This is the first book I have read by this author, as well as being the first book in the Detective Grace MacAllan books,. I can honestly say it certainly won’t be the last, and I will be looking out for the first four books in the series to catch up.

I do have a thing about reading books in order, it makes it easier to follow characters developments and backstory to any behaviours. However, Grace only seemed to appear in the later chapters of this book, so it seemed to work out alright. Although I am unsure which other characters are in previous novels. This can be read as a stand-alone novel.

This is one fast paced, intense, edge of your seat gritty police procedural, gang crime novel. The action keeping the reader engrossed from start to finish, the author certainly knows how to tell a good story, the characters were great, both the goodies and the baddies, the plot never faltered and flowed brilliantly.

Dominic Grainger is the head of a crime Gang, but he has got himself into debt through gambling, but not just his own money, also his brothers, he needs to win it back. DI Janet Allen is an ambitious officer with one thing on her mind promotion, and she doesn’t care which grey areas she goes into or who’s toes she steps on to get there. She manages to start working with Dominic Grainger, which if his gang finds out that Grainger is working with a copper that will not end well, and vice versa for DI Allen.

I really enjoyed this read, and am looking forward to getting to know characters from previous books.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Black&Whitepublishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest fair and unbiased review

When there are crooked police, a retired gang leader, a gang family, and an assortment of spivs, druggies, heavies, and a communications boffin what could possibly go wrong? Well, almost everything.
There are plenty of nasty characters here all with their own agenda that keep the reader following all the twists and turns that make for an exciting story from Peter Ritchie.
An independent review thanks to Black & White / NetGalley

In all honesty I couldn't get into this one! I have read a couple of the books from this series previously and really enjoyed them but to be completely truthful I dont understand why this has been classed as part of the Macallan series when Grace Macallan only makes a fleeting appearance at the end.

In my opinion there was way too much repetition in this one and even though I love detail to really get into a story, this one had so much I felt a bit bamboozled with it all.

It got to the point that inwas skimming over most of it which is not a good thing.

I wont be put off reading anymore that come after in this series but this was the duff one of the bunch.

Thank you to netgalley and Black and White Publishing for the ARC.

A little repetitive at times and some of the humour might not travel too well but this is still a very good gangland police procedural.

Set in Edinburgh it’s gritty and certainly not sugar coated - well worth reading

This is my first book by Peter Richie and definitely not my last! This is filled with lots of action, crime, gang members, a very exciting read from the first page to the last. This is also the first book I've read involving police procedures, I found it very entertaining. Thank you to NetGalley , the publisher and author for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it’s the 5th book in his Grace Macallan series. I really enjoyed this book which can be read on it’s own. If anything, I want to download the previous books in this series, and if they are anything like this one then I’m in for a treat! From the prologue on the first page to the ending this book had my attention. It had gangsters, private investigators, murders and corrupt police officers. Everything in the book, from the characters to all the events that happened in it made this a compelling and thrilling read. I was praying for the villain to be found out and get his come uppance. Peter Ritchie has, in my opinion, wrote this so very well that I was able to picture the scenes and characters in my mind. And I know it’s a book I’ll revisit again. An absolute roller coaster of a story that I LOVED and would highly recommend. 5 stars.

First time reading anything by this author,but I was hooked from the start! Gangsters,bent police,secrets galore. Loved it!!

While I enjoyed the trademark Scottish humour and slang overall unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book. Far too much unnecessary, repetitive detail; how many times do we need to be told that Dominic is a gangster/hard man/dealer......?
Also the title can't really be classed as the MacAllan series when she plays no more than a bit part at the end of the book.
Hopefully the next in the series will be back on form.

<i> Our Little Secrets</i> is an excellent work of detective crime fiction. Although the book is part of the Grace Macallan series, she plays a minor role in this dark story about the underworld of crime and corruption in Edinburgh, Scotland<i> Our Little Secrets </i> The is the fourth novel is the DCI Grace Macallan series by the prolific Peter Ritchie.

DI Janet Hadden is a hardened, risk–taking, detective who is not above working in the grey area to get what she wants. Her focus is advancement at any cost. She manages to coerce Dominic Grainger, a kingpin in the criminal underground, into cooperating with her. Both of them are walking a line where both their friends and/or enemies can turn on them at anytime. This makes for a violent story with plenty of plot and suspense.

In spite of the fast pace of the story, Ritchie does and excellent job of character development. The reader discovers how everyone individually gets to where they are at story time. However, eventually everyone gets on the same train-wreck, which is expected but at the same time very surprising.

Peter Ritchie is an excellent storyteller. Even though the story is violent at times the characters get what they deserve and almost accept. The smart ones walk right into their fate while the less aware are dragged in but not surprised. It’s a nuance that Ritchie seems to have mastered.

I give this book a 5 on 5 for a number of reasons. It is fast paced and yet detailed enough that it maintains the readers interest throughout. I want to thank NetGalley and Black and White Publishing for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Grace Maccallan is working in Counter Corruption for Police Scotland and she has her hands full. DI Janet Hadden is driven to succeed at any cost and she’s good at what she does, until an error has her turning to an underworld character to set things right. Grace is caught between a rock and a hard place; what do you do when you can’t trust your colleagues any more than you can trust the criminals?

It wasn't my cup of tea. For me, it was to hard to get into the story and keep up with what was happening there.

Edinburgh comes across as a very dark place filled with warring gangsters and hoodlums. Added to that there's an overly ambitious detective, Janet Madden, that will do anything, including walk the line of corruption to get what she wants.

Holy cow! This was an unexpected engrossing novel. There was lots of action as the gangs set each other up and are continually fighting, right up until the very end. If you love crime novels, you'll absolutely love this one. Just be ready to be able to try to understand that Scottish drawl.

I very much enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to those readers who enjoy reading this type of story. A very easy book to read with lots of depth.

Having not read any of the previous books in this series I was not sure how much that would effect the story for me, however it was easy to pick up the stories of the characters
The book begins with a cliff - hanger - literally, then goes back to a few weeks before and the tale starts. From the outset it appeared it would be a typical gangster book, I found myself liking characters and then disliking them a chapter later.
DI Haddon the main character in the series and seemed to have a relatively minor role
I liked the story and there were twists and turns I was not expecting however I personally found the ending quite uncomfortable reading
3.5/5

This book was alittle different than my taste, i tried it anyway. It was okay. The story was all over. I dont think it ever went to what happened to the guy in the beginning. For a gangster book, there was no violence. But a lot of foul language, not to be listened around kids.

4-4.5 stars.

This is my introduction to the Grace Macallan series and it is a doozy! Talk about the dark underbelly of Edinborough! There are no good guys in this one! Grace Macallan plays only a minor role in this book, but I saw enough of her that I like her and I plan on checking out the first books. Although this is part of a series, it absolutely can stand alone, for those who are considering reading this book. I don't know about the other books, but in this one, you KNOW who all the nasty players are from the get go, and by the time Grace comes in, a lot of bodies have piled up and she has to navigate through police corruption and power plays within the local gangs. It is clear from what is said that Grace has a dark past, but she is at a much better place and is now diving back in. The crazy thing is that before she showed up, there was a major train wreck coming and I was kind of rooting for them all to die in a giant explosion! In some ways this book reminded me of Pulp Fiction, lol. If you like dark, gritty crime novels where the border between good and bad is pretty non-existent, then you'll love this novel! The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because it took me a long time to figure out the Scottish (and Irish in parts) vocab and way of speech. But now that I've adjusted, I imagine it will be much easier to visit the other books in the series!

Special thanks to #PeterRitchie, #NetGalley, and #BlackandWhitePublishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant book love the crime books based in countries that you can relate to. Reminds me a bit of Prime Suspect, Broadchurch rolled into one.

I thank you NetGalley and Black and White Publishing for a copy of My little secrets.
When I requested this on NetGalley I wasn’t aware that it was the 5th book in the series by this author, who I have not read before. It’s also already being published in the UK but, not in the US until 2020. Besides that, I thought I would give it go.
DI Janet Hadden wants promotion and takes so she takes some unconventional methods to try and get there. She gets involved with gangster Dominic Grainger and his brothers and recruits Tonto as an informant to get to know what they are up to. The story talks about gangs and corruption. Set in Scotland it had a lot of Scottish slang that I had to look up to find out what it meant.
This book has had some good reviews but for me personally this wasn’t for me. I just could get into it. I didn't like any of the characters and they were a lot of description and I thought that this book of what I read of it had no real direction of where it was going. Sorry I DNF at 34%.

The cover and title of this book gives me a different impression of what kind of story it will be. It looks very much like a psychological thriller, and even the description makes it sound good but it’s just really not. I forced myself to read the whole book. It was painfully boring, there were no parts that I could really get into and enjoy.
I think if the readers have read the others in the series, it’ll be great and enjoyable for them, but as I haven’t, this was just a very long winded book. I wish I had researched it more before reading, so I could have known it was part of a series. The mention of other characters didn’t make sense to me, at the end, which obviously would for fans of the author.
Also the ending felt very rushed. I feel like the ending with Grainger could have been better? I just felt very let down with it. Especially with the repetition of him wanting to grab Hadden by the throat- it would have been the perfect ending had the tables been turned.

One thing that would be good is to put the glossary at the front of the book- I had to keep googling the terms, trying to understand the book better. I’m sorry I can’t write a more positive review, and I won’t be leaving this on amazon etc because it’s not a great review.

I just want to go on record and say, I absolutely love DI Janet Hadden’s character!

This woman has no shame!

On her side or not, she will throw you straight under the bus and then climb over your body, as long as it gets the job done and gets her what she wants!

Love, love, LOVE HER!!

This book, much like the others in the series, is brutal! If you don’t like violent scenes, bad language or gang violence then this isn’t for you…… On the other hand, if you like to read that sort of stuff then PLEASE do!

Action packed from the get go, Peter Ritchie doesn’t take his foot off the pedal. The chapters are short but gripping, the story line is fast and action packed and the characters are just as entertaining.

A truly brilliant series and without a doubt a 5 star read.