Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Where Memories Lie-Deborah Crombie

Where Memories Lie
Deborah Crombie
Morrow, Jun 24 2008, $24.95
ISBN: 9780061287510

David and Erika Rosenthal escaped from Nazi Germany during WWII. They settled in London where she became a professor and he a philosopher until he was murdered in 1952 while investigating neo Nazi sympathizers; his homicide remains an unsolved cold case. Erika is stunned when family friend Henri Durrell shows her a diamond brooch in a Harrowby’s auction catalogue because they recognize the name and the picture as hers, lost, probably stolen, years ago.

Erika asks her friend Police Inspector Gemma James to investigate; Gemma and her Scotland Yard partner Duncan Kincaid activate the cold case to investigate how the brooch got to the auction house. However the case is already odd as auction house clerk Kristin Cahill died in a mysterious hit and run. Soon others involved in the sale also die as the cops know WWII, 1952, and the present tie together but struggle with finding the culprit anyway.

This is an exciting English police procedural filled with growing tension from the moment a distraught Erika calls Gemma. The story line is fast-paced even when the plot flashbacks to 1952 focusing on David’s inquiries into Neo-Nazis. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this strong tale as Deborah Crombie provides a wonderful investigative thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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