This is the third book in the Grace McAllan series, although I enjoyed it overall, I felt it would have been of more benefit to have read the books in sequence as there was a lot of back information and it felt like this book was more a follow on from book 2. I am now going to go back and read the first two books which might help me in understanding some of what happened previously. Overall a good police procedural book set mainly in Edinburgh, I think perhaps that this series may be going on my series list…

What will your choice be? Grace Macallan doesn't know if she wants to go back to the force after having her baby, She is stronger now but the bombing effected her badly. And now they want her back to head up a case of trafficking. Can she do this or is it time to call it a day? The case is even more complicated they have one survivor but they haven't been able to find the other girls and the main suspects have gone missing. But Grace knows that the crime boss Pete Handyside is involved in this latest case but he has too many people covering for him. Peter Handyside never got this far by being stupid and there is no way that he is going to be taken down by her. He knows that it is time to start covering his tracks and to make his final move.
Does Grace really think that she is going to be able to stop the crime wave that is coming and will this be what helps make up her mind about the future? As everyone in Handyside's world wants to be top dog and they are too busy trying to kill each other to notice that they are all counting down their last days.
A good read nice pace. Some of the characters were interesting especially Swan as he is such a wuss even though he thinks that he is all important. Feel sorry for his dog though. In the crime world it looks like you need to look out for yourself as you never know who is going to take you out.
I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley and the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

Book 2 in the Detective Grace Macallan series , Shores of Death was gripping. The characters were dynamic, the read thrilling and the overall storyline well written, I will definitely be reading more by this author and recommending this series to others.

Full of violence and bad language. The plot concept is fairly simple, gangsters falling out and police efforts to arrest them, but the execution is anything but. It is a complex narrative of betrayal, forgiveness and callous disregard for human life which I would like to say is overdone but unfortunately it is all too plausible and realistic. Mr Ritchie has woven a spellbinding tale, full of strong, credible characters and believable actions and motivations.

The Shores of Death follows Grace McCallan, a fierce female detective who is out on leave after having her first baby, a son named Adam. Grace is at a transitional phase in her life where she isn’t quite sure she has a want to return to her old job on the force. Grace suffered a lot of emotional scars following an on the clock bombing that injured her and several of her co workers. With the birth of her son, her priorities have changed and as much as she loves the job, she doesn’t know if she wants to go back into the daily grind.

Meanwhile, in a harbor in Berwickshire, a fishing trawler is being ushered into shore under the guidance of Eric Gunderson. The trawler has a hot cargo of drugs and women who are to be delivered into the booming trade of sex trafficking. The whole operation is being overseen by Pete handyside, the hardest, most ruthless gangster in all of England and Scotland combined. The trawler is interrupted on its way into port when one of Handyside’s men on the trawler gets word that the police have been alerted to their operation and are waiting for the boat to come into port. They are given orders to dispose of the evidence completely. They dump the drugs in the bay, and then make it a point to execute each girl and send her to a watery grave. The men meet their match with Ingrid Richter, a well bred student from Prague who seizes a moment of opportunity, and makes a five for freedom into the cold waters of the bay. The men are caught off guard by her flight attempt and are unsuccessful at stopping her. All they can do is hope that she doesn’t survive the swim to shore. The trawler ultimately comes ashore, and the crew is arrested. The boat is searched and comes up clean of drugs or women. The men are questioned and released. The next morning, the lifeless body of Ingrid Richter washes ashore and despite her ordeal she is still alive. She is taken to the hospital in the hopes that she can recount her tale.

At this time Grace McCallan receives the call about Ingrid Richter. She makes a decision to come back to the force to help solve Ingrid’s case. The story is told from the perspective of all the characters in the story, which is different. I did not enjoy the multi sided views the omnipotent perspective gives us as the reader. The characters are well developed and the descriptives are excellent. The storyline gives us a few surprises along the way, and is paced well, and kept me interested. There are so many characters some of them became a little hard to follow. Overall, an enjoyable, fast paced police procedural. Copy provided by Netgalley.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Black and White Publishing and the author, Peter Ritchie, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Shores Of Death in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
I thought this book was a really good read. It was well written with a storyline that gets you in from the start.
Well worth a read for fans of the genre.

Shores of Death was my intro to Peter Ritchie and I am ready to read more in this series and any other stories by this author. The setting and time period of this novel really draws you in. I am a sucker for a good British detective series and this does not disappoint. Ritchie does a wonderful job of weaving serval layers of a story. The pacing and character development stood out for me.. I'm excited for more from this author.

Book 3 in the Grace Macallan series and it's a cracker of a read! Set mainly in Edinburgh, the subject is human trafficking. The story moves between Edinburgh and Newcastle and the plot is gritty, realistic and full of excitement. I have no hesitation in recommending this series of books. They are great. My thanks to Net Galley for my copy. reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and Facebook.

This book isn't so much a new instalment in a brilliant series but I direct follow on from the previous book so I wouldn't recommend it as a standalone read but definitely recommend the series.
Fast paced gritty, gory and twisted with a good sprinkling of Scottish humour and the return of several characters.
But lemon curd is cockney rhyming slang not a Scottish term.

I have a huge confession to make (I know this is becoming a habit). Although I have the other books in the Grace Macallan series on my huge ‘To Be Read’ pile, I haven’t actually read them. Eeek. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘Shores Of Death’, I thought that it would be the ideal opportunity to get to know Grace Macallan and her colleagues. It was with some excitement that I opened the book and began to read. I was not to be disappointed as I really enjoyed it but more about that in a bit.
‘Shores Of Death’ opens with Grace Macallan taking part in her final police operation before she goes on maternity leave. The main body of the story sees Grace return to work and straight away she becomes involved in a difficult case. Talk about jumping straight into the deep end. The start of the book sees Grace unsure as to whether or not she ever wants to go back to work or she stays at home and bring up her child. She doesn’t have to think for too long. I think that Grace is dedicated to her job. She loves her job although her confidence in herself has taken a rather severe knock. An incident in a previous case led to Grace being badly injured. Although she has recovered physically, mentally she still has a fair way to go. Grace is a feisty, strong, determined, stubborn, loving and caring lady. She always seems to put others before herself. Grace can work well as part of a team but equally she can work well on her own. Grace has a loyal team around her. Grace has a reliable gut instinct and if something doesn’t seem right to her then it usually isn’t and warrants further investigation. I have to say that Grace is the sort of person that I would like to work for.
I have to say that I was hooked on this book from the moment I picked the book up and started to read. To start with I found that the main part of the story took a little while to get going but blimey, when it got going it just took off at speed. The pace of the story gathered in speed and led to a tense conclusion. As the story developed I found that I was reading more quickly. The pages flew past in a blur and before I knew what was happening I had read a fair chunk of the book, but because I was enjoying the story I genuinely hadn’t realised how much I had read.
I particularly loved the fact that part of the book is set in the North East of England, which is where I live. Different places were mentioned and I loved the fact that I knew where they were and I had visited them. I also really enjoyed the parts of the book that were set in Scotland. I haven’t been fortunate enough to tour Scotland as such although I did have a day trip to Edinburgh in the distant past. Reading this book was just like going on a tour with a tour guide.
I found the parts dealing with the criminal underworld to be very interesting. This book deals with certain topics that are prevalent in real life such as drug trafficking, people trafficking and drug dealing. Of course I know that organised crime is out there, which involves some particularly nasty characters and equally nasty crimes. Lots of people find the criminal underworld to be exciting and fun but I think that it is too scary for this wimp so I will be happy enough to go along in blissful ignorance with eyes and ears shut in that respect.
In conclusion, I think that ‘Shores Of Death’ is a very good book, which is perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and Martina Cole. It’s a gritty and realistic read. I can’t wait to see what comes next from Peter Ritchie but in the meantime I am going to dig the other books out of my ‘to be read’ pile to get to know Grace Macallan even better. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 4* out of 5*.

A very good police procedural with plenty of bad guys, justified (in the gangsters' eyes) murders and some heart breaking ones too. It takes into account both sides of the police force - the corrupt and the straightforward good detectives. The book is mainly set in Scotland with areas in the North East of England taking their place too. It covers the evil act of trafficking of young women into sexual slavery and much more. The most innocent of all Gnasher is a worry all the way through the book, though other innocents drop by the wayside earlier in the book

Loved it

I would like to thank Netgalley and Black & White Publishing for an advance copy of Shores of Death, the third novel to feature Edinburgh based Detective Superintendent Grace Macallan.

Grace returns to work after maternity leave unsure if she wants to or if she has the mental strength, confidence or appetite for it but a developing case is just what she needs to test herself. A drugs bust on a boat goes wrong when nothing is found, hinting that the gang has inside information, an undercover officer goes missing and an unidentified young woman is washed up on the shore near the boat. The cases seem linked but proving it may be difficult.

Full of violence and bad language I loved Shores of Death for its gritty realism and exciting plot. It kept me up late to read it in one sitting, unable to put it down. The plot concept is fairly simple, gangsters falling out and police efforts to arrest them, but the execution is anything but. It is a complex narrative of betrayal, unforgiveness and callous disregard for human life which I would like to say is overdone but unfortunately it is all too plausible and realistic. Mr Ritchie has woven a spellbinding tale, full of strong, credible characters and believable actions and motivations.

The novel revolves around Grace from her uncertainty about returning to work and her newfound happiness at home with her baby son and supportive partner to the politics of policing and the tough decisions she has to make. I like that the implications of her decisions and actions are clearly laid out and go a long way to explaining the current travails of Police Scotland who seem to lurch from one exposed failing to another. Grace is a strong, determined woman with a streak of self doubt which makes her human and likeable. She has a good working relationship with the other officers on the case and the typical cop humour leavens the darkness making the novel a pleasure to read.

Shores of Death is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.