Yes, it's a long overdue return to Tartan Noir with the ninth in the Logan McRae novel.
Wisely choosing to vary his established formula, MacBride has given Logan a career-development 'promotion' to the backwoods of Banff, where he is the uniform sergeant in charge of a shift of 'bunnets'. Logan is trying to make a clean start but events, inevitably, conspire against him. The discovery of a murdered child brings the MIT to Banff - under DCI Roberta Steel, it goes without saying. Meanwhile the rubber heelers are after our hero following the collapse of a major attempted murder trial, and a bunch of the local paedos have gone missing.
MacBride's great strengths are plotting, character and prose style - just about the Holy Trinity for any successful crime writer. He can put some horrendous comments into the mouths of his characters without ever losing humanity or compassion. To me, he is the leader of the pack in Tartan Noir. Number Nine is the series is every bit as good as any other, and always recommended.
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