I am a few pages away from finishing Deborah Crombie's "Garden of Lamentations" (2017). This is book 17 in the mystery novel series featuring Duncan Kincaid, a Scotland Yard superintendent, and Gemma James, a sergeant, in London, England.

I have read every book in this wonderful series. The two main characters, who appear in every book, are so familiar to me now that they feel like old friends. We have spent a lot of time together. It's almost as if they are real people.

The first book in the Kincaid-James series came out in 1993. The author, Deborah Crombie, has spent a quarter-century in writing these books. What's remarkable is that she is an American who lives in McKinney, Texas, a historic town north of Dallas. The power of place - London and its environs - is so well-wrought in each novel that one imagines only a native (or at the very least a current resident) could be writing.

On top of the first-rate story-telling found in these books, the reader meets with a memorable ensemble of characters who make appearances in more than one story. They are all worth getting to know.

I forget exactly when I started reading this series. However, I always knew there was another book for me to read next. Now, I must wait for Deborah Crombie to publish the next novel. I am already looking forward to it!