Dead Man's Grave

Tam Hardie, head of one of Scotland’s most notorious crime empires, is looking for something in a ruined graveyard in the depths of the Caithness countryside. He knows he’s succeeded when he sees the words This Grave Never to be Opened on an overgrown granite grave slab. He rings his sons to tell them he’s in the right place and then he fails to heed the warning written in stone …

When Tam Hardie goes missing, the job of liaising with the family is handed to DS Max Craigie, not long arrived with Police Scotland from his last job in the Met, and Janie Calder, a rookie DC. Using mobile phone data to track the old man, Max and Janie follow Hardie Snr’s trail to the graveyard, find his car parked there and soon discover Hardie’s corpse, hidden in the same grave he opened. The man has been brutally murdered and his sons are not going to be happy bunnies.

Tam Hardie Jnr is determined to find his father’s killer and send a message to everyone in the criminal underworld that it’s business as usual for the Hardie family; cross them at your peril. 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. When the body count starts to rise and it becomes clear – at least to Max – that the Hardie boys are going after anyone connected with their father’s killer, he’s is determined to investigate further, but quickly finds himself blocked at every turn, and starts to wonder who in Police Scotland can be trusted as the Hardie family seem to have a finger in every pie in the force.

Neil Lancaster, a former police covert surveillance specialist, writes well and convincingly, with neatly drawn characters, both good and bad and a complex plot that usually manages to stay just on the right side of too convoluted to follow. At first, the book was something of a slow burn, but as it gradually gathered pace, I found myself reading in longer and longer chunks until I reached the last quarter and then I had to gallop through the rest at speed. The corruption in Police Scotland had its tendrils everywhere and I found myself even suspecting Max’s boss, the bluff, good-natured DI Ross Fraser, an equal opportunities purveyor of insults to his subordinates.

The practical, no-nonsense Janie Calder makes a good sidekick for Max, unfazed when he goes spectacularly off piste after being side-lined in the investigation. She has his back throughout, which is fortunate, as Max needs someone he can trust. I will admit to a moment of alarm when Max’s dog, Nutmeg, was introduced and had to take a sneaky peak at the end to see if she survived. Anyone who has similar issues to me may take note of the fact that I continued reading but, as ever, if anything bad happens to the dog, I’m out of this series!

In common with most fictional coppers, Max’s marriage seems to be heading for the rocks and he’s current living apart from his wife while she decides if they still want to be together, but unlike some, Max is determinedly staying off the booze while he’s alone in Scotland. The emotional baggage is never in danger of weighing the story down or looming too large. This is a good, solid police procedural with a likeable main character and an equally likeable bag carrier. The final section of the book was fast moving and realistic with plenty of dark humour and several twists that weren’t telegraphed well in advance, something that always makes a nice change. I particularly liked the minor character Bruce Ferguson, brother of one of the men killed in what appears to be a centuries old feud, a tough ex-special forces soldier now running security for a Russian oligarch. I’d very much like to see more of him.

And at the end, although one door closes, another opens and I was glad to learn that we haven’t seen the last of Max and Janie, but please, please, hands off Nutmeg!