home > mystery novel reviews > now may you weep

Now May You Weep

by Deborah Crombie

What amazes me is how quickly Deborah Crombie has established herself as a major mystery writer in comparison with other mystery authors equally or even better known. Ms. Crombie certainly isn't the only one who uses a female in her fictional investigations - others have not only preceded her in that but have also made their females the main character. In Now May You Weep, Deborah Crombie has indeed used her Detective Inspector Gemma James as the primary focus of the story, but Gemma is still only the other half of male partner and love interest Duncan Kincaid - her decided superior in Scotland Yard. And although Deborah Crombie writes beautifully with honed characterizations, so do any number of other mystery writers. Can it be because she writes so well about Britain? Who knows? Who cares? We'll just settle back and enjoy her books!

After a short introduction from the historical past with its influence on the present, Now May You Weep opens on a northbound train. Gemma James is hurtling toward a holiday in the Scottish Highlands, accompanying her friend, Hazel Cavendish, at Hazel's insistence. Both are to stay at a bed and breakfast called Innesfree, and take a brief cooking course while there from John Innes, the proprietor. What Gemma doesn't realize is how little she knows about Hazel - and she doesn't discover how little she knows until Hazel is welcomed as someone who has returned to her homeland. Gemma further discovers that Hazel and Donald Brodie, another cookery student from a famous whiskey distillery close by, are old lovers - still very much attracted to each other in spite of the fact that Hazel has a husband and daughter at home.

It soon devolves that Hazel and Donald were once the Romeo and Juliet of that region, with families very similar to the Montagues and Capulets in their hatred of each other. The reason for that hatred is buried in the past - slowly revealed by thoughts from a diary dated in the late 1800's plus the story which opens the book. Donald has never married, and now that his father is dead and his inheritance intact, he's perfectly willing for Hazel to leave her husband and come to him. However, there are other females attracted to the charming and personable Brodie.

Then Donald Brodie is murdered. Shot with a shotgun at very close range - and a very valuable shotgun is missing from the gun cabinet at Innesfree. Several people have no alibi for the apparent time of death, including Hazel - and she is the prime suspect at first. Gemma has no jurisdiction here, and mutual dislike quickly arises between her and the investigating officer, Chief Inspector Alun Ross. Gemma's desire to protect her friend wars with her reluctance to interfere - though she finally has to admit to herself she would also arrest Hazel on the evidence supplied.

Meanwhile Gemma's live-in lover is having problems of his own. Duncan Kincaid has received notice that an aunt is filing suit for custody of his son, Kit. Worse, even though Duncan is his actual father, Kit refuses the lab test that would demonstrate Duncan's parenthood without question, and thus put the aunt's paternity suit aside Kit feels some loyalty toward the man who acted as his father for the first twelve years of his life, even though he now prefers living with Duncan and Gemma.

Gemma attempts to solve Donald's murder on her own when she can't reach Duncan (he's been busy trying to resolve their family problems), but when she finally gets through, Duncan agrees to come up to Scotland to see what he can do.

Callum MacGillivray runs a stable of horses with his Aunt Janet, very close to Innesfree. They take tourists on relaxed rides through the countryside for up to a week - one guiding the riders while the other totes the luggage in a van to each overnight stop. Callum figures strongly in the story, even becoming one of the
suspects - but something I don't understand is why Deborah Crombie makes a point of the fact that Callum doesn't want a woman when she first introduces him into the narrative. Because of that statement, we're led to believe Callum is gay, which turns out not to be the case at all. Perhaps Ms. Crombie should have written simply that Callum wasn't interested in just ANY woman...?

At any rate, the suspect list grows larger rather than smaller, including Hazel's husband, who comes to Scotland and leaves again without anyone knowing. When the 1800's diary is found among Donald Bodie's papers and read, the reason for old wounds is revealed. Hazel, released from suspicion, goes to the scene of that original crime - but she's followed there by the murderer, and only Gemma's last-minute interference saves her.

Now May You Weep is a fascinating tale, and Deborah Crombie describes the Scottish Highlands so well that anyone who loves the country will fall in love with that area while simultaneously enjoying the novel. Ms. Crombie also knows her single malt whisky, and describes that equally well! The title, Now May You Weep, is from a line of the poem 'To Exiles' by Neil Munro - appropriately about natives returning to Scotland after long sojourns elsewhere.

Alan Paul Curtis

back