Black Hearts by Doug Johnstone
The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past events.
A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger. An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave ... pushing her to breaking point.
As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly...
About the author
Doug Johnstone is the author of twelve novels, most recently The Great Silence, described as ‘A novel [that] underlines just how accomplished Johnstone has become’ by the Daily Mail. He has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year three times, and the Capital Crime Best Independent Voice one; The Big Chill was longlisted for Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
Review
Oh what a welcome return to the women of the Skelf family! ‘Black Hearts’ was as warm as it was chilling, as funny as it was horrific and pretty much was an absolute joy to read. I am in awe of Doug as a writer as each time I sit down to read ones of his books I think well he can't top the previous one but he does every single time! This was the best in the Skelf series so far and yes I will stand up in the middle of a room and declare that I am a Skelfaholic!
Welcome to the world of the Skelf where three generations of women are funeral directors come private investigators. They live with death every day of their lives but their grief is making it hard for them to cope. Dorothy has to deal with a fistfight at an open grave which leads to her being tasked to find a missing husband, Hannah has a stalker which is putting pressure on her relationship with Indy. While Jenny is utterly unable to cope with life. Mix in a man who thinks he is being haunted and abused by his late wife and other ghosts appearing and it makes for an interesting time for the Skelfs!
My heart sings for these women. They are some of the most richly drawn and real female characters I have read in ages. Each very different but they feel tangible and I will admit I have walked along the Meadows thinking about how I would react if I bumped into them! I want Dorothy to be my Gran, Hannah to be my best friend and Jenny to be the Aunt you kind of ignore at parties. That is the beauty of Doug’s writing is that you feel as if you could be friends with these characters, you care about them and you would defend them and the decisions they make. Each reader will be able to relate to them and see aspects of their own lives and personality and that is very rare and special.
‘Black Hearts’ is an investigation into how death affects us all in a myriad of ways. Every single person is tainted with the grief of losing people close to them, they have different reactions to it and how they cope is shown on every page. Yes there is a pain but there is also love, without love, there can't be grief. It is the love we must remember.
The pacing of this book was superb. All the way through you could feel that there was this black cloud coming closer and closer and when the storm hit omg! In those last chapters, my heart was most definitely in my mouth.
Once again this was a triumph of a book and I can't wait to see what the Skelfs get up to next!
