“Glasgow’s mean streets come alive, and author Brookmyre puts his readers in the shoes of the people who walk them. Surely Where the Bodies are Buried is one of the best novels of the year.”—John Lutz, New York Times bestselling and Edgar award-winning author
"Sharp, crafty, hard-edged and full of heart—Where the Bodies Are Buried is a gripping read."—Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author of China Lake and Ransom River
“[An] offbeat tale of ruthless mobsters in Glasgow. . . . A brainy, barbed noir, this book takes its time setting the scene and establishing its characters. Most of its violence occurs off the page. But with its contrasting characters (it’s easy to envision a series built around the endearing Jasmine), local color and language and skillfully orchestrated sense of bad things to come, the novel maintains a solid grip on the reader. Brookmyre isn’t as well-known in the States as fellow Scottish mystery writers Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Denise Mina, but this first-rate effort may change that.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] smartly written mainstream detective story . . . Brookymre deftly twists one case around the other.”—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
“[Brookmyre] is a Scottish writer popular in the United Kingdom but not so much in the United States—an unfortunate reality that this funny, tragic and satisfying novel should help to alter. . . . Brookmyre's style is slangy and assured but never aloof.”—Chicago Tribune
“Tough Scottish humor . . . leavened with Elmore Leonard-like flourishes.. . . finely controlled yet exuberant mayhem.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“Brookmre is off in a new direction in this straight-ahead crime thriller . . . [For] fans of Lynda La Plante’s “Prime Suspect” series and HBO’s The Wire.”—Library Journal
“Brookmyre introduces Det. Insp. Catherine McLeod and PI Jasmine Sharp in her solid first entry in a new Glasgow crime series. . . . Corruption, betrayal, and gallows humor fuel the noir plot, while family problems lend emotional depth.”—Publishers Weekly
“Brookmyre, well known in Great Britain for mixing black comedy into his thrillers, has veered toward a semiconventional procedural here, but he spikes his tale with internal police intrigues, bent coppers, and assorted ne’er-do-wells. . . . Well sketched, and almost every character is supplied some cynical, funny dialogue. . . . It’s Brookmyre’s sense of the city and its no-nuance criminals that makes this one a winner.”—Booklist
“Where the Bodies Are Buried is mainstream Glasgow noir, and it proves [Brookmyre] to be just as excellent at the gritty, serious end of the genre as he was dispensing manic humor.”—The Times (London)
“A strident blast of the trumpet to wake up crime fiction readers everywhere.”—Val McDermid
“Premier-league crime writing.”—Mark Billingham
“[Brookmyre’s] writing is as sharply observed and mordantly funny as ever. . . . There are plenty of back-doubles and plot twists in this fast-paced read.”—The Guardian
“Brookmyre is one of those fascinating individuals who sees and knows exactly what nicely toned written text looks like, jovially chooses to ignore it, and lowers the bar to a level of utterly brutal and fantastic indecency that is an absolute pleasure to read.”—Edinburgh STV
“A pacy, witty thriller that marks a new chapter for [Brookmyre].”—The Scotsman
Brookmyre (A Snowball in Hell) introduces Det. Insp. Catherine McLeod and PI Jasmine Sharp in her solid first entry in a new Glasgow crime series. In alternating chapters, perceptive Catherine looks into the murder of a drug dealer, who was a henchman of a local mobster, while inexperienced Jasmine searches for her PI uncle/boss, who went missing while working a case involving a family that disappeared decades before. Jasmine’s only lead is Glen Fallan, a professional assassin who’s rumored to have been dead for 20 years. Catherine’s police investigation and Jasmine’s hunt realistically intersect as each learns they are up against “the biggest gang in Glasgow,” and that trust, even in the police force, is a rare commodity. Corruption, betrayal, and gallows humor fuel the noir plot, while family problems lend emotional depth, in particular, Jasmine’s grief over her mother’s death and Catherine’s concern that she doesn’t spend enough time with her two sons and husband. Agent: Caroline Dawnay, United Agents. (July)
Having established his reputation with comic thrillers (beginning with Quite Ugly One Morning) and detouring briefly into the science fiction cul-de-sac of Pandaemonium, Brookmyre is off in a new direction in this straight-ahead crime thriller clearly designed as the start of a new series. When the battered body of a Glaswegian drug dealer turns up in an alley, DS Catherine McLeod, trying to make her mark in the almost exclusively lads' world of the Glasgow police, investigates. Meanwhile, across town Jasmine Sharp, a 20-year-old "daft wee lassie," has signed on to help her private investigator cousin. When he disappears, she gamely ploughs ahead, arriving finally under the wing of a shadowy figure with the unlikely name of Tron Ingrams. Only very gradually do the McLeod and Sharp stories intertwine as proof that all the crooked and mean streets of Glasgow converge in the biggest gang of all. VERDICT While longtime fans might just want to headbutt some sense into Brookmyre for renouncing his comic edge, fans of Lynda La Plante's "Prime Suspect" series and HBO's The Wire should more than make up the difference. [See Prepub Alert, 1/8/12.]—Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO
Two women investigators--a veteran police detective with a distant husband and two young boys and a struggling actress working for her uncle, an ex-cop, as a private detective--cross paths in this offbeat tale of ruthless mobsters in Glasgow. A Scottish crime novelist known for his satirical gore fests (One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, 1999, etc.), Brookmyre here begins a new, straighter-faced procedural cop series. After a drug dealer is killed, Detective Catherine McLeod must penetrate not only the net of secrecy surrounding criminal lowlifes in "Glesca," but also the questionable motives of her superiors. Meanwhile, Jasmine Sharp, a slip-up waiting to happen, must get her act together after her uncle goes missing. He was working on a cold case involving the disappearance of a couple and had told their now-adult daughter he had news for her. Following clues to a women's shelter, Jasmine gets paired off with a handyman who goes by the unlikely name Tron Ingrams. After an attempt is made on her life, or his, he reveals he's really a bent cop's son, Glen Fallan, a name in one of her uncle's files. As more people are killed, maimed or disappear, Catherine's story becomes joined with Jasmine's and her former boss' pronouncement becomes apparent: "This is Glesca. We don't do subtle, we don't do nuanced, we don't do conspiracy...We do tit-for-tat, score-settling, feuds, jealousy, petty revenge. We do straightforward. We do obvious. We do cannaemisswhodunit." A brainy, barbed noir, this book takes its time setting the scene and establishing its characters. Most of its violence occurs off the page. But with its contrasting protagonists (it's easy to envision a series built around the endearing Jasmine), local color and language and skillfully orchestrated sense of bad things to come, the novel maintains a solid grip on the reader. Brookmyre isn't as well-known in the States as fellow Scottish mystery writers Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Denise Mina, but this first-rate effort may change that.
