โ Scribed by Quintin Jardine
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all...but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for the brutal death remains a mystery. Then further seemingly random killings in the city begin to suggest a vicious serial killer is on the rampage. But when the lawyer's fiancee is also murdered, Skinner realises that someone is in deadly earnest...
A vicious and possibly insane killer is stalking Edinburgh's Royal Mile in this striking debut, nominated for England's John Creasey Award for Best First Novel. The mutilated and decapitated body of advocate Michael Mortimer is discovered in what seems to be an isolated incident. More vicious murders suggest the work of a serial killer, but then Mortimer's lover, Rachel Jameson, dies when she is pushed under a train. Detective Chief Superintendent Robert Skinner of the Edinburgh police discovers that Mortimer and Jameson had successfully represented the defendants in a rape-murder case. When one of the defendants turns up dead and mutilated, political considerations prevent Skinner from jailing his suspect. His doubts about the motive behind the murders become certainty, leading him into a maze of dangerous and conflicting loyalties where his own rules of conduct are no longer valid. Solid plotting (including surprises) and short, snappy chapters that tell the story through action and dialogue leave the story lacking only in convincing atmosphere.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Jardine's first novel, a police procedural, relies heavily on realistic detail in character and plot for much of its chilling credibility. DCI Robert Skinner, lean and intent at 42, seeks the serial murderer of four people-all killed with grisly efficiency-in Edinburgh's Royal Mile. With equal aptitude, Skinner focuses on two of the victims-both lawyers-and catches the supposed killer. Something continues to nag at him, though; he reopens the case, discovering political conspiracy, Intelligence manipulations, and cold-blooded "eliminations." Spine-tingling suspense arises from a dramatic, tightly wrought plot. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all...but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for the brutal death remains a mystery. Then further s
As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all... but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for the brutal death remains a mystery. Then further
First the joyous birth of Skinner's son... Then the grim reality of murder in one of Edinburgh's prosperous suburbs. A man has been found knifed in a luxury villa. The victim had run a chain of laundrettes, saunas and pubs throughout the city, but for some time the police suspected these to be the f
Terrorists strike at the heart of the Edinburgh Festival in Quintin Jardine's fantastic second novel in the highly popular Bob Skinner series. An explosion rocks Princes Street in the midst of the Edinburgh Festival. Responsibility is claimed by a group supposedly demanding political separation from
Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner could be forgiven for thinking that someone is out to get him. With his marriage already on the rocks, he suddenly finds his private life plastered across the pages of a tabloid. And then a woman already linked to Skinner by tragedy is found dead, with her young so