And Justice There Is None (Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James)

The life of Scotland Yard's Gemma James is changing in major ways--she's just been promoted to Inspector, she's pregnant, and she and her young son are about to move into spacious new digs with her lover, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid. Then the beautiful young wife of a Portobello Road antiques dealer is murdered in the driveway of her Notting Hill home and the case lands in Gemma's disappearing lap. Dawn Arrowood, as Gemma soon discovers, was pregnant when she died, most likely by Alex Dunn, a porcelain dealer in Portobello Market whose disappearance after the murder makes him a prime suspect. But Gemma rules him out as the killer, focusing her investigation on Karl Arrowood, the dead woman's husband. When Karl is murdered, she's stymied, but then Kincaid's investigation into what may be a serial killer turns up a bizarre connection to Gemma's case and a link to Karl Arrowood's sideline as a drug smuggler. As usual, Crombie handles a complicated plot with style, providing enough twists and turns to hold the reader's attention while driving the narrative to a stunning conclusion. --Jane Adams