Review: COLD CASE, Quintin Jardine

• this edition published by Headline Publishing Group 2018
• ISBN 978-1-4722-3893-1
• 370 pages
• #30 in the Bob Skinner series

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Is a killer still on the loose?

The thirtieth gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's bestselling Bob Skinner series, not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Praise for Quintin Jardine's gripping novels: 'Well constructed, fast-paced, Jardine's narrative has many an ingenious twist and turn' Observer

When a murder investigation that's been closed for thirty years is suddenly re-opened, former Chief Constable Bob Skinner is quickly drawn into the action.

The story of the Body in the Quarry was well-known around Edinburgh all those years ago: a popular priest found dead in a frozen quarry; a suspect with a clear motive charged; a guilty verdict. But with a journalist uncovering new evidence, the cold case has come back to haunt Skinner's old mentor Jimmy Proud - and only one man can help him.

Skinner is long out of the police force, but he can't say no. With the clock ticking, and his friend's reputation at stake, he must uncover the truth to find out if an innocent man was convicted for murder. And if a killer is still on the loose . . .

My Take

I think I paid the penalty here of starting with #30 in a series. I was new to the characters and the relationships between them, and I had a hard time in particular with building a picture of ex-Chief Constable (Sir) Robert Skinner. He has started a new career as the director of a media company, has a family of varying ages, a wife who is the local pathologist, and still has a finger in many pies. He is held in high regard by the community and is immediately recognisable by members of the public.

The Bob Skinner series has produced 32 books since 1993 so I can only imagine the amount of background material that I have missed out on. The cold case in this book pre-dates Skinner's own career and new implicates the two men whom he regarded in high esteem and who were in fact his mentors. The man charged with killing the priest Matthew Ampersand actually took his own life in gaol but his family always regarded him as guilty. Skinner comes into the case as an investigator and tracks down both members of the dead man's family and members of the family of the convicted man. When the journalist who initiates the investigation first of all goes missing and then is found dead, the cold case coincides with the new one, and more resources are thrown at it, Skinner becomes the mentor of the senior policemen involved, and at the same time tries to protect the reputations of his own former members.

My rating probably reflects my lack of knowledge of the series rather than any shortcomings in the plot, but I was left wondering about the credibility of the scenario.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read
4.2, INHUMAN REMAINS Primavera Blackstone #2

Review: INHUMAN REMAINS, Quintin Jardine

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Headline (5 Feb 2009)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0755340221
ISBN-13: 978-0755340224

Blurb
Her mind still filled with thoughts of her dead ex-husband, Oz, Primavera Blackstone is in Spain with their son Tom when their peace is breached again with the arrival of her elderly but formidable aunt, Adrienne McGowan. All is not well in Auntie Ade's world; her roguish son Frank has become involved with a shady international casino project and has disappeared. Prim flies to Seville to track him down, only to find herself a fugitive, with her life under threat, as her aunt joins the missing persons list, and Tom is forced to flee to safety. As she and her companion in danger cross Spain in a struggle to keep themselves alive, and to free Adrienne, Prim finds herself at the centre of a maelstrom of mystery...

Even after reflecting for a few hours since finishing this book I'm still not quite sure what to make of it.
It is in many ways a light read, a bit of a thriller with some sex thrown in for good measure.
As the blurb says, Oz Blackstone, the subject of 9 previous Quintin Jardine titles, has died and Prim now has custody of their 7 year old son. Prim is in fact Oz's ex-wife, and Tom has a step-mum with whom he spends some of his time. When Auntie Ade, sister of Prim's dead mother, phones to ask if she can come to stay, Prim agrees. Auntie Ade on arrival reveals that she wants Prim to track down her son Frank who appears to have disappeared without trace. Auntie Ade agrees to stay with Tom while Prim flits off to find Frank, and then disappears herself without trace while Tom is out walking the dog on the beach.

In the long run I found the plot a whole lot too unlikely, accompanied by an un-nerving suspicion that I wasn't being told the whole truth. Prim thinks others around her a bit gullible and uncaring, but the same accusation can be levelled at her. I didn't find her a particularly likeable character. I also kept feeling there was quite a bit of back story that I wasn't privy to, and have just the vaguest suspicion that Oz isn't really dead. I didn't find the final resolution all that satisfactory either.

My rating: 4.2

On the other hand, INHUMAN REMAINS  is now the first in the Primavera Blackstone series with a second title BLOOD RED published in 2009. So here is your chance to be in at the beginning of a series, and maybe you will like this one better than I did.

Quintin Jardine is a Scottish writer who now has 30 published novels.
This is from his website:
The Oz Blackstone mystery series is written in the first person and follows the narrator’s hapless career as an unwilling detective, with an uncanny resemblance to Keanu Reeves, as he rises to international celebrity status by a quite unexpected and unplanned route, until Keanu Reeves is seen as having an uncanny resemblance to him. His exploits began with ‘Blackstone’s Pursuits’ and continue through seven more novels to the much-praised ‘Alarm Call’, and imminently, to ‘For the Death of Me’. The Oz series began as something QJ did on his holidays, and continues whenever he feels at his most irresponsible. An unfortunate tendency to homicide that developed during Oz’s career led to his off-stage demise. However the Blackstone standard has been raised once more, this time in Spain, by his feisty ex, Primavera, whose first adventure, ‘Inhuman Remains’, was published in February 2009.

In 2002 Quintin Jardine was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger in the Library
If you want to follow Quintin Jardine on Twitter he is skinnercop - a nickname that comes from the name of the protagonist in his non-Blackstone series..