A favorite series. A lot can happen in a few days. ( )

2021, Duncan Kincaid, Gemma James, mystery, England, Cotswolds, restaurant, pub, hit and run accidents ( )

A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie is a 2019 William Morrow publication.

Celebrity chefs and Murder!

Gemma and Duncan are set to visit Melody Talbot, at her parent’s posh Cotswold estate. What was meant to be a relaxing time away, quickly spirals into a tragic series of deaths after a car crash Duncan was involved with, leads to the discovery that one of the victims died of poison, and not from the accident. If that wasn’t shocking enough, the victim turns out to be the famed celebrity chef, Fergus O’Reilly.

Meanwhile, Melody’s mother is hosting an event, catered by local chef, Viv Holland. When someone close to Viv is the victim of a hit and run, her former relationship with Fergus comes under intense scrutiny. In the meantime, Melody encounters difficulties in her personal life and Doug takes the heat for interfering.

This latest installment has a different atmosphere- perhaps not quite as dark- but just as absorbing. The celebrity chef and ‘foodie’ angle, is a fresh plot-line I thought worked out well.

The twists are surprising, and while some may have figured out who the murderer was, I was taken completely off guard and found the conclusion to be a little tense.

One other nice part of this installment is the further development of Duncan’s and Gemma’s children, especially the oldest boy, Kit. The only downside was that the concern for Duncan’s health cast a pall over the usual banter between he and Gemma, which I missed.

Occasionally, Duncan and Gemma solve crimes while on holiday, or when visiting friends, and I think it is good to mix things up a little that way. The different location, allows the couple to work as consultants, instead of with assigned cases, and it also allowed the author to segue into a new phase after closing the last big multi-installment thread.

That said, I do hope the series returns to the regular assigned cases which cause Duncan and Gemma to examine their own personal emotions as they manage their household and relationships.

I’ve been reading through this series for several years. I have finally caught up with all the installments and will now have wait with everyone else for the next chapter to be released. I have enjoyed the journey and am looking forward to more time with Gemma and Duncan and the secondary characters we’ve come to know and love.

4 stars ( )

Duncan, Gemma, Doug, and Melody travel to Melody's parents' country estate in the Cotswolds. Gemma and the kids went with Melody ahead of Duncan. Doug travels by train. When Duncan nears his destination, he is hit head-on by a car. Although Duncan survives with concussion, the driver and the passenger of the other vehicle are dead. The driver tried to communicate with Duncan right before she died, but she doesn't manage to convey her message. It appears the passenger was already deceased when the crash occurred, and no one can figure out why he was in the woman's car. The passenger was a renowned chef with ties to the owner of the village pub. Unlike most DIs who would want others to stay off his turf, this one is grateful for assistance offered by Duncan and Gemma. I always love these mysteries, and this was no exception. A big change takes place in Melody's relationship status during the book. I really enjoyed meeting her parents in the casual setting of the country estate and hope they will appear in future installments. Because Duncan and Gemma are not on one of their own cases, this one possesses elements of the cozy mystery as well as the police procedural. I listened to the audio book read by Gerard Doyle. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this character-driven mystery set in the Cotswolds, UK. This book, the 18th in her series, rides the line between police procedural (as the MCs Gemma and Duncan are detectives in London; and two other characters are police as well) and cozy, as the action all takes place within a small village. As with most cozies, it's the relationships among the characters that matter; a good deal of our reading pleasure is in discovering the backstories that connect the characters, the knots behind the tapestry, as it were. I love that the secondary characters are psychologically coherent, varied, and imperfect. Characters who are wonderfully talented still make meaningful mistakes; those who seem misanthropic or strange are capable of loyalty and honesty; those who are young and impulsive are also capable of thoughtfulness and empathy. The prose is pleasing, without being "writerly" or self-consciously poetic, which resulted in me feeling as though I were looking through a transparent window into the little village and watching the events unfold. Would recommend for fans of Louise Penney, Martin Walker and Charles Finch. ( )