Dead Man’s Grave: The first book in a gripping new Scottish police procedural series for crime fiction and mystery thriller fans (DS Max Craigie Scottish Crime Thrillers, Book 1)

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Introducing DS Max Craigie, this is a police thriller with a dark heart, but one that held my attention to the very end. Neil Lancaster served as a military policeman for six years and then joined the Met where he was a covert policing specialist.

It quickly becomes obvious that there's corruption at a high level in Police Scotland and the Hardie family are benefitting from it.Today I am sharing my thoughts on Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster, book one in the Max Craigie series. My only issue is that the format was wacky on my Kindle Fire tablet, but no one else has mentioned it in their reviews so it must have been a problem on my end. Max is based in Gartcosh, and with the fast tracked DC Janie Calder, find himself at a bleak, isolated, abandoned graveyard at Ballachy, opening a grave with the inscription that it should never be opened. He chose to transfer to Police Scotland and the Serious and Organised Crime Unit from the Met, and his wife, less keen on the move, chose not to join him. I was really delighted to be able to send an early copy of the book to his son in Australia, my good friend Bruce Fisher, and his reaction to it meant as much to me as any of the wonderful comments I’ve received from early readers, including some of my writing heroes.

Summary: The first in a new series left me wondering to start with but the book quickly grabbed me and wouldn't let go. My information will not be shared with any third party (see our Privacy Statement - opens in a new window). I just didn’t find any of it believable; not the characters, not the way in which things developed and not the over-convenient way in which Max Gets The Better Of His Opponents. I wouldn’t dream of including spoilers, so you will have to guess for yourself whether, for example, Max is Taken Off The Case or whether there is a Tense One-To-One Climax In A Deserted Location From Which He Only Narrowly Escapes.Max isn’t alone in trying to get to the truth of this very deadly case, joined by a young DC, Janie Calder, a woman dismissed as somewhat of a misfit by colleagues, but someone who proves to be one of Max’s greatest ally, and someone more than equipped to save his hide. There are innocent victims in the book, but that added fuel to the already raging fire in Max’s belly and made me all the more invested in seeing justice being done.

They soon realise this murder is part of a blood feud between two Scottish families that stretches back to the 1800s. I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for an advance copy of Dead Man’s Grave, the first novel to feature DS Max Craigie and DC Janey Calder of Police Scotland. A stroke of luck for Max and Janie on their way back to Glasgow means the investigation into Hardie’s death might be wrapped up sooner than anyone expected, but Max is convinced there’s more to the killing than just some ancient family feud. Before too long it becomes crystal clear that Tam’s murder is part of an ongoing blood feud involving the Hardie’s, and despite the police’s arrest of the perpetrator the family will stop at nothing to achieve vengeance against their enemy. She's a highly intelligent and intuitive woman on the fast track program, which earns her a lot of stick, not always well-intentioned, from her colleagues.When the head of one of Scotland’s most notorious crime families is found brutally murdered, the police are bound to be in for a rough ride, as DS Max Craigie and DC Janie Calder soon discover. Back home in Scotland after serving in the Met, when it comes to who to trust, he doesn't have many choices. Tam Hardie stood, a mix of apprehension and excitement beginning to take hold as he saw the six words that his grandfather had assured him would be there. Dead Mans grace by Neil Lancaster is the first in a series featuring DS Max Craigie and if this is to be the standard to expect then I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. For more Scottish crime, we can recommend For Any Other Truth (DCI Jim Daley) by Denzil Meyrick and The Red, Red Snow by Caro Ramsay.