Monday, September 12, 2016

22 Dead Little Bodies by Stuart MacBride


Readers who are a fan of Stuart MacBride (and I definitely am) will be thrilled to read this collection of stories about the travails of DS Logan McRae and the worst boss in the world, DCI Roberta Steele.  The book starts with a novella about a murder case that happens during the election in which Scottish voters decide if they will break away from the United Kingdom.  Steele is an adament supporter of separation and she follows the election avidly, interrupting McRae as he goes about his day and his investigation.

Other stories give us a glimpse into a vacation gone very wrong where Steele tries to hide the fact she is working from her wife with limited success and one in which the two police must work together to save their own lives.  There are four stories in all, but one is a novella and one a short novel so the end result is more than three hundred pages of McRae and Steele to savor.  Steele is her normal self, a self that is hard to believe can continue as a police investigator.  She is profane, drinks on the job, bullies her staff and intimidates the criminals she encounters.  McRae is the long-suffering policeman who does his work despite her and has an incredible mind for crime detection.  Together the two can't live with each other or without each other.  Their bond is unbreakable but the reader can't imagine how or why.

Stuart MacBride is one of the premier crime novelists working today.  His DS Logan McRae is an unforgettable police hero, unassuming, brilliant, put upon by the world and always optimistic despite all the horrors the world throws at him.  Fans who follow him only have one quibble; that he can't write faster as the novels are addictive.  This book is recommended for readers of mystery novels.


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