Naming the Bones

by Louise Welsh

Overview

The long-awaited fourth novel from the author of The Cutting Room and The Bullet Trick

Some secrets are best left buried . . .

Knee-deep in the mud of an ancient burial ground, a winter storm raging around him, and at least one person intent on his death: how did Murray Watson end up here?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847672568
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	02/13/2024
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Louise Welsh is the bestselling author of many novels, including The Cutting Room, Tamburlaine Must Die and The Bullet Trick. She was chosen as one of Britain's Best First Novelists of 2002 by the Guardian. Her awards include the Crime Writers' Association Creasey Dagger and the Saltire First Book Award. She lives in Glasgow.

Editorial Reviews

"If you love curling up with an atmospheric thriller, this is the novel for you... Spellbinding!"

Grazia

"Welsh is adept at keeping you reading till the end."

Daily Mail

"Saturated with dark imagery... enjoyable and exciting."

TLS

"Masterful...It is the most rounded of Welsh's books to date, fulfilling the huge promise of her earlier work, combining a whip-cracking plot with a literary touch that lifts her way above her genre colleagues...so much more than another literary mystery."

The Times

"Welsh creates a vivid sense of place... She paces revelations with care and keeps you hooked till the end."

Metro M D

"Welsh is one of the sharpest and most entertaining current Scottish writers, and her style, intelligence and wit, combined with a rather gothic texture, make her books extremely readable."

Times Higher Education Supplement

"A tale of literature, obsession and dark magic."

Scots Magazine

Dr. Murray Watson, an English professor at the University of Glasgow, is on sabbatical to write a biography of Archie Lunan, a minor Scottish poet who is believed to have drowned in the waters off the Isle of Lismore but whose body has never been found. Stymied by a lack of biographical information about his subject, Murray travels to Lismore to see if he can make contact with Lunan's widow, Christie Graves, who lives on the island but has refused to grant him an interview. Alone on Lismore, Murray begins to dig up dark secrets from the past. Welsh, a Crime Writers' Association award winner and author of The Cutting Room, provides an intriguing peek into the frustration of writing a biography about a private person. The remote Scottish island makes for a gloomily atmospheric setting, but Welsh fails to render believable characters. The novel starts out as a plodding procedural without a known crime and ends with an onslaught of sudden, melodramatic plot twists.Verdict Recommended for diehard fans of Scottish procedurals.—Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND

Library Journal