NECESSARY AS BLOOD
DEBORAH CROMBIE
ISBN: 978-0-06-128753-4
October 6, 2009
William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
Hard Cover
$24.99
378 Pages
Mystery
Rating: 3 Cups
There seems to be only one problem when it comes to marrying Kincaid, and that would be the wedding. Gemma James is at her wit’s end with her family and friends pushing and pulling her to get married, and with the stresses of her job and her sick mother, she is about ready to give up.
It is becoming obvious to Duncan Kincaid that his fiancée Gemma is having issues with their upcoming nuptials. He loves her unconditionally, and if that means keeping the status quo, that is fine, but he really longs to have her as his wife.
A missing wife, a murdered husband, and a beautiful little girl left behind all add up to a mystery that Gemma is having a hard time not taking personally. The three-month-old missing person’s case of Sandra Malik had gone cold, until the death of her husband cracks the case wide open. Someone has a grudge against the Malik family, and the harder Gemma and Kincaid look for answers, the more twisted the case becomes. Gemma, however, cannot get past the need to find a safe haven for little Charlotte; it is becoming an obsession that may be rooted deeper than she wants to admit even to herself.
I understand that this is a mystery, a very well written one at that, and not a suspense/thriller, but I have to admit I want to see more action. The characters feel bogged down in the tedium of everyday police work and relationships, but there is no driving passion (and I do not necessarily mean the sexual kind). The only real emotion that comes out is Gemma’s fear for Charlotte’s welfare and for her own ailing mother. I guess I want to see Gemma and Kincaid fight together, for each other, and become one another’s hero.
Lototy
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More