It’s been nearly 18 months since the Bloodsmith killed his first victim of five and a few months since the last one. The investigation entitled ‘Operation Maypole’ is getting nowhere fast in apprehending this callous killer and the press and police top brass are getting impatient for results. DI Tudor is now placed in charge and DS Lucy McVeigh is made part of the team. Lucy however, is very distracted as not only is she struggling with possible PTSD, she has a stalker and if that’s not enough Benedict Strachan, a recently released child killer is pleading for her help and protection. It's fair to say DS Lucy McVeigh doesn't have a huge amount of confidence in her partner DC Duncan Fraser, commonly called the Dunk! Unfortunately they've just been assigned to the team involved in Operation Maypole, investigating a serial killer known in the Scottish press as the Bloodsmith so they will be working closely on everything. There is very little to go on however, and most of those involved feel they are getting nowhere fast.

I couldn't help thinking, as I got to the end, that Lucy may have made a deal with the Devil, and we all know the Devil likes to come out on top. He just might have met his match in Lucy. This is definitely going to be an interesting series. Yes, it’s probably a lot bonkers but it’s also a highly entertaining, mad caper which I enjoy from start to finish. But university and I did not see eye to eye, so off I went to work offshore. Like many all-male environments, working offshore was the intellectual equivalent of Animal House, only without the clever bits. Swearing, smoking, eating, more swearing, pornography, swearing, drinking endless plastic cups of tea... and did I mention the swearing? But it was more money than I'd seen in my life! There's something about being handed a wadge of cash as you clamber off the minibus from the heliport, having spent the last two weeks offshore and the last two hours in an orange, rubber romper suit / body bag, then blowing most of it in the pubs and clubs of Aberdeen. And being young enough to get away without a hangover. Fiona’s opinion on this one was, we’re all living through it, no one wants to read about it. What we need is something to lift us out of our current predicament. Something fun. Something that would make people laugh.The story begins with a prologue, the murder of a homeless man by two children (preteens), then shifts into typical MacBride country — a police station in Oldcastle, a fictitious city in Scotland that serves as the setting for most of the author’s darker stories — madcap with a somber overcast. So the reader knows what to expect. With the case going nowhere the investigating team are restructured and DS Lucy McVeigh and her partner DC Duncan "The Dunk" Fraser are given the task of reviewing the victims and the murder scenes in the hope that someone will remember something that will help them close a case that has ground to a halt after seventeen months.

Lucy really isn’t in a great place herself right now, she’s clearly suffering from PTSD, and also has a stalker, and what with the extra pressure of Benedict Strachan, who pleads for her help, she’s definitely on a downward spiral. For years I’ve been saying that crime writers reflect the fears of society. That’s why 1970s crime fiction is so different to 2000s, or 2010. It holds up a mirror to our collective psyche and asks, ‘What are you afraid of?’What should have been a straight forward assignment for Detective Constable Edward Reekie turned out to be far more. His task was to collect a dying prisoner from HMP Grampian and deliver him to Glenfarach to live out his last remaining days in peace. Then around the 80% mark the story takes a sharp turn. I was expecting some of it — the foreshadowing of Lucy’s PTSD — but not all of it. There are more twists and turns through the last 20%, some I liked and some I didn’t like. But at the end, I was left with an uneasy feeling, because many of the killers escaped justice. In real life, this is often true, but most of us read thrillers because we want things to end right, the culprits caught, and justice to prevail. When an author doesn’t give us that satisfaction, we are left with a feeling of unease. Yes, MacBride throws us tidbits: not all the culprits escape; some are captured/killed. But some flourish.

A claw-foot bath dominated one wall, topped by a mildewed shower-curtain. Crusts of dark-orange and brown limescale around the drain. Lid and seat up on the toilet, showing off a whole Formula-One- season of skid marks.” There you have it, the writing style of Stuart MacBride enriched with toilet humour, rude rather than crude remarks, a list of very colourful and dur Scottish characters hidden loosely under crime/noir. Now let me say from the start I have been reading this authors books from the early days of Cold Granite, the first Logan McCrea novel and have always found his style refreshing and indeed at times highly amusing (who could forget DCI Roberta Steel and her testing sense of humour most of it at the expense of Logan who she rather fondly called Laz :) So....I'm anxiously waiting for some of my book buddies to grab this & read it because we need to talk. Don't worry, we'll skip past the first 80%. I'm referring to the last bit, the final chapters I read with my mouth hanging open. But in the meantime, a few thoughts on the story & how it all began.I liked the idea for the community of ex-prisoners nestled in the Cairngorms but the plot became a bit far fetched for me and didn’t hold my interest. In the mix is old case where a young boy murdered a homeless person, he been released from prison and seeks out McVeigh for help. Added into this she is targeted by the mother of a murdered man and seemingly being stalked by the Bloodsmith, oh and then there's the small matter of Charlie from Professional Standards who is constantly sniffing around. Full of dark humour, violence, gore and unsavoury characters along with a fast paced plot full of twists and turns, this was a book I really enjoyed. There are many laugh-out-loud moments, moments that make you wince and several "no way" moments that had me swiping my screen at a great rate of knots desperate to find out how it was all going to end but also not wanting it to. Ah. In that case then, I'd probably suggest reading the first three quarters of this book as it offers the lot... murder... twists... question marks... it's got everything you would expect from Mr MacBride. But then quit while you are ahead and just put the book down and walk away.

The weather's closing in, tensions are mounting, and time's running out - something nasty has come to Glenfarach, and Edward is standing right in its way...I absolutely raced through The Dead Of Winter and i love love loved it! The writing style that Stuart MacBride has is unique in the crime fiction genre, others try to do something similar but no one can write like Stuart MacBride does. The aplomb, that he writes murder and gruesomeness in one sentence and then sarcastic humor in another is exceptional. Having myself, worked for the Police for 12 years in the 1990s, I’m well aware of the dark humor used in extreme situations to lift the pressure, Stuart writes that in such a realistic way it’s superb. Stuart MacBride is an automatic must-read for me... always fast, hard, authentic - and different' LEE CHILD ABOUT 'NO LESS THE DEVIL': It's been seventeen months since the Bloodsmith butchered his first victim and Operation Maypole is still no nearer to catching him. The media is whipping up a storm, the top brass are demanding results, but the investigation is sinking fast.