The House of Burning Bones by Stuart MacBride

 

In The House of Burning Bones, Stuart MacBride’s Aberdeen coppers have to face daily a prejudicial, disapproving public whipped up by a harshly critical press churning out sensational headline grabbing half-truths; said coppers all the while expressing themselves in their own richly colourful ways.

Because of an epidemic of the Dreaded Lurgie sweeping the city, depleting police numbers, Detective Inspector Logan McRae is becoming overwhelmed with the number of cases he has to deal with, together with countless meetings, on top of a murder investigation and now the disappearance of a media mogul. To quote from the book’s blurb, Logan has been left with “…a skeleton staff of misfits, idiots and malingerers…” whose lineup includes Logan’s wannabe sidekick, PC Tufty Quirrel, and the ever repulsive, now demoted Roberta Steel.  Making matters even worse, they are experiencing a heatwave, as they go through some hair-raising chases, weighed down with heavy gear,  all crammed into a police van.

This is a big book, 627 pages, and every one of them filled with Stuart MacBride’s smart, funny, cynical style. Serious issues like immigration, racism, and the media’s influence on the general public’s attitudes, as well as the horrific crimes of arson, murder and sexual assault, are all part of the story. For all the pressures and stresses of his working life, however, Logan McRae is very fortunate to have his lovely partner, Tara, and daughter, Lizzie, at home.

To read a Stuart MacBride book is to listen to a story being told in a Scottish accent with subtitles in front of you. This was a terrific read, filled with vivid imagery and lots of colourful characters. Thank you Pan Macmillan for my copy.

Published by Pan Macmillan 

The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan

 

This is a nicely complex murder mystery with a plot and two sub-plots. Detective Cormac Reilly is investigating the death of a school headmaster who had gone missing and whose preserved body was found in a bog which has thrown up many similar corpses over the centuries. Carl Rigney is a computer genius who works for the national lottery and believes he has come up with a way to beat the system. Cormac’s former partner, Emma, enlists Cormac’s help in finding her missing husband.

Ireland’s wet, misty weather is the backdrop to the story and I shuddered for poor Cormac, stepping ankle deep into the mud while the rain was beating down on him. I loved the way the investigation uncovered clues when it looked like there weren’t any to be found, and how the three parts of the story fitted together.

Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly is a great character and it’s always good to read of his latest case, the politics around his career with the police force, and, of course, the latest developments in his private life. This one was a lovely, twisty mystery which made a perfect Mother’s Day weekend read.

Published by Harper Collinsl

Homecoming by Kate Morton

 

Homecoming is an absolutely magnificent book by Kate Morton. It is a mystery, and is set in stunning locations: a mansion in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, overlooking the harbour, and a stately home in the Adelaide hills, on acres of land next to a river.

Nora has lived in Sydney all her life; her dashing brother, Thomas, a World War Two veteran, has come home with an English bride, Isabel. Thomas buys a country house in the Adelaide hills and takes Isabel there to live and raise their children.

This is a dual timeline story, a favourite genre of mine. The times are 1959/60 and 2018. On realising early on that it was going to become a great mystery, I started looking for clues. I found a few which I filed away for future reference but it was a brilliantly plotted story, and how the clues fitted together kept slipping out of my grasp.

A shocking event takes place in 1959; repercussions are beginning to be felt in 2018. Jess, Nora’s granddaughter, is back in Sydney after living in London for twenty years. Jess begins to learn things that will alter her perception of life as she, her mother and grandmother have lived it.

I borrowed this long book from Parkes library’s online Borrow Box. I imagine that since its publication it must have sold a lot of copies and been read by a lot of people but it was new to me and I am very pleased to have found it.

Published by Allen & Unwin