Q&A with Deborah Crombie

 

Photo by Steve Ullathorne

 

 

Deborah Crombie is the author of the new novel A Killing of Innocents, the 19th in her mystery series featuring British detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. She lives in McKinney, Texas.

 

Q: The Library Journal review of A Killing of Innocents says, in part, “Crombie is as skilled as Louise Penny or J.D. Robb in developing characters while entwining personal lives with riveting police investigations.” What do you think of that description, and how would you describe the relationship between your series characters Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James?

 

A: I am extremely flattered to be compared to two of my favorite writers! Obviously I write the sort of books I like to read, and I admire both of these series for the evolution of the characters and their relationships.

 

Gemma and Duncan began as fairly new professional partners who liked each other and worked well together. When it became clear after a few books that their relationship was moving into romantic territory, I knew it would be a challenge to let things develop. But sometimes your characters have their own ideas and you have to go with them.

 

In Duncan and Gemma’s case, it meant big changes in their personal lives and the end to their official professional partnership. In this 19th novel they are married with a blended family, but they still manage to get involved in the same cases.

 

Q: What inspired the plot of A Killing of Innocents?

A: Oh, so many things. I was interested in the epidemic of knife crime in London and in the ways it was dealt with by the police. This gave me the opportunity to move Gemma temporarily into more of a desk job, working with a knife crime task force, and allowed her to consult on Duncan’s murder investigation.

 

And I wanted to write about Bloomsbury and these young professional women, both Sasha, the victim, and Tully, her flatmate. Fitting the pieces together is like working a jigsaw.

 

Q: Without giving anything away, do you know how your novels will end before you start writing them, or do you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I usually know how I want things to end. How we get there can change a lot through the process. Some things hardly change at all, however. I wrote the last scene in A Killing of Innocents very early on and didn’t change more than a few words when I got to the end of the book.

 

Q: As you mentioned, the novel is set in London's Bloomsbury neighborhood--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: Extremely. The setting functions as a character for me. It forms so much of the story—tone, atmosphere, history—I can’t untangle them. Bloomsbury is such a rich field to mine, with all its literary and historical associations, and I didn’t begin to do it justice. Soho became a big part of this book as well and it’s another fascinating part of London.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Kincaid/James #20. I don’t have a title yet, but it is set in London, and there are some interesting changes in store for the characters.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Readers don’t need to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy A Killing of Innocents. Each novel stands alone, although I try to include some explanation of the series characters’ relationships and history. I hope that new readers’ interest will be piqued and they will explore the earlier books to learn all the details!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb