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Sunday 1 September 2019

Cold As the Grave (Inspector McLean #9) by James Oswald



Description from Goodreads:

"Her mummified body is hidden in the dark corner of a basement room, a room which seems to have been left untouched for decades. A room which feels as cold as the grave.

As a rowdy demonstration makes its slow and vocal way along Edinburgh's Royal Mile, Detective Chief Inspector Tony McLean's team are on stand-by for any trouble. The newly promoted McLean is distracted, inexplicably drawn to a dead-end mews street... and a door, slightly ajar, which leads to this poor girl's final resting place.

But how long has she been there, in her sleep of death? The answers are far from what McLean or anyone else could expect. The truth far more chilling than a simple cold case..."


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This is a treat for crime fiction lovers with a bit of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.  Mr Oswald knows how to write a great story and he has done it once again with "Cold as the Grave".

DCI Tony McLean finds himself, quite unexpectedly, in the midst of a strange and disturbing investigation following his discovery of the mummified remains of a young girl.  Being a DCI, Tony is not supposed to get into the day to day investigation of crime however, Tony being Tony just can't help himself and he quickly becomes in the thick of it.

This is a dark and sinister case to investigate and includes themes on refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, trafficking, modern slavery, the murder of children and violence towards women as well as introducing a less than "normal" slant on the perpetrator of the crime and the method used for committing murder.

With fantastic characters throughout and written in a sympathetic rather than sensationalist way with the back drop of a winter in Edinburgh, this is a great read.

I admit to not having read all the previous books in this series and although I have probably missed out massively on back story, character development, etc., it did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.

On to the next .... when it comes out!

My thanks must go to the Publisher and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.


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