Synopses & Reviews
[headline] A DETECTIVE INSPECTOR McLEAN NOVEL
“Crime fiction’s next big thing . . . Combines old-fashioned sleuthing with supernatural intuition.” — Sunday Telegraph
The body of a man is found hanging in an empty house. To the Edinburgh police force, this appears to be a simple suicide case. But something about the scene strikes Detective Inspector Tony McLean as off. Days later another body is found hanging from an identical rope, with a noose tied in the identical way. McLean is convinced that these people are either being murdered or somehow coerced into suicide. Then a third body is found.
Under pressure from his superiors to wrap the case up quickly and neatly, McLean must also deal with the fallout of his last big investigation and complications in his personal life. But the deeper he digs, the more he comes to believe that something dark and sinister is stalking Edinburgh’s streets. Will he be able to stop it before someone else succumbs to the hangman’s song?
“Engrossing.” — Publishers Weekly
[AU PHOTO] JAMES OSWALD is the author of the Detective Inspector McLean series of crime novels. A crime writer by night, during the day he runs a 350-acre livestock farm in North East Fife, Scotland, where he raises Highland cattle and sheep.
Review
"Oswald juggles the multiple story lines with ease, and McLean is a reluctant, empathetic hero who refuses to quit until he’s solved the case." --Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Ian Rankin's brilliant new hero, Malcolm Fox, who made his celebrated debut in
The Complaints, is investigating a police department where the corruption is deep and deadly.
The Complaints: that's the Internal Affairs department that seeks out dirty and compromised cops, the ones who've made deals with the devil. And sometimes the Complaints must travel. A new inquiry sets Malcolm Fox and his colleagues adrift in unknown territory with befuddling protocol, and no clear guide to trust. When Fox uncovers a trail leading to the secrets behind a politician's suicide, suddenly reputations are on the line. Rankin's newest thriller shows our own lives reflected in this age of fear and paranoia.
Synopsis
The second electrifying mystery in the Detective Inspector McLean series, from "a star of Scotland's burgeoning crime fiction scene" (Daily Record).
Synopsis
Each year for ten years, a young womans body was found in Edinburgh at Christmastime: naked, throat slit, body washed clean. The final victim, Kirsty Summers, was Detective Constable Tony McLean's fiancée. But the Christmas Killer made a mistake, and McLean put an end to the brutal killing spree.
Its now twelve years later. A fellow prisoner has just murdered the incarcerated Christmas Killer. But with the arrival of the festive season comes a body. A young woman: naked, washed, her throat cut.
Is this a copycat killer? Was the wrong man behind bars all this time? Or is there a more frightening explanation?
McLean must revisit the most disturbing case of his life and discover what he missed before the killer strikes again . . .
Synopsis
Edinborough Detective Inspector Tony McLean is drawn into a set of cases separated by six decades, but connected by a macabre and brutal ritual killing.
Synopsis
A young girl's mutilated body is discovered in a room that has lain sealed for the last sixty years. Her remains are carefully arranged in what seems to have been a macabre ritual.
For newly appointed Edinburgh Detective Inspector Tony McLean, this baffling cold case ought to be a low priority, but he is haunted by the young victim and her grisly death. Meanwhile, the city is horrified by a series of bloody killings—deaths for which there appears to be neither rhyme nor reason, and which leave Edinburgh's police at a loss.
McLean is convinced that these deaths are somehow connected to the terrible ceremonial killing of the girl, all those years ago. It is an irrational theory. And one that will lead McLean closer to the heart of a terrifying and ancient evil . . .
Synopsis
From "crime fiction's next big thing" (The Sunday Telegraph), comes the strange and exciting third entry in the Detective Inspector McLean series.
Synopsis
The body of a man is found hanging in an empty house. To the Edinburgh police force, this appears to be a simple suicide case. But something about the scene strikes Detective Inspector Tony McLean as off. Days later another body is found hanging from an identical rope, with a noose tied in the identical way. McLean is convinced that these people are either being murdered or somehow coerced into suicide. Then a third body is found.
While McLean attempts to solve the case — assuming he can convince his superiors that it is a case — he also must deal with the fallout from his last big investigation: A coworker is still hospitalized six months after being hurt on the job, and his relations with his superior officer dont seem to be improving. Will he be able to navigate the office politics and figure out what is going on before someone else is found hanging?
About the Author
Ian Rankin is a #1 international bestselling author. Winner of an Edgar Award and the recipient of a Gold Dagger for fiction and the Chandler-Fulbright Award, he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.