Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

While husband Duncan Kincaid remains at home to help foster-child Charlotte adjust, Gemma James works a gruesome murder in Crystal Palace, an area of London named after a magnificent glass exhibition hall that was destroyed in the 1930s. The discovery of a dead barrister in a seedy hotel room leads Gemma and colleague Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot to a talented young guitarist who grew up in the neighborhood. Andy Monahan doesn't seem like a killer, but it's clear to Gemma that he's keeping something back. When a second barrister is killed in a similarly gruesome fashion, Andy's link to both victims and to Crystal Palace puts him dead center in the investigation. The question, of course, is, Will Andy be next? More predictable than usual and not the best choice to introduce readers to the series, this will nevertheless please Crombie's many fans. They will already be invested in James-Kincaid family dynamics and know toddler Charlotte's tragic story, which began in Necessary as Blood (2006) and is referenced without much explanation here.--Zvirin, Stephanie Copyright 2010 Booklist