Review: CULHWCH ALPHA, G.R. Jordan

• 
  This book available as an e-book on Kindle (Amazon)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08YY1NMVF
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Carpetless Publishing (May 9, 2021)
• #12 in the Highlands & Islands Detective series
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 219 pages

Synopsis (Amazon)

A routine call to muster on a North Sea oil rig. One man short and a body found hanging in the canteen. High above the raging sea, can Macleod and McGrath uncover the underbelly of fear to reveal a brutal killer?

Six months into production and the death of a well-liked colleague rips apart the community on Scotland’s newest oil rig. But beneath the camaraderie and sense of loss, broods a sense of fear and control. As a killer extends their sights to multiple targets, can Macleod stop the murders before the shift completes its final day.

When the sea becomes your cage there’s nowhere left to hide!

My Take

This is really a variant on a locked-room mystery. A murder has taken place on a North Sea oil rig and Macleod and his team know the murderer is still on the rig. However there is a limited time people can be kept on the rig, and while they narrow the list of suspects down to 20, some are due to return home within hours.

So Macleod is coordinating an investigation both on the rig and back on nearby islands and the mainland. As they get closer somebody tries to eliminate McGrath.

This time the plot struggles to hold itself together and I got the feeling the author was juggling a few too many balls, and occasionally I struggled to make sense of the connections.  It all seemed to come together at the end, but I think Macleod seemed out of his depth at times.

Rating: 4.3

I've also read

• 4.5, WATER'S EDGE -#1
• 4.4, THE BOTHY - #2
• 4.4, THE HORROR WEEKEND - #3
• 4.5, THE SMALL FERRY - #4 
• 4.5, DEAD AT THIRD MAN  - #5
• 4.4, THE PIRATE CLUB  - #6
• 4.5, A PERSONAL AGENDA  - #7
• 4.6, A JUST PUNISHMENT - #8
• 4.5, THE NUMEROUS DEATHS OF SANTA CLAUS - #9
• 4.4, OUR GATED COMMUNITY - #10  
• 4.4, THE SATCHEL - #1