Water Like A Stone by Deborah Crombie

Detectives Duncan Kincaid of Scotland Yard and Gemma James of the Notting Hill Metropolitan Police are back in this eleventh outstanding entry in the series. Duncan and his live-in lover Gemma, and their respective sons take Christmas holiday with Duncan's family in Cheshire. It's a pretty little village with canals, cottage, and tragedy. On the eve of their arrival, Duncan's sister Juliet, who is a builder, finds a mummified body of an infant interred in the wall of the old diary barn that she is renovating. The story revolves around retired social worker, Annie Lebow, who after being burned out on one too many child service cases left her marriage to become one of the boat people that roam the waterways of England. Annie's past life as a social worker intersects with her new life with a dose of bad karma for Annie. In a parallel storyline, Duncan's sister's marriage is not only falling apart, but she has to deal with her trouble teenage daughter, and her husband's crooked business partner. Duncan and Gemma take a bit of a back seat investigating the crime, but they are very much in the forefront on domestic issues in the story. This book has continued to flesh out their characters beyond their professional lives. Duncan's son Kit was very much a main character, as is his niece Lally. We got to see more of a father/son dynamic between Duncan and Kit. The book was richly atmospheric set in the bleak midwinter which suited the boat people/canal storyline. There were also flashback scenes narrated by the psychotic personality. I figured out who was narrating those scenes almost right away, but it didn't detract from the story in the least. I really did have trouble putting this book down which is always the sign of a good book. It might be helpful if some of the previous books have been read since each book builds upon the other in bringing the characters forward, but it is not absolutely necessary. This book stands as a fine stand-alone novel. Highly Recommended.

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