This 11th Deborah Crombie mystery featuring Gemma Jones and Duncan Kincaid takes place on the canals and canal boats of Cheshire. One of the things I like about Crombie’s books is that they introduce me to different parts of London and of England and they explore subjects like distilling, firefighting, or in this case canal boating.

Gemma and Duncan have taken a long weekend to visit his parents in the country where he grew up. Things grow tense as they realize his sister is in a deteriorating marriage. Toby and Kit, their respective sons, explore their new surroundings and Kit falls for his lovely cousin, a girl with some problems that threaten to engulf him.

This was not as clever as some of the plots in recent book in the series, but the development of character and the country and canal descriptions make up for anything lost in the story.

2011 No 122