Dead Men’s Bones: An Inspector McLean Novel

On a cold, snowy Edinburgh evening, Detective Inspector Tony McLean is confronted with a dead male body floating in a river. The body had been recently tattooed from head to toe in an intricate design, which seems highly unusual. Before McLean can properly start his investigation, he is called to another incident. This time a prominent member of the Scottish Parliament, Andrew Weatherly, has killed his wife and two children and then turned the gun on himself. It looks like a straightforward murder-suicide case, and the higher-ups want the case wrapped up quickly. But Inspector McLean is urged by other outsiders to dig a bit deeper into why this happened. What he finds and the links he makes between the victims brings this book to a surprising and unexpected ending.

Dead Men’s Bones has a well-developed and interesting plot; it did, however, seem a bit slow at times and a bit dry. But D.I. McLean is a likable character, always looking after his team and willing to go after the truth, even at the expense of his own career. This is a novel that will appeal to readers who like character-driven mysteries and those set in Scotland.