Showing results by author "Christopher Brookmyre" in All Categories

From Scottish crime master Christopher Brookmyre, Black Widow tells the potent story of a woman who thought she was too late for love, the man who falls for her ambition, and the secret selves that are poised, at any moment, to end everything.

When small-time heroin dealer Jai McDiarmid turns up dead one fine Glasgow morning, no one is that surprised - he'd been sleeping with a drug trafficker's girlfriend and had made himself a lot of enemies - so many, in fact, that Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod doesn't know where to start when she is assigned to the case.

Actress turned private investigator Jasmine Sharp has become accustomed to clients looking for long-lost relatives, so when a woman hires her to find her younger sister Tessa Garrion, Jasmine presumes the case will be relatively straightforward. The assignment takes her back into the world of professional theater, where she is warned off more than once for probing too deeply into the past. Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent and mother-of-two Catherine McLeod is called to the scene of a murder in the Highlands.

Private investigator Jasmine Sharp's father was murdered before she was born, and her mother went to self-sacrificing lengths in order to shield her from the world in which he moved. Since her mother's death, all she has been able to learn is his first name - and that only through a strange bond she has forged with the man who killed him: Glen Fallan. But when Fallan is arrested for the murder of a criminal her mother knew since childhood, Jasmine is finally forced to enter his domain: A place where violence is a way of life and vengeance spans generations.

The senior pupils of St Peter's High School are on retreat to a secluded outdoor activity centre, coming to terms with the murder of a fellow pupil through the means you would expect: counselling, contemplation, candid discussion and even prayer...not to mention booze, drugs, clandestine liaisons and as much partying as they can get away with. Not so far away, the commanders of a top-secret military experiment, long-since spiralled out of control, fear they may have literally unleashed the forces of Hell.

Life is dangerous when you have everything to lose. Famous, beautiful, and talented, Heike Gunn has the world at her feet. Then, one day, she simply vanishes. Meanwhile journalist Jack Parlabane has lost everything: his career, his marriage, his self-respect. A call for help from an old friend offers a chance for redemption - but only if he can find out what happened to Heike.

Sam Morpeth has had to grow up way too fast. Left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison, she is forced to watch her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online. Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane seems to have finally gotten his career back on track with a job at a flashy online news start-up, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law.

Yeah, yeah, the usual. A crime. A corpse. A killer. Heard it. Except this stiff happens to be a Ponsonby, scion of a venerable Edinburgh medical clan, and the manner of his death speaks of unspeakable things. Why is the body displayed like a slice of beef? How come his hands are digitally challenged? And if it's not the corpse, what is that awful smell?

Jane Bell had dreamt of playing in the casinos of Monte Carlo, but in her punk phase she got herself pregnant, and now she’s 46. She's a grandmother, her dreams as dry as the dust her Dyson sucks up from her hall carpet. Then her son, Ross, a researcher working for an arms manufacturer, is forced to disappear and to part with the secrets of his research. Jane will finally get the adventure she’s always wanted but at a price....

Do you believe in ghosts? Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living? Aye, right. That was Jack Parlabane's stance on the matter, anyway. But this was before he found himself in the more compromising position of being not only dead himself, but worse: dead with an exclusive still to file.

Gavin is creating a unique 'holiday experience’ - every facility any tourist who hates going abroad will ever want will all be available on a converted North Sea oil rig. To test the facilities he's hosting a reunion for his old school friends. He is so busy showing off that he doesn't notice that another group have invited themselves along - a collection of terrorist mercenaries who are occasionally of more danger to themselves than to the public.

Simon Darcourt, an inventive killer with a sense of humour, is creating his own celebrity talent show, one that is generating more publicity than its contestants have ever had in their lives. The catch is that those lives won't be very long. The police turn to Angelique de Xavia, a cop who has crossed his path before. However, the police are not the only people who want Darcourt. Now she's faced not only with tracking him down, but also with the task of ensuring she doesn't end up dead once she's served her purpose.

The crew of an oceanic research vessel goes missing in the Pacific along with their mini submarine. An evangelical media star holds a rally next door to a cinematic convention in LA. The cops know there's going to be trouble, but what they didn't foresee was the presence of a Glaswegian photographer with an indecipherable accent and a strong dislike of hypocrisy or of a terrorist who seems to have access to plutonium as well as Semtex.

Jack Parlabane is an investigative journalist who is not averse to breaking the law for a good story. Scottish parliament is in catatonic shock after experiencing its first dose of Westminster sleaze and the Catholic Church of Scotland is taking advantage of the politicians' discomfort. Behind the scenes the truth is obscured. Aware he's missing out on a great story; Parlabane discovers that contacts and a way with words is no defence against people he has helped to put away.

It was a junket, a freebie. A 'team-building' weekend in the highlands for lawyers, advertising execs, businessmen, even the head of a charity. Oh, and a journalist, specially solicited for his renowned and voluble scepticism - Jack Parlabane. Amid the flying paintballs and flowing Shiraz even the most cynical admit the organisers have pulled some surprises - stalkers in the forest, power cuts in the night, mass mobile phone thefts, disappearing staff, disappearing guests.

The murder of a media moghul in his country mansion appears to be the result of him disturbing a gang of would-be thieves. The robbers are swiftly caught, but when they are unexpectedly moved to a different prison they escape. Back in Edinburgh, a young solicitor reveals to the press that one of the subjects had left a letter with her some time before the break-in which proves his innocence.

We could tell you about the bodies. We could tell you their names, where they were found, the states they were in. We could tell you about the suspects, too, the evidence, the investigators; join a few dots, even throw you a motive. But what would be the point? After all, you know these people. You went to school with them. We all did. So if you really knew them then, you’ll already have all the answers....

Everyone's favourite unorthodox journalist Jack Parlabane goes undercover to investigate the mysterious and lucrative world of alternative medicine - in particular, the practice of homeopathy. Are there unexplained forces that can be harnessed to heal us, or is it all a load of sugar?

Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living? “Aye, right…” was journalist Jack Parlabane’s stance on the matter. But this was before he found himself in the compromising position of being not only dead himself but dead with an exclusive still to file. One thing he knows for certain: death is not the end - it’s the ultimate undercover assignment.

"Herzlich willkommen, meine Damen und Herren, Sie nehmen teil an einem Banküberfall!" Eine Gruppe Gangster in Clownskostümen dringt bewaffnet in eine Glasgower Bankfiliale ein. Doch die schwarzhumorigen Ganoven sind nicht nur auf fette Beute aus, sondern bieten ihren Geiseln auch eine waschechte Show – Theatervorführung inklusive. Polizistin Angelique de Xavia soll dem skurrilen Spektakel ein Ende bereiten – und trifft dabei auf Zal, den Anführer der Verbrecherbande. Obwohl beide auf verschiedenen Seiten kämpfen, entspinnt sich eine Romanze zwischen ihnen.