“Mum!” Toby yells from the front door. “Mum, we’re going to be late!” My son, seven going on seventeen, has become the picture of discipline since he started ballet last summer. Kit, who really is a teenager, is already in the car and has the heater going and Radio Two blasting from the speakers. It’s Charlotte, the youngest, who’s lagging behind, having misplaced her coat. I find the pink puffer jacket in the kitchen, snug her into it, help her tuck her art pencils into her unicorn backpack. One last biscuit and a “be good” pat for the dogs, and we are out the door for the school run.

We drive past Notting Hill’s cupcake-icing colored houses and I drop the boys at their respective schools, first Toby, then Kit, who gives me a half salute as he unfolds his lanky frame from the passenger seat. “See you later, Mum, thanks.”

Mum, that’s me, otherwise known as Detective Inspector Gemma James, Metropolitan Police. Not Mrs. Duncan Kincaid, although I am married to my former boss, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. I gave up my name when I married my first husband, Toby’s dad, and I wasn’t making that mistake again. Kit is Duncan’s son from his first marriage, and Charlotte, well, neither of us have a biological claim to Charlotte, but we don’t love her any less.

I find a spot to park the car and walk Char up to the door of Miss Jane’s school. Charlotte holds my hand, chattering about what her class is doing that day, and only for a moment do I think about the days when we had to carry her in, sobbing, and I would cry, too, when the door had closed behind her. I push the memory away. She is better, and I won’t borrow trouble.

I just have time to leave the car at home and jog up the hill to Holland Park Tube Station, because no one drives into Central London if they can help it. I’m still getting used to a new tube route, a new job, a new building. Scotland Yard moved from the old building in Victoria to new premises on the Thames Embankment. I suppose the view and the green sweep of gardens are something to celebrate, but the wind is cold off the river as I walk from Westminster, grabbing a coffee from Costa on the way. The old Scotland Yard sign revolves in front of the new building, a comforting bit of familiarity.

That’s the only bit of familiarity. I’ve moved from a major investigation team in Brixton to a new central command unit dealing with London’s escalating knife crime problem. The job looked like a good career move, with more regular hours for juggling our complicated home life. It has, unfortunately, turned out to be excruciatingly boring, and I’d much rather be on the street, dealing with an actual crime, not a statistical one.

By lunchtime I cannot read another report and I check my mobile, idly, wondering what Duncan has got on his plate today in Holborn, where he’s in charge of the major crimes team. Robbery, burglary, assault? Or even a murder?

I would take a traffic stop at this point.

I wonder if I have, in fact, made a dreadful mistake.

A Killing of Innocents, A Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Mystery Book #19
Genre: Police Procedural
Release: February 2023
Format: Print, Digital, and Audio
Purchase Link

New York Times bestseller Deborah Crombie returns with a new novel 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 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.

About the author
New York Times bestselling author Deborah Crombie’s Edgar, Macavity, and Agatha nominated series features Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Crombie lives in North Texas with her husband, German shepherds, and cats, and divides her time between Texas and Great Britain. Her latest novel, A Killing of Innocents, is available from William Morrow February 7, 2023.

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