A Rush of Blood Book

A complex tale of deception and revenge leads Skinner and his people to a bloody encounter and a dramatic confrontation in this 20th volume of Quintin Jardine's outstanding cop series

The horrific suicide of a successful Lithuanian entrepreneur rouses suspicion among the newly appointed Chief Constable Bob Skinner and his colleagues. They’ve crossed swords with the businessman before; why would a man with everything to live for take his own life? As enquiries begin, a mystery girl, drugged and incoherent, is dumped in a health center by a mysterious Galahad, who promptly disappears. Who is she, who is he, and where has he gone? Is it coincidence that most of the massage parlors in the city have suddenly closed overnight?

Publishers Weekly

Soap opera threatens to trump police procedure in Jardine's 20th mystery featuring Bob Skinner, now Scotland's chief constable (after 2009's superior Fatal Last Words). When entrepreneur and thug Tomas Zaliukas turns up on a frozen hill outside Edinburgh, the top of his head blown off and a sawn-off shotgun in his right hand, Skinner and his team investigate to rule out foul play. In the first of many coincidences, Zaliukas's widow, Regine, whose decampment to France might have led the dead man to kill himself, places Skinner's daughter, Alexis, a newly made partner in her law firm, in charge of Zaliukas's companies, which include a string of massage parlors. Meanwhile, professional thieves are targeting golf courses. The merger of the disparate plot lines may strike some readers as forced, and newcomers will find the byzantine backstories of Skinner's underlings and their personal relationships heavy slogging. (Dec.)