The Big Chill
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Running private-investigator and funeral-home businesses means trouble is never far away, and the Skelf women take on their most perplexing, chilling cases yet in Book Two of the darkly funny, devastatingly tense and addictive Skelfs series!
***Longlisted for Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year***
‘Compelling, compassionate … just brilliant. This series gets better with every book. I cannot get enough of the Skelfs’ Mark Billingham
‘Brilliantly drawn and blackly comic’ Herald Scotland
‘Confirms the Skelfs as a classic crime clan. I can’t wait for the next one’ Erin Kelly
‘I LOVE the Skelfs … The only problem with The Big Chill is that you’ll devour it so fast you’ll feel as bereft as one of the Skelfs’ clients. Doug Johnstone has murdered sleep’ Val McDermid
____________________
Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral that matriarch Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver’s shadowy life.
While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly.
But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find themselves sucked into an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves?
Following three women as they deal with the dead, help the living and find out who they are in the process, The Big Chill follows A Dark Matter, book one in the Skelfs series, which reboots the classic PI novel while asking the big existential questions, all with a big dose of pitch-black humour.
____________________
‘Exceptional … Johnstone seamlessly presents their stories with depth, elegance, and a delicate touch of wry humor as they get difficult jobs done with grace and kindness. This is a must for those seeking strong, authentic, intelligent female protagonists’ Publishers Weekly
‘Emotionally complex, richly layered and darkly funny. An addictive blend of Case Histories and Six Feet Under‘ Chris Brookmyre
‘Johnstone’s intuitive depiction of this trinity of resilient women is never less than flawless, in this tale punctuated by emotional depth and moments of dark humour...’ Raven Crime Reads
Praise for The Skelfs series
***Shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Book of the Year***
‘An engrossing and beautifully written tale that bears all the Doug Johnstone hallmarks in its warmth and darkly comic undertones’ Herald Scotland
‘Gripping and blackly humorous’ Observer
‘This dark but touching thriller makes for a thoroughly enjoyable slice of Edinburgh noir’ Mary Paulson-Ellis
‘This enjoyable mystery is also a touching and often funny portrayal of grief, as the three tough but tender main characters pick up the pieces and carry on: more, please’ Guardian
‘A tense ride strong, believable characters’ Kerry Hudson, Big Issue
‘They are all wonderful characters: flawed, funny, brave and well set up for a series. I wouldn’t call him cosy, but there’s warmth to Johnstone’s writing’ Sunday Times
Doug Johnstone
Doug Johnstone is the author of Twelve novels, most recently The Great Silence, the third in the Skelfs series, which has been optioned for TV. In 2021, The Big Chill, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2020, A Dark Matter, the first in the series, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Independent Voice Book of the Year award. Black Hearts (Book four), will be published in 2022. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
Read more from Doug Johnstone
Breakers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Space Between Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fault Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collapsing Wave: The epic, awe-inspiring new novel from the author of BBC 2’s Between the Covers pick THE SPACE BETWEEN US Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Big Chill
Related ebooks
The Big Chill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Hearts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTirips Shade: Ghost Detective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Stolen Child Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRusticles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShiny Bits in Between Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEndless Gateways: Vol 1 Iss 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe High Rise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRitual of Blood: Wizards of the Vatican, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMacronome: Book Two of the trilogy A Sequence of Events Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fugue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedaction: The Meltdown Part II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paint the Silence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackmail and White Lightnin' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFireGrrl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThursday's Child: Far To Go Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeamhan: Deamhan Chronicles, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEyes Closed Tight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deeply Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Dark Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Death and Dying Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lost Friends Lost Loves: Descansar Universe, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsphalt Desert Blues Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNow We Paint Worlds: A Tor.com Original Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Search Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Changes Trilogy: The Devil's Children, Heartsease, and The Weathermonger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttention. Deficit. Disorder.: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dr. One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus: Dead or Alive?: Evidence for the Resurrection Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Mystery For You
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The People Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Big Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summit Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Side: A Collection of Mysteries & Thrillers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Big Chill
8 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was more of a continuation of the first Skelf novel than a sequel, and the plot of the first was repeated in its entirety here. None of the characters seemed tho have moved on in any way since the end of the first novel, despite Hannah seeing surely the world's most useless therapist. The 'cases' the Skelf women investigated as PIs were (with the exception of Abi's story) not that interesting and I skimmed all the physic/astronomy stuff.I think I'm done with this series.