Showing results by author "Quintin Jardine" in All Categories

The 30th gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's bestselling Bob Skinner series, not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner may have left the police service, but he's never far from a case. When his old mentor on the force, Jimmy Proud, finds himself in a desperate situation, Skinner gets pulled into a murder investigation that's been closed for 30 years.

Brought up by his hard-nosed father and ferocious Spanish grandmother, Xavier Aislado is a gentle giant. And though Xavi’s bond with his grandmother grows, he is abandoned when his family return to Spain, leaving him in Edinburgh to complete his education. Years later, when his promising sporting career is cut short, Xavi pursues his true passion: journalism. And when his first assignment ends in violent death, he is drawn into a dark new world.

A plane explodes mid-flight and plunges to disaster from the Scottish skies, the British and American defence secretaries among the victims. Now Edinburgh’s Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner must lead the most high-profile investigation of his career. The means of destruction is apparent from the start, but the investigation quickly grows more puzzling. When Skinner himself is wrenched from the case, his colleagues struggle with the mass of clues while he fights for his life, trapped with the secret horrors of his past.

1818, Carluke, Lanarkshire. Mathew Fleming returns home to Scotland following heroic service at the Battle of Waterloo. After seven years away, he is a ghostly presence to those he left behind. But Mathew is ambitious and soon becomes a man of influence in his country and beyond. Yet through all his success, he still hides the loss of his one true love. When a terrible act of murder occurs, Mathew must choose between the rule of blood and the rule of law.

The body of a murdered woman is found washed up on Cramond Island near the mouth of the River Forth. Days later detectives are called to a flat in Edinburgh; the kitchen is covered in blood, and the occupier is missing. When the name of the woman from Cramond Island is revealed, it stirs unwelcome memories for those who knew her, Chief Constable Bob Skinner most of all. Now based in Glasgow, he has no reason to become involved in the linked cases.

The killing was an expert hit. Three shots through the head, as the lights dimmed at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm. The crisis finds Skinner, his private life shattered by the shocking end of his marriage, taking a step that he had sworn he never would. Tasked by Scotland's First Minister with the investigation, he finds himself quickly uncovering some very murky deeds...

Once upon a time in what was then reasonably Great Britain, there was a world in which the not too serious business of politics was practised without those people known today, nonsensically, as spin doctors, and without whispers against those who were supposed to be friends, but who were in fact blockages on the ladder of ambition. This audiobook is a wistful recollection of those days. None of it actually happened. But it would be nice to think that it might have.

When millionaire Leo Speight is found poisoned at his Ayrshire mansion, Police Scotland has a tough case on its hands. The charismatic young Speight was a champion boxer with national hero status. A long list of lovers and friends stand to benefit from his estate. Did one of them decide to speed things up? Or was jealousy or rivalry the motive? Suspecting links to organised crime, the Security Service wants to stay close to the investigation. They have just the man to send in: ex-Chief Constable Bob Skinner.

A tranquil Spanish village by the sea is the perfect place for Primavera Blackstone to raise her ten-year-old, Tom, son of the late lamented Oz, especially once they are joined by Oz's nephew, pro golfer Jonny Sinclair. But when her best friend, Shirley, introduces her new man, Patterson Cowling, he seems to be a magnet for trouble. A casual thief tries to pick his pocket and is found a few days later with his face blown off. A bloody coincidence? Or does Patterson Cowling have a past to protect?

Oz Blackstone is enjoying the success of his latest smash-hit movie. He's moving into a big country house near Loch Lomond with his gorgeous wife Suzie Gantry, who has twice been named Scottish Businesswoman of the Year. They have the lifestyle of everyone's dreams. But when blackmailers threaten Oz's father with a particularly sleazy scam, the dream begins to turn into a nightmare. Oz gets paint thrown at him during the premiere of his movie and then an incendiary bomb is sent to his wife's offices.

When Oz Blackstone is offered a major role in a cop movie shooting in Edinburgh, he cannot resist. The self-professed "luckiest man on the planet" sees himself heading for stardom and wealth, but his marriage to Primavera is on the rocks. On the other hand, a brief encounter with the beautiful, self-possessed Susie Gantry is turning into something more long term. Life looks like a bowl of cherries until ex-lover Alison Goodchild turns up asking for a favor.

DCC Bob Skinner has a failed marriage on his hands and a death on his conscience, but little time to deal with either as he faces the biggest challenge of his career within the secret corridors where dark power is wielded. Four crimes, four crises: can Skinner and his people solve them?

When two young female artists are murdered in what looks like ritualistic killings, the pressure is on to find a highly professional murderer. The arrival of the father of one of the victims, millionaire businessman Davor Boras, brings in the big guns of the Home Office, MI5, and the CIA. It isn't long before Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner gets called back to the front line in a case that is as deadly as it is mysterious.

Assistant Chief Constable Bob Skinner's legendary cool is shaken when he's faced with the bodies of his wife's parents, who have been brutally murdered. At the death scene in New York state, Skinner's out of his jurisdiction - but he's not going to let that stop him shaping the investigation.

Oz Blackstone, enormously wealthy screen hero and sleuth, dies of a ruptured aorta. Her mind still filled with thoughts of her dead ex-husband, Primavera Blackstone is in Spain with their son Tom when their peace is breached again with the arrival of her formidable aunt, Adrienne McGowan, whose son, Frank, has disappeared.

It's the Fiesta de San Juan in Spain, the national celebration of the Summer Solstice, and there's much excitement about a huge firework display in the village of St Marti. But Primavera Blackstone is more inflamed by the appearance of a mysterious writer, Duncan Culshaw, who is determined to rake through the ashes of her past. And when extortion and blackmail are mentioned, Primavera realises the heat is on.

After a tip-off, a man's body is exhumed from a shallow grave in Edinburgh. Murder surely, yet he died from natural causes, so, case closed? Indeed was there ever a case? But Chief Constable Skinner and his people keep on digging. Who was the man, why was he buried so reverentially, and by whom? Meanwhile corruption is discovered within the force, and an investigation launched.

Primavera is enjoying the quiet life in an idyllic village on the Catalan coast of Spain. The attractive single mother and eight-year-old Tom, son of the late and still lamented Oz Blackstone, are popular figures in the tiny community. But her close friendship with the parish priest has eyebrows rising and tongues wagging. Then a dispute explodes with a powerful councillor who refuses to allow the village wine fair to go ahead. When his body is found, head caved in, some ominous questions are asked.

After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Philips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St. Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava.

Ten years ago Oz Blackstone, movie icon, died tragically while filming in remote Guatemala; mourned by millions, his story came to an end, and his secrets died with him. His soul mate, Primavera Phillips, took their young son, Tom, back to the Spanish village where he was conceived and built a new life for them both in Oz's honour. For sure Oz was an idol, and as is the way with ill-fated legends, there are those who have never accepted his death, who have kept the faith ever since.