To say anymore would be a spoiler!

HALLIE: THANKS, Debs! And congratulations on today's book launch! 

You're probably deep into writing the next book. As for me, I'm looking forward to hearing more about DI Jasmine Sidana. She's got a prickliness I admire. Any thoughts from the rest of us about characters or neighborhoods we'd like to come back to in a future Deborah Crombie book?

What We're Writing--Debs is Blogging

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It's What We're Writing Week and I have been blogging, here, there, and everywhere, because it's almost time for the launch of A KILLING OF INNOCENTS next Tuesday, February 7th (Hank and I share a book birthday, yay!) 

I am so excited! This my first book launch in three years and four months (yes, I know you are all counting!) And today I'm on way to Phoenix for my first live book event, ditto. On Saturday at 2 p.m. MST I'll be at the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale chatting with our very own Rhys Bowen. (You can join us on the Pen's Facebook page or YouTube channel, and you can order signed books!)

Next week I'll be in Houston on February 9th at Murder by the Book, chatting with my pal Celeste Connolly (a.k.a. S.C. Perkins.) You can order signed copies from MBTB as well.

For Dallas/Fort Worth area readers, I'll be doing a panel at the Dallas Literary Festival March 4th and books will be available. More information soon here. 

February 27th I'll be in Key West for the Friends of the Key West Library Speaker Series, chatting with the lovely Barb Ross, and I'll get to see Roberta AND Hallie! You can bet much fun will be had. 

For a special Jungle Red preview today, I thought I'd share just a smidgen of illustrator Laura Maestro's wonderful map. I think every map Laura creates is more fun than the last and she's outdone herself with A Killing of Innocents. Just look at the Staffordshire dogs! And Toby, rehearsing in his mouse head for the Nutcracker, and the adorable border terrier, Wallace. And Sid, of course.

And one more treat--here's a link to an audio sample of Gerard Doyle narrating the book. I got goosebumps just hearing the first few seconds.

I hope to see some of you in person or online! Readers and reviewers and my dear Jungle Reds have been so supportive of this book and so patient with me. I appreciate it more than I can say, and I hope to see some of you in person or online. 

Dear readers, are you getting out for live events again, or taking advantage or the virtual ones? Or both?

P.S. The only bad thing about all of this is that I'm missing my darling granddaughter Wren's 7th birthday today! How did time go so fast??

On a rainy November evening, trainee doctor Sasha Johnson hurries through the evening crowd in London's historic Russell Square. Out of the darkness, someone jostles her as they brush past. A moment later, Sasha stumbles, then collapses. When Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his sergeant, Doug Cullen, are called to the scene, they discover that she's been stabbed.

Kincaid immediately calls in his detective wife, Gemma James, who has recently been assigned to a task force on knife crimes which are on the rise. Along with her partner, detective sergeant Melody Talbot, Gemma aids the investigation. But Sasha Johnson doesn’t fit the profile of the task force’s typical knife crime victim. Single, successful, career-driven, she has no history of abusive relationships or any connection to gangs. Sasha had her secrets, though, and some of them lead the detectives uncomfortably close to home.

As the team unravels the victim's tangled connections, another murder raises the stakes. Kincaid, Gemma, and their colleagues must put even friendships on the line to find the killer stalking the dark streets of Bloomsbury.