BROKEN GROUND

Our Facebook friend Val's deceptively languid style and sly black humour, a trademark combination of macabre suspense with a light touch keeps you reading. When a body is discovered in the remote depths of the Highlands, DCI Karen Pirie finds herself in the right place at the right time. Unearthed with someone's long-buried inheritance, the victim seems to belong to the distant past, until new evidence suggests otherwise, and Karen is called in to unravel a case where nothing is as it seems. It's not long before an overheard conversation draws her into the heart of a different case - a shocking crime she thought she had already prevented. As she inches closer to the twisted truth at the centre of these murders, it becomes clear that she is dealing with a version of justice terrifyingly different from her own. The only online criticism of this novel is that Val has included the First Minister and allowed some of her own political persuasion to creep in. Mostly, everybody loves the character of Mint and his relationship with Karen, especially when he surprises her with some hidden knowledge. 502pp, paperback with fairly large print.