I read quite a lot of mysteries, these often being my comfort books, but the one thing I am quite picky about is, that if it’s a series I’m reading then I have to start from the beginning. I want to see the character development, and I want to be “in” on everything that’s happened with the main sleuth.
Recently I discovered the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series by Deborah Crombie. Kincaid is a Scotland Yard Superintendent and Gemma James is a sergeant. The books are perhaps more cozy than other typical police procedurals but they are very readable and enjoyable.
So the other day I was at a book group and I was talking with one of the members about the first Duncan/Kincaid mystery when we were interrupted by another member wanting to know if that was the one where “such and such had happened”. I won’t say exactly what she said in case anyone is reading these books, but basically she gave away a major plot point from the eighth or ninth book in the series. I was only up to the fourth in the series.
Granted, what she revealed wasn’t a total surprise, as I sort of expected a development along those lines, but I didn’t want to know in which book it happens. I wanted to still be at least mildly surprised.
I’ve picked up the fifth book and somehow I’m struggling with it because I’m thinking I could very well skip all of this as I already know what’s going to happen. I was really enjoying these books and now I feel like there’s nothing left to expect. This is one of the reasons why I don’t read the book reviews on Amazon.com as inevitably someone always gives away the ending.
With this in mind, I can promise you that I will never give away an ending, major plot point or some super surprise, unless you email me and want to know. Otherwise I’ll only give you a brief summary of the book and tell you why I did/didn’t like it. I don’t want to ruin any surprise for you.
