A FINER END

As mystery-romances go, this one is slow to get started. Eventually, Crombie does some clever plotting, and the pace picks up. Jenny Sterlin brings her exceptional reading talents to this, the seventh installment in Crombie's series featuring Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. The duo heads to Kincaid's cousin's place in Glastonbury for a much needed holiday. There they discover his cousin is experiencing episodes of automatic writing and a local artist is compelled to paint a child she's never seen. Sterlin's performance keeps things lively, especially after someone murders an eccentric woman who might be a New Age witch. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 03]