Book Review: In The Cold Dark Ground - the latest DCI Roberta Steel & DS Logan McCrae triumph by Stuart MacBride! (January 2016)

 In The Cold Dark Ground is my favourite crime book of 2016 so far.  A bombardment of emotions, a grippingly twisty plot, beautifully witty dialogue and characters I would kill to have created.  It was fantastic to be snuggled up in the company of old friends: long suffering DI Logan McRae, irascible, comical DCI Roberta Steel, and gothic tattooed Samantha (Logan's girlfriend)

As well as a woman bludgeoned to death by a crow bar, a male body discovered in the woods in a execution style murder, a missing man and the ever present threat of Hamish Mowat's henchman Reuben, DI Logan McRae is having trouble with the various women in his life.
In The Cold Dark Ground is beautifully balanced between high octane action, poignant, tear jerking moments, and gut aching belly laughs. 
MacBride has cornered the market of the witty macabre and is performing at the top of his league at the moment. His attention to the procedural detail of Scottish police procedural detail is second to none and his rich descriptions, humour and expert plot navigation ensure a gripping read.

There were many notable strokes of genius in In The Cold dark Ground, but for me two stand out.  The first is DCI Roberta Steel's erotic fantasy about Helen Mirren, whom Stuart, here on The Crime Warp, declared his first choice to play Roberta Steel.  My only question is why the hell have the TV rights to this fantastic series not been snapped up already? 


The second was a beautiful cameo appearance by Skeleton Bob (MacBride's picture book creation) - truly inspired.

So, if you like your crime on the dark, witty side this is a must for you.  Go on give it a shot...you won't regret it.

Available on Amazon Kindle £7.99, HB £8, PB £7.99, Audio download £8.99, Audio CD £19.99 Click here