Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a  motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt – it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built eleven years prior.

Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who’d been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished. Now he’s reappeared, buried under the motorway. It’s the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit. What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend? Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road. It’s a series of puzzles that tests Karen and her team to their limits. And possibly beyond . . .

A darkly propulsive thriller of secrets hidden at the core of a Scottish Highlands town, Silent Bones reaffirms Val McDermid as a crime writer of inimitable power.

Praise for the Karen Pirie series:

“McDermid negotiates her ceaselessly exciting book’s twists like a master.”—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal, on Past Lying

“[A] relentlessly engrossing series.”—Wall Street Journal on Broken Ground

“There are few other crime writers in the same league as Val McDermid. Her stories are ingeniously plotted, moody . . . Absorbing . . . It’s Karen’s character that’s the enduring draw of this series . . . Out of Bounds is another terrific and intricate suspense novel by a writer who has given us 30 of them. As I said, there are few other crime writers in the same league as Val McDermid.”—Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post on Out of Bounds

“We read crime fiction for enjoyment, comfort and reassurance. McDermid provides all this . . . Still Life shows that she is still at the height of her powers; it is deeply enjoyable, one of her best.”—Scotsman (UK) on Still Life

“McDermid is at the top of her game and readers will be highly rewarded for taking this new journey at her side.”—CrimeReads on Still Life

“A thriller as steely and superlative as its heroine.”—O, The Oprah Magazine on Broken Ground

“No one writes sturdier mysteries than Val McDermid.”—Chicago Tribune on Out of Bounds

“McDermid remains unrivalled . . . brilliant.”—Observer (UK) on How the Dead Speak

“Further evidence that her ‘Queen of Crime’ status will not be challenged.”—Scotsman on How the Dead Speak

“Chock-full of crime . . . fans and newcomers to the series will enjoy the twists and turns.”—Library Journal on How the Dead Speak

“McDermid’s books are relentlessly excellent, with sympathetically flawed characters, well-crafted storylines, a clever twist or two, and crisp dialogue. It’s no wonder she’s considered the queen of Scottish crime fiction.”—BookPage on Broken Ground