Open Season (Bob Skinner Book 34)

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I found the novel intriguing in both investigations. The Glasgow murder has top level connections that foreshadow trouble and that proves to be the case. It has a few neat twists that surprised me at every turn and a wee bit of humour to keep it real. It’s great stuff. The deaths of the pensioners is intriguing in a different way, chiefly because if it is murder, why? That’s where the clever comes in. I think the solution to this mystery is ingenious and inventive. Is Quentin going to stretch this story over two books or do we just assume that “the sample” will prove fruitful and that it’s the usual slam dunk. Unlikely as old smug boy Skinner wasn’t in at the kill and that is very unlikely.

As ever with this series it is the Bob Skinner show as he has an imposing, authoritative personality. He tries to move on with his media job and accepts that the new Chief Constable, Neil McIlhenny, wants him to bow out of his behind the scenes role, but even he can see the irony of him soon begging for help when both cases need his expertise. Again, clever plotting to come up with a scenario that makes him indispensable. From acclaimed author Quintin Jardine comes the latest gripping mystery in his bestselling Bob Skinner series, perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter May. So why do I keep reading. Well it’s like an old cardigan that is comfortable and easy to wear but alas this latest outing seems a bit tired. Characters that we have met before go bad but it is all tied up in the complex web of family relationships that have developed over all the years and are becoming a bit tiresome. So once again the old gang come out to play with the omnipotent puppet master Skinner still hanging smugly around like the ghost of Christmas past. He is now on some astronomical salary in the media business yet holds an unhealthy position of influence in the Scottish police force. His son is now an IT genius - well he would be wouldn’t he ? And his old mate Andy Martin makes an appearance to apologise profusely to the great man and duly receives the Skinner Blessing - so you want to be an MSP then Skinner will make it so, such is the power of Sir Robert. So once you have been taken down the most complex of family trees and “Super Bob” has once again been the power behind the two murders being solved you are still left with the unsolved Glasgow case.This is number 33 in the Bob Skinner series – if it’s not a series you are familiar with, I would highly recommend it if you enjoy crime fiction. As the secrets start unravelling, Skinner realises he has gravely underestimated someone close to him - and the effects will cost him, and those he loves, dear . . . Early hours of New Years Day and Bob Skinner gets a call to arms. He is summoned to Torpichen Police Station where two people have been found shot dead in car abandoned outside. But if that wasn't bad enough, the two bodies are very familiar... former Detective Terry Coates and Inspector Griff Montell who used to date Bob's daughter Alexis. Will that be Robert’s next outing or will he have fathered another unbelievable budding genius whilst his daughter, who was thankfully missing for most of this story, becomes the greatest lawyer Scotland has ever witnessed.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of The Roots of Evil, the thirty second novel to feature former Chief Constable Bob Skinner, set in Edinburgh. The police are also searching two countries for traces of a mysterious crime novelist who appears to have vanished. Has the faking of his own death been his masterpiece? Aside from all that, we have all the necessary to make this a very decent read. Plot twists and turns, about faces and more than its fair share of secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour. Pacing is good throughout and there is little padding to distract. OK so it's a wee bit OTT and maybe a fraction far fetched but I do love this series, I have invested a lot of time in the characters and have enjoyed every second of my time with them so I am well placed for forgive a little.Jardine has a style of writing that draws the reader in, together with an excellent handle on the workings of Scotland’s police force. He keeps the reader engaged throughout both with the story line and the characters – many of whom have been with him since the start of the series and it’s always interesting to see these develop. And Bob Skinner himself. Well, he is the gift that keeps on giving. Not the stereotypical MC but he has had his fair share of personal tragedy which has both expanded his ever growing family and made him a wiser man all told. I really do love my time spent seeing what he is up to next which is why the only bad thing about this book is the fact that now I have a long wait for the next one! So... part of the fallout from Covid means that Bob is called upon to head the board of the media company he works at. This means travelling to head office more - something not that easy these days. Meanwhile there are a few fatal accidents happening at the homes of the same vulnerable he has been visiting - putting him on the radar of the Police as a suspect no less! The novel is told mostly from Bob Skinner’s first person point of view. This is interesting as I never really understand where he is coming from. He always seems so many steps ahead of the rest and sees angles no one else could conceive. It seems exhausting. At the same time he is a family man, albeit rather unreconstructed with the job coming first. We find Bob and his wife, Sarah, coming to the end of their self-isolation period, after suffering from Coronavirus. As the pandemic hit his home town of Gullane, Bob volunteers in his community offering help to the older residents. When a series of unexplained deaths occur, he yet again finds himself at the centre of a police investigation, and even becomes a suspect himself at one point. He’s not the only one of his ex-police colleagues to come under suspicion – when a headless body is found in a Glasgow flat – the secrets of a nation and one of it’s rising stars are at risk of being exposed.

Whatever happens next one lives in hope that some almighty secret from Skinner’s past comes out and blows the ego out of the water. Scottish crime-writing at its finest , with a healthy dose of plot twists and turns, bodies and plenty of brutality' Sun Incredibly difficult to put the book down . . . a guide through a world of tangled family politics, hostile takeovers, government-sanctioned killing, extortion and the seedier side of publishing . . . Quintin Jardine should be . . . your first choice!' SCOTS MAGAZINEAlongside each inquiry as it evolves is former Chief Constable Sir Robert Skinner, relishing his new role as a media magnate, but drawn into reluctant action and towards a chilling discovery of his own.