Fire in the Blood, by Ed James

About the author:

Ed James writes crime fiction, predominantly the Scott Cullen series of police procedurals set in Edinburgh and the surrounding Lothians. Ed also writes science fiction and mainstream fiction, but with a crime bent.

My thoughts on the book:

This is book #3 in the Scott Cullen series of police procedurals, and is a kindle copy. The review is on the request of the author, and I thank Ed for giving me a review copy of the same. For the reviews of the first two, please click on the author name in the labels.

So we begin at a well known distillery, steeped in tradition of whisky making. When preparations for the centenary of the distillery are being made with a special blend being readied for it, one of the barrels supposedly shut for the previous fourteen years is opened and a body is found. Wonderful place to find a body eh? Or even hide it. Very tough to find it if the barrel is not going to be opened for a long time. And further difficulty to identify the victim or killer when the timeframe goes years back. So that sets up the plot well already.

Cullen and co. begin their investigation only to find that the victim might be one of two possible people, one of who is actually related to the distillery. So that puts a whole new spin on the case. The narration, with the Scottish accent dialogues, does well to hold the pace and the plot. I enjoyed the story. The dialogues seem more toward English than Scottish, or perhaps that was because I had read the previous two and have got somewhat used to that. I think dialogues of Bain can have less profanity. I think it's been done to show what a pompous person he is, having no regard for others but it feels overdone.

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Rating: 4 Stars

Book details:
Title: Fire in the Blood
Author: Ed James
ASIN: B00B6RFDX0
Genre: Crime Fiction
Type: Kindle e-Book
Price: INR. 210

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Reviewed by Leo

Devil in the Detail, by Ed James

About the author:

Ed James writes crime fiction, predominantly the Scott Cullen series of police procedurals set in Edinburgh and the surrounding Lothians. Ed also writes science fiction and mainstream fiction, but with a crime bent.

My thoughts on the book:

Firstly, thanks to Ed for his generosity in giving a review copy of the book. This is the second book in the Scott Cullen series. You can click on the author's name in the labels to read my review of the previous one.

When I picked up the first book on Kindle, it was because of the name, which caught my interest. This one doesn't as easily, and I feel it could have been something else. He's kept the design of his cover simple again as well.

Whereas in his first book, we're taken right to the heart of the crime, in this one we are first taken through a part of Cullen's counselling after the ending of Ghost in the Machine, where he meets with his former partner's family. I find this to be a good touch because it addresses the grief in the aftermath of that book, but I felt at times that it spills over a lot into this book at the beginning, making it seem more like investigating Cullen's mindset rather than a new crime.

Coming to this book, the investigation is of the death of Mandy Gibson, who is first shown missing and then found by a dogwalker. Though far from their area, Cullen and Bain are called in to investigate and they form their teams. The investigation goes to the parents, and the close friends of the family as well as the victim. The prime suspect is caught upon and the local bad-boy of the area, Jamie Cook is brought into the scenario. Then after some more work from Cullen's part and some interest on Bain's, we arrive at a second suspect in Seamus Mulgrew, the head of a somewhat interesting "church". The book and the investigation seem a little slow paced till the second murder catches us unawares.

In the first book, the pace is quick and keeps the interest right from the get go. This book is a little more even paced... starts off slow and then picks up toward the middle and ending. Unless you have a fair knowledge of football teams and grounds in Scotland, some parts of the novel might be lost on you. And speaking of lost, I wish the character of Eva Law had got a better ending rather than a lost one. Profanity from Bain in frustration or sarcasm felt a little more than necessary as well. The good parts of this book are the pace and the characters. In my opinion, It holds the reader as a mystery. 

Rating: 3.75 Stars

Book details:

Title: Devil in the Detal

Author: Ed James

ASIN: B009O51HFO

Genre: Crime Fiction

Type: Kindle e-Book

Price: INR. 210

Reviewed by Leo

Ghost in the Machine by Ed James

About the author:

Ed James writes crime fiction, predominantly the Scott Cullen series of police procedurals set in Edinburgh and the surrounding Lothians. Ed also writes science fiction and mainstream fiction, but with a crime bent.

My thoughts on the book:

There are some books that intrigue you by the name itself. This is one such book. When you see the title “Ghost in the Machine”, you’d think it’s more of a children’s fiction than a crime-fiction. Even the cover does very little to make you think any different. So your interest is piqued.

The book begins with a scene where a woman is pushed into a room as she feels a rope biting her neck. The woman turns up in a missing person’s report two days later and is handed to Detective Constable (DC) Scott Cullen, at Lothian and Borders police, to look into. He begins his investigation with Acting DC Keith Miller and does the usual meeting the friends and family and looking to the welfare of the woman Caroline Adamson’s son as well. He doesn’t get wind of anything untoward happening with her until the morning of his day off when Caroline is found dead in a hotel room. The investigation now continues into her “death” as they look at the pool of suspects including someone the woman met on a social networking site.

As the investigation continues, so does the crime as we more twists and turns. Through the investigation, Cullen’s way is hindered in no small amount by Bain, the Detective Inspector he reports to. Bain thinks he’s already got the criminal, and looks for proof to complete his case, giving Cullen very meager work. It’s like a contest to see who solves the case first.

It’s a good plot and keeps you interested in knowing what actually happened. Just when you think the case is near solved, a twist comes in and keeps you interested. Towards the end, to an extent, you do know who the culprit is most likely to be. Though curiosity to know the ending does keep the read going along at a decent pace, I was a little uncomfortable with the Scottish accent words. I do give the author points for keeping the local dialect though, because it made an effect on the originality.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Book details:

Title: The Ghost in the Machine

Author: Ed James

ASIN: B007U7GQHM

Genre: Crime Fiction

Type: Kindle e-Book

Price: Free

Reviewed by Leo

Shared with First Reads Challenge