TO DWELL IN DARKNESS

In her sixteenth Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery, Deborah Crombie sets up a convoluted puzzle, and Gerard Doyle’s performance keeps listeners riveted. At St. Pancras Station, in the midst of a music concert, a white phosphorus grenade explodes, injuring many and proving fatal for the man holding the grenade. Doyle’s intensity reflects the urgency Scotland Yard Superintendent Kincaid faces as he tries to fit the confusing pieces of the attack together. DI James, meanwhile, is involved with a murder/kidnapping, while at home she deals with the couple’s children, who have rescued a cat and her four starving kittens. Doyle softens his delivery for Gemma and is convincing as the children connive to keep the cats. Crombie’s plotting is credible, fast paced, and smart, and Doyle’s narration is terrific, as always. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2014]