Book Synopsis:
Death is just the beginning…
The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past events.
A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger. An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave … pushing her to breaking point.
As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly…
My Review:
I’m a huge fan of this author, and this series, so I was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for another visit to The Skelf family.
Firstly I loved being back with the fabulous Skelf Women who have started to feel like old friends throughout this series. The emotions of the family are almost palpable as they struggle with the events that happened in the last book. The author cleverly let’s the reader into the character’s minds so I felt I really understood everything that was happening with them. This made everything that was happening feel more real and made me feel more connected to the characters.
The book does start off a bit slowly as the reader reconnects with the family but soon gathers pace and becomes very intriguing. There are multiple threads running through the story which meant there was always something happening to keep my interest. One moment I was reading about a science discussion and the next helping with a missing person investigation which was very exciting.
Overall I really loved this book and thought it was a great addition to the series. There were lots of twists to keep me guessing and some shocking moments that had me gasping out loud. This is the fourth book in the series and it’s probably best to read the books in order, especially as the roots for some of the events in this book started in earlier books.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Doug Johnstone is the author of twelve novels, most recently The Great Silence, the third in the Skelfs series, which has been optioned for TV. In 2021,The Big Chill, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2020, A Dark Matter, the first in the series, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Independent Voice Book of the Year award. Black Hearts (Book four), will be published in 2022. Several of his books have been best sellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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