1–What is the title of your latest release?
A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, Kincaid/James #19
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife Detective Gemma James work together to solve the stabbing of a young doctor in London’s historic Bloomsbury. Knife crime is rampant in the city. Was Sasha Johnson a victim of gang violence, or was the motive much more personal? Gemma and Duncan must find the killer before panic spreads through London.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I knew when I moved Duncan to Holborn Police Station in Lamb’s Conduit Street that I wanted to set a book in Bloomsbury. This part of London has so much history and atmosphere. There’s the British Museum to draw on, literary associations from Dickens to Virginia Woolf to Dorothy Sayers, Georgian buildings, leafy squares—it’s a perfect microcosm of London.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely! I’d meet up with Gemma and Duncan at our favorite pub in Portobello Road for a Saturday afternoon glass of wine.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
For Duncan, sharp, reserved, collected. For Gemma, empathetic, out-going, ambitious
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I read a book called The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson about Dr. John Snow’s discovery of the cause of cholera in Victorian Bloomsbury. The infamous Broad Street pump still stands in front of the John Snow pub in Broadwick Street.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I am always editing. Sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
When I’m in London I can never resist afternoon tea. It’s such a ritual treat.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I have two. In the mornings I usually write in our sunporch. In the summer I can enjoy the view of the garden, but in the afternoons it’s too hot and I move upstairs to my “proper” office. I tend to keep to the same routine in the winter unless it is really, really cold and then I have to retreat upstairs for the whole day.
10–Who is an author you admire?
I am huge fan of the British urban fantasy author Ben Aaronovitch. His Rivers of London series about Peter Grant, London copper and apprentice wizard, is my absolute fave.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Maybe Lord of the Rings. When I read the trilogy at fourteen, I was blown away by the language and the world building.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was a miserable February afternoon when my agent called to tell me we’d had a three book offer from Scribner. I was silent for so long she thought I’d fainted. I was literally speechless!
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
It’s a real struggle between mystery and fantasy, with a touch of romantic comedy and a sprinkle of literary fiction.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
I adore The Holiday. Such a cast: Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black, Rufus Sewell, and the wonderful late Eli Wallach. Screenplay by Nancy Meyers, score by Hans Zimmer, my favorite film composer. It’s just a joy. I make my husband watch it with me every New Year’s Eve.
15–What is your favorite season?
In Texas it would have to be spring or fall. I think I’ll tilt towards spring because I love my garden. In England, I’d say autumn. There is nothing to beat a crisp October day in London.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Quietly. Dinner with family and close friends. I’m not a big party person.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The most recent, I loved The Fablemans. I would watch it again for the writing, the directing (obviously), and the wonderful performances. And I’d give an audio book shout out to Julia Whelan’s Thank You for Listening. So good!
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love everything Mediterranean. The more veggies, the better.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Read. The motto of my life is “too many books, not enough time.”
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on Kincaid/James #20. No title as yet, but it will be set in London, and Duncan, Gemma, and their teams will face some interesting personal and professional challenges.
A KILLING OF INNOCENTS by Deborah Crombie
Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels # 19
A Novel
On a rainy November evening, a young woman hurries through the crowd in London’s historic Russell Square. Out of the darkness, someone jostles her, then brushes past. A moment later, she stumbles, collapsing against a tree. When a young mother finds her body and alerts the police, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his sergeant, Doug Cullen, are called to the scene. The victim, Sasha Johnson, is a trainee doctor at a nearby hospital, and she’s been stabbed.
Kincaid immediately calls his detective wife, Gemma James, who has recently been assigned to a task force on knife crime. Along with her partner, detective sergeant Melody Talbot, Gemma joins the investigation. But Sasha Johnson doesn’t fit the profile of the typical knife crime victim. Single, successful, daughter of a black professional family, she has no history of abusive relationships or any connection to gangs. She had her secrets, though, and Kincaid uncovers an awkward connection to his Notting Hill friends Wesley and Betty Howard.
As the detectives unravel Sasha’s tangled relationships, another stabbing puts London in a panic, and Kincaid’s team needs all their resources to find the killer stalking the dark streets of Bloomsbury.
Mystery Police Procedural | Mystery Woman Sleuth [William Morrow, On Sale: February 7, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780062993397 / eISBN: 9780062993502]
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About Deborah Crombie
Deborah Crombie was born and educated in Texas and has lived in both England and Scotland. Her Kincaid and James novels have received Edgar, Agatha, and Macavity Award nominations, and her fifth novel, Dreaming of the Bones, was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was selected as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America. Her novels have been published in Japan, Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Ms. Crombie travels to England several times a year and has been a featured speaker at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. She lives in a small North Texas town, sharing a turn-of-the-century house with her husband, three cats, and a German shepherd dog.
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