Quintin Jardine

The book that launched a legend: the first novel in the acclaimed Bob Skinner series. As head of Edinburgh's CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner has seen it all... but even he is shocked by the savagely mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The victim is identified as a successful young lawyer, and the motive for the brutal death remains a mystery. Then further seemingly random killings in the city begin to suggest a vicious serial killer is on the rampage. But when the lawyer's fiancee is also murdered, Skinner realises that someone is in deadly earnest...

Skinner's Rules

In Edinburgh's old Parliament House, an armed robbery trial is about to take a macabre turn. While the lawyers tussle over the evidence, the judge suddenly collapses in agony - the victim of an apparent heart attack. For Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, with his life finally back on track after the near-collapse of his marriage, the last thing he needs is to be faced with the most baffling case of his career. But as the wave of brutal robberies continues, it emerges that Lord Archergait's death may have been murder - and he's not the only judge whose life is in danger. With a gang of ruthless killers still at large, it's down to Skinner to piece together a puzzle of sinister complexity.

Murmuring the Judges

The thrilling new Skinner mystery by Scotland's Crime Master.

A Rush of Blood

Skinner's Trail (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

Skinner's Ordeal (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

Dead and Buried (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

Assistant Chief Constable Robert Skinner of the Edinburgh Police races against time to find the team of terrorists out to disrupt the city's International Festival of the Arts before their deadly bombs can claim any more victims.

Skinner's Festival

Stay of Execution (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

Skinner's Round (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

A serial killer stalks the pages of this gripping crime novel

Death's Door

Skinner's Mission (Bob Skinner Mysteries)

Grievous angel

A woman's naked body is found washed up on Cramond Island near Edinburgh. She has been mutilated by a ship's propeller, but there is no doubt that she was a murder victim. Days later detectives are called to a flat in Edinburgh. The kitchen is covered in blood, and the occupier is missing. The dead female's name is revealed and it stirs old, unwelcome memories for those who knew her, Skinner most of all. Inquiries soon reveal demons in his past, and suggest that they may have overcome him. But Skinner, now Chief Constable of Strathclyde, is based in Glasgow, and has no reason to become involved. Yet he does, unwittingly setting a course that will lead him to the toughest choice of his life. Twists and turns evolve and soon Skinner is in the depth of a personal nightmare, career-threatening and life-changing.

Hour of darkness

As Bob Skinner takes an evening stroll with a gorgeous filmstar on his arm, surely the worst of his worries is that back at Headquarters, an ambitious new colleague is scheming to enlarge his territory at Skinner's expense. But when a frightening shot-gun attack sends Skinner and his old flame Louise Bankier diving for cover, it seems danger has zeroed in on him once again. Returning to Scotland to shoot her latest film, Louise is one of Scotland's most popular exports. But it seems she has a stalker; someone who is clearly determined to scare her. For Skinner, tracking down her tormentor isn't just business - it's now very personal indeed. The Detective Chief Constable, however, is about to find out that nothing is quite what it seems...

Autographs in the Rain

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner could be forgiven for thinking not only that someone up there doesn't like him, but that someone down here is out to get him. Suffering the strain of a marriage on the rocks, the last thing he needs is for his private life to be plastered across the front pages of a sleazy tabloid. To make matters worse, two brutal murders and new allegations about Skinner himself make simultaneous headlines. As time ticks away, Skinner faces the greatest, and most personal, tests of his career. Unless he can clear his name and uncover the secret behind the series of brutal crimes, he stands to lose everything: his family, his career and even his life and liberty.

Skinner's Ghosts

'After what happened, none of us can be sure we're going to see tomorrow' The killing was an expert hit. Three shots through the head, as the lights dimmed at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm, as it breaks over the Strathclyde force. The shooters are dead too, killed at the scene. But who sent them? The crisis finds Skinner, his private life shattered by the shocking end of his marriage, taking a step that he had sworn he never would. Tasked by Scotland's First Minister with the investigation of the outrage, he finds himself quickly uncovering some very murky deeds...The trail leads to London, where national issues compromise the hunt. Skinner has to rattle the bars of the most formidable cage in the country, and go head to head with its leading power brokers . . . a confrontation that seems too much, even for him. Can the Chief solve the most challenging mystery of his career . . . or will failure end it?

Pray for the Dying

Deputy chief constable Bob Skinner investigates a series of killings that may be copycats of crimes commited by Daniel Ballester, who was charged with four murders and is now dead, unless he convicted the wrong man for the crimes.

Aftershock

Shock!: Oz Blackstone has died and his feisty, tough-talking ex-wife enters centre stage. Primavera Blackstone takes the lead in this thrilling new crime series. Her mind still filled with thoughts of her dead ex-husband, Primavera Blackstone is in Spain with son Tom when their peace is breached again with the arrival of her elderly but formidable aunt, Adrienne McGowan. All is not well in Auntie Ades world; her roguish son Frank has become involved with a shady international casino project and has disappeared. Prim flies to Seville to track him down, only to find herself a fugitive, with her life under threat, as her aunt joins the missing persons list, and Tom is forced to flee to safety. As she and her companion-in-danger cross Spain in a struggle to keep themselves alive, and to free Adrienne, Prim finds herself at the centre of a maelstrom of mystery...

Inhuman Remains

Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner has a lot on his plate. One of the world's most ruthless terrorists is on his way to Edinburgh with only one thing on his mind: the forthcoming conference of world Heads of Government. If Skinner doesn't pick up his trail fast, he could have a global disaster in his backyard. While all eyes are focused on the terrorist threat, a terminally ill woman is found dead - an apparent suicide. But the marks of an assisted death are discovered and this seemingly random death soon proves to be the beginning of an ominous pattern. For Skinner, the desperate race to find a heartless terrorist mixes uneasily with the search for a mercy killer- a search which takes on a poignant personal significance. And it's not long before Skinner himself will be staring death straight in the eye...

Quintin Jardine

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