Troubled Waters: An Alice Rice Mystery

By Gillian Galbraith

A young, disabled girl is lost on a winter's night in Leith, unable to help herself or find her way home. Someone is combing the streets, frantically searching for her. Within hours of her disappearance, a body is washed up on Beamer Rock, a tiny island in the Forth being used as part of the foundations for the new Queensferry Bridge. No sooner has Detective Inspector Alice Rice managed to discover the identity of that body than another one is washed up on the edge of the estuary, in Belhaven Bay. What is the connection between the two bodies? Has the killer any other victims in their sights and if so, can Alice solve the puzzle before another life is taken?
In this novel, the sixth in the series, appearances belie reality, and truths and falsehoods gradually merge, becoming indistinguishable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Polygon
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780857908186

Gillian Galbraith

Gillian Galbraith was an advocate specialising in medical negligence and agricultural law cases for seventeen years. She also worked for a time as an agony aunt in teenagers’ magazines. Since then, she has been the legal correspondent for the Scottish Farmer and has written on legal matters for The Times. She is the author of The Alice Rice Mysteries series, and in 2014 she began the Father Vincent Ross Mystery series with The Good Priest.

Reviews for Troubled Waters

[moonshineandrosefire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At thirty-five years old, Alice Rice is a police detective with the Edinburgh Police Department. She is smart, savvy and eminently capable at her job. When she first entered the police department, Alice was a fresh-faced optimist, convinced that she could make a difference in the world. These days, while she remains optimistic, that feeling has dimmed somewhat in the face of all she has seen, leaving her severely disillusioned and very lonely. Amid her own personal and private battle, Alice must solve several grisly murders of professional people in Edinburgh. As the body count begins to rise, she races against time and matches wits with an implacable, faceless killer; someone who is targeting the affluent area of New Town, and who seems determined to make certain members of Edinburgh's professional elite pay dearly for what they've done.Blood in the Water is Gillian Galbraith's debut novel and what a debut it was! This story was very well-written, and I really liked the character of Alice Rice. The plot was surprisingly refreshing and very Scottish. When I was younger, I often visited Edinburgh and reading this book just brought back such good memories of my travels. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and give Blood in the Water by Gillian Galbraith an A+! I certainly will keep my eyes open for more books to read by this author.

[lkernagh · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"Blood in the water. The sharks were circling the Pearson's exit, waiting for a tidbit of flesh, alert and active but not yet frenzied. Alice caught sight of the re-lipped giantess at the back, jostling with the rest of them, elbows raised, craning for a view of any of the members of the 'grieving family' as they emerged." Nice description of the press, isn't it? ;-) Galbraith has provided in Detective Sergeant Alice Rice a female equivalent to Stuart McBride's Logan McRae.... in other words, a likeable, well balanced police detective. Yes she has her weaknesses but they are not of the moody, alcoholic imbued or attitude-projecting types. The mystery is another race against time to find a multiple killer in the lead up to the Christmas holidays - what is it with Tartan Noir books, the cold month of December and a city with a possibly related death every couple of days to be investigated? Do any of these stories take place in the summer time when Scotland is thronging with tourists and festivals? Just curious. Galbraith has taken her real life experience as an advocate (similar to a barrister, public defender or prosecutor) practicing at the Scottish Bar, specializing in medical negligence while writing this story and her knowledge of the field really shows. I could have done with out the inclusion of what would have been the written judgement but I can see why Galbraith chose that route when writing her story, as opposed to providing a summary of the judgement. The case is as good one but for some reason it lacked the page turning effect I would have expected for a police procedural trying to track down a murderer over the course of 17 days and a climbing body count. It is good, and I do want to continue reading more books in the series, but it just wasn't a riveting read for me. Maybe I am starting to experience Tartan Noir burnout.

[victortrevor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good debut for DS Alice Rice. The narrative isn't padded out unnecessarily and the characters avoid most of the usual stereotyping of police and the downtrodden masses. Edinburgh is in the background rather than forced on the reader.