Val McDermid is one of my favourite crime writers, and ‘still life’ confirms this. In typical McDermid style the plot is layered, ending with all the layers exposed in perfect presentation. I love that in each book we get a more in-depth picture of pirie. The plot runs 2 parallel investigations, one a skeleton turning up in a dead woman’s garage, and a body turned up in the river that links to a hushed copycat art case.
Thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

Still Life is the sixth book in Val McDermid's ongoing Karen Pirie series but could easily be read as a standalone. The series features no nonsense DCI Karen Pirie who works on cold cases or as they are called by Police Scotland, " Historic Cases". DCI Pirie feels that solving these cases is a valuable and important calling and throws herself unreservedly in to the work, often dragging her nice but slightly dim sidekick Jason in her wake.
This book features not one but two cases for Karen to get her teeth into, a set of skeletal remains found in a camper van and a corpse that is fished out of the Firth of Forth early one morning. The investigations will take Karen, and the reader from Scotland to Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and Donegal and introduce us to a potential new member of Karen's team, DI Daisy Mortimer who gains a new appreciation for the job and the Historic Case Unit from her time working on secondment there. The investigations take in everything from identity theft and espionage to art forgery and the reader is carried along at a steady pace as the team uncover the various clues. I thought both crimes would be linked by the end of the book but I was pleasantly surprised to find that was not the case, I think this made it seem more realistic than having everything come together in a neat little package. As I said earlier this can be read as a stand alone, and the author gives enough background explanation to ensure that new readers will not be confused , but long term readers of the series will have more to enjoy as they get more development of Karen's personal life, and a familiar face from the past makes a reappearance. Fans of police procedurals will find plenty to enjoy here , though some might find the slightly slower pace of the first half of the book a little off putting.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher ,all opinions are my own.

In my opinion, Val McDermid is one of the very best authors of mystery/police procedurals/suspense who is writing today. Her stand alone novel, A Place of Execution is extraordinary. She has another great one in The Vanishing Point. Then, of course, there are Ms. McDermid’s many series. The oldest are the Lindsay Gordon and Kate Brannigans and then there are the Tony Hill and Carol Jordans. However, my favorite series is the one featuring Karen Pirie. So, I was THRILLED to receive the ARC of Still Life from NetGalley. It absolutely dis not disappoint.

Karen Pirie is a DCI who is in charge of historical cases that generally have a connection in the present. She is based in Scotland although in this book she travels afield, including a trip to Paris. Each novel in the series has several story lines that come together. There is a lot going on in this one.

The books are perhaps read in order although that is not strictly necessary. That said, long term readers will feel for Karen as the killer of her significant other Phil is released from prison. How will this change both her life and that of the killer? Followers of the series will also enjoy being updated on Karen’s relationship with Hamish and the work of her sidekick Jason.

There are several plots. There is the presumed murder of a Scottish political figure in the past and the fate of his brother in the present. There is a body found in a camper vab that may belong to the artist girlfriend of a road accident victim. There are clues like OUDS, 12N, art works, the fate of a conceptual artist and more.

In less talented hands, plates could get dropped but Ms. McDermid is in fine command of her craft. My only criticism is that now I will have to wait at least a year to spend time with Karen again.

I highly recommend this one! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

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Still Life by Val McDermid
By Jack | October 5, 2020 | Book Review
Still Life is the third novel I have read and reviewed in the Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid.

The other two are Broken Ground and The Distant Echo . The first was because someone had suggested this book and the second was because I wanted to read more of the series.

I notice this is my third time using the highly recommend rating for books in this series. 3 for 3 is not bad at all and so I think I need to read some of the others in this series and try branching out to some of her other novels.

DCI Karen Pirie heads Police Scotland’s Historic Case Unit. We Americans would call it cold cases.

This book starts with a freshly dead body in Scotland’s Firth of Forth. It is clearly not a historic case and so it investigated by the regular local police. DCI Karen Pirie is just starting an investigation into a historic case. As the 2 cases progress it becomes apparent that the cases are probably related. DCI Pirie told to lead the combined investigation. A young police officer DS Daisy Mortimer who was in the Firth of Forth case is temporarily assigned to Karen’s unit.

The story is complex with many unexpected turns. I completely enjoyed it and hope to see more of Daisy Mortimer in future novels.

I’ll say it again – Still Life is highly recommend.

I thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Grove Atlantic and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

My favorite series with Karen Pirie is back with the 6th installment in the series. All the books can be read as standalones but for the personal developments in Karen’s life, which is much better understood if read in order.

Karen Pirie is the DCI for the Historical Cases Unit in Police Scotland and along with detective constable Jason Murray aka The Mint believes firmly in providing justice to the dead irrespective of the time the case has been moldering as cold file.

Val McDermid, like always has worked wonders with 2 cases being handled simultaneously. While Karen is following the trail of a skeleton found in a camper van hidden in a garage, a body is found in the chill waters of the Firth of Forth. As DCI Charles and DS Daisy Mortimer identifies the victim as that of suspect in a missing person case of 10 years, Karen is pulled into the crime scene. There are enough twists and turns in both the cases to keep the reader hooked and reading late into the night. Art theft, forgery, money laundering, murder, Karen’s world explodes into areas she has never experienced before as the case takes her up on a journey across France, London and Ireland.

Readers who are familiar with the work of the author hailed as the Queen of Crime Fiction will once again applaud the mastery of the police procedural delivered in Still Life. And if you are a first time reader, make sure you stick to the end coz Val McDermid does not provide any wham bam entertaining police action, it is the painstaking work of dotting every I’s and crossing all the T’s. But absolute pleasure is definitely guaranteed at the end.

Karen’s strained personal life is not much in focus here, but I loved how Jason has grown stronger and more confident in his detective skills and is self-assured of his worth. Daisy as the young and chirpy team member was a wonderful addition to the story.

Amidst the police procedural, Val McDermid also weaves different threads of the current political scenarios of Brexit and even the Covid pandemic is seamlessly laced into the storyline. What I have always favored in the author’s books is that there is not much flowery language used to describe the beauty of Scotland, but her words still transport the reader and gives an atmospheric ambience. The Scottish culture comes alive also the different flavors of food, each part of the story being entwined beautifully.

One of the best police procedurals I have read in recent times, Still Life is a must read for all fans of crime thrillers! I can hardly wait for the ITV adaption to be up and running ASAP.

This review is published in my blog https://rainnbooks.com/; Amazon India, Goodreads, and Twitter.

The discovery of a body in the Firth of Forth sends DCI Karen Pirie on a hunt that takes her from Scotland to Paris, London and Dublin. The victim was a prime suspect in the disappearance of a government official ten years earlier and as head of the Historic Crimes Unit it falls to Karen to investigate. In the victim’s Paris apartment a letter from an art dealer and a photo lead Karen and DS Daisy Mortimer to an art forgery case that had been covered up by the government twenty years ago. As Karen digs into the cold case and its’ connection to the current murder, her associate Jason works to discover the identity of a woman’s body that had been hidden in a van in a garage for three years. Discovered when the owner of the house died, he and Karen use all of their connections to identify what is now just a collection of bones. With no murder weapon and the vehicle’s identification numbers obliterated it seems an impossible task. However, Karen is an experienced investigator and is up to the challenge.

Val McDermid presents two mysteries that involve murder, forgery, arson and identity theft. Karen knows that failure to succeed could spell the end of the HCU. She is also dealing with a new relationship and is trying to set boundaries. She has taken Daisy under her wing and sees her as an asset to the HCU.. McDermid begins her story as China was first discovering the coronavirus. While it does not play a part of the story, Karen is warned by a friend of its’ potential to spread. She ends her story with her characters facing lockdown and adjusting to life as we now know it. This is a series that does not disappoint and comes highly recommended. I would like to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing this book for my review.

In this gripping story of forbidden relationships, betrayal and deadly secrets, DCI Karen Pirie and her cold case team investigate the case of a mysterious skeleton found in an old campervan. When a body is snagged by fishing lines at sea, they are also drawn into the disappearance, more than a decade ago, of a respected senior civil servant.

I hadn’t read a book written by Val McDermid for ages and it was an absolute treat to read Still Life, the sixth in the DCI Karen Pirie series. It was like unwrapping a precious gift and I savoured it. She is such a masterful crime writer - it’s no wonder her novels have been translated into 40 languages and sold over 16 million copies worldwide. Her writing is concise, considered and often drily humorous. I loved all the colloquial Scottish words, many of which were completely new to me. I still have no idea what a tumshie – and none of my Kindle’s resources could help with that one either.

Still life deals with two totally different cases, and in the hands of a lesser author, could have been confusing. McDermid, however, skillfully avoids any complexity. The result? A breath-taking, compelling read that pulls you right in.

I really warmed to Karen. She recently lost the love of her life when Phil was murdered. His murderer is now released from jail, throwing her into emotional turmoil and threatening her relationship with her new man.
Her relationship with her boss, the ghastly Ann Markie, remains difficult, although Karen manages to handle herself with more composure, and without succumbing to impotent rage. I particularly loved it when Karen trumps arrogant fools, such as the supercilious art lecturer or pretentious art dealer.

I enjoyed Karen’s sidekick, Jason, the not overly bright policeman who nonetheless is a superstar with his dogged determination. He comes a little unstuck during the investigation into the skeleton, unearthing Karen’s maternal instincts, much to her mortification, and making her feel horribly responsible. Daisy, a bright young thing, is seconded to her when Jason becomes indisposed. She’s a wonderful character: slightly precocious and very bright, she adds great value to the investigations, earning Karen’s respect and affection.

McDermid keeps things topical, and her views of the current political leadership, although touched upon only lightly, are very clear. As soon as I realised this book was set in 2020 I was fascinated to see how McDermid would handle the pandemic. I’m not going to tell you how she did, but can only say bravo!

Still Life by Val McDermid is a Karen Pirie Novel.

The sixth book in the series had me hooked from the start and I devoured it in a couple of sittings, As a fan of British Crime Dramas, Val McDermid has done it again, I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance copy of Still Life.

Val McDermid does it again. Since reading Skeleton Road I've been a big McDermid fan and particularly when it comes to the Karen Pirie series. This is the latest in this series due to be out in the U.S. in October. I want to thank NetGalley for an ARC of this the sixth in the Karen Pirie series. As usual it is a strong police procedural mystery story but a little out of the usual for Chief Inspector Pirie of the Historical Cases Unit. There are actually 2 cases being investigated in the early pages of the story. First, a skeleton found in a camper parked at the home of a woman recently killed in a motor vehicle accident and in alternating chapters a present day case of a dead man pulled from a nearby Fife with connections to a previous cold case of the disappearance of his brother--a higher up in the Scottish government.
We follow the unfolding of these two cases and how the case of the dead man eventually re-opens the case of the man's missing brother of 10 years pervious that might be tied to it and suddenly both cases fall into the lap of DCI Pirie.

This story is at first a rather slow moving police procedural. We see how the cases are looked at by both Pirie and her next in command DI Murray and a new DI Daisy Mortimer. New clues are slowly revealed along with forensic evidence. The reader gets to vicariously watch as the detectives reason out and look for evidence that might lead to these killers. Personally I love this type of mystery where methodical thinking results in a bigger picture begin revealed and as always McDermid is able to teach this reader much along the way. In this book we learn new forensic techniques being used, insight into the YBA (young British Artists) scene that swept Britain in the 1990's and insight into Scottish culture, language and day to day living (like Irn-Bru, a national soft drink in Scotland) as well as travel and current day Scottish political concerns. I must admit that this is one of my favorite things about these novels. Like taking a mini vacation and getting somewhat of an insider's view of a very unique landscape.
So once again it was great fun even though I seemed to guess sooner than in previous novels exactly how this one would turn out, I was along for the ride none the less and found it most worth my reading time.

Still Life is the sixth book in the mesmerising DCI Karen Pirie series, set in Edinburgh. Unlike her Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series, these are not gory, dark or violent - nothing wrong with that when you’re in the mood for it, but these are absorbing character driven cold-case mysteries and it often surprises me that they’re by the same author - which goes to show how talented she is.
I’ve now read them all, and while they do work as stand-alones, do recommend starting at least from book 3 (The Skeleton Road) to get the most out of Karen’s story arc.

A body is pulled from the frigid Firth of Forth by some lobster-fishermen, and the obvious blow to the head suggests murder. When the investigating detectives find a link to the disappearance of a prominent civil servant in the Scottish government ten years earlier, the case, and young DS Daisy Mortimer, are assigned to Karen’s Historical Cases Unit. Busy with a separate case involving a skeleton in a campervan, and privately dealing with both her anger over the parole of the man who killed her partner Phil, and her conflicted feelings about her new relationship, Karen has a lot on her plate. Fuelled by coffee and her insatiable determination to get to the truth, ably assisted by the resourceful if perpetually hungry Daisy, loyal if-a-bit-slow Jason, and her ever-increasing network of helpful contacts, the indomitable DCI will follow the trail of clues to the Highlands, London, Paris, and Ireland.

I think I’m running out of superlatives for this series. I love that it’s not all about “the twist you won’t see coming”. I actually guessed what was going on fairly early but it didn’t matter at all. The investigation takes place over only a matter of days, but packs an awful lot in, leavened with characteristic Scottish humour (and some new words I had to look up, despite living there for ten years!) I like that Karen is so human - brittle and insecure in her personal relationships but bullish and resolute at work, and the relationship between her and Jason ‘The Mint’ is as sweet as ever. I’m also relieved that McDermid doesn’t need to make Pirie the only competent Detective in Europe - I enjoyed meeting her French & Irish counterparts and learning a little about how they go about things there. ACC Mackie is like Snow White’s wicked stepmother - I do hope she gets her comeuppance one day.

Towards the end, McDermid bravely tackles the elephant in the world of 2020, Covid-19. By setting dates to her timeline - the plot begins in mid February- I wondered whether she would introduce it or continue in an alternate timeline. By then, we were certainly talking and thinking about it, but still oblivious to the impact it would come to have on us all - and I am (was, sniff) a travel doctor so of course it was all we could think about. I’ve read many comments from readers and authors saying they don’t want to read or write about it, but going forward I don’t see how that’s realistic. I thought the epilogue was an elegant solution and am curious to see how she handles it in the next book. (Please let there be a next book!)

Finally, I appreciated the dedication to her friends and colleagues in New Zealand: she was actually out here towards the end of last year, and I had tickets to her talk in a book festival, but had to cancel for a work commitment; I was gutted as very few Crime writers - especially of her calibre - make it out here, and now it seems unlikely any will be able to visit for quite some time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC which allowed me to give an honest review. Still Life is published on October 6th.

*4.5 stars rounded up. Terrific police procedural involving Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit. In this outing, the sixth in the series, Karen gets called in when a skeleton is found in a caravan parked in the garage of a recently deceased woman. But her attention is split when she's asked to take the lead in a current murder investigation with its roots in a 10-year-old cold case she'd recently reviewed.

The police work is necessarily plodding as Karen and her team must dig for information and sush out clues to take the cases forward but I enjoyed the pace at which everything is revealed. The teamwork between these officers is excellent and I appreciated the way the author brings Karen's personal life and theirs into the story without being too heavy handed about it. There's enough action and suspense to keep the reader riveted till the exciting conclusion!

Writing stories in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic must be difficult. This story begins in mid-February of 2020 so the world's awareness that there could be a problem is just beginning and Karen is warned to stock up on hand sanitizer and masks. As the lockdown closes in on Scotland, it will be interesting to see where McDermid leads her characters in future books.

I received an arc of this exciting new thriller from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks for the opportunity.

As a fan of Val McDermid's police procedurals, I looked forward to reading Still Life. The latest installment of the Karen Pirie series did not disappoint. This is a straight forward story comprised of two non-connected cases. There are no crazy plot twists, just a good story with excellent character development. The story can be read as a stand alone book for those who haven't read the rest of the story. The book does touch on current events, which, for anyone who wants to read in order to escape the events of the world, may trigger some readers or lessen their pleasure in the book, however if you can get past this, the book is an excellent read.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books and was delighted when given the chance to read this book featuring DCI Karen Pirie from the Cold Case Unit.

The book starts with a lobsterman dragging up a body from the sea, seemingly of a French national, from the water, this is initially investigated by DCI Todd and his DS, Daisy Mortimer.

We then have a body in a campervan, found in the garage of a dead woman which is investigated by Pirie.

You assume there will be a cross over but these are actually two separate threads, but they are all tied up neatly in the end.

We cover quite a lot of subjects and countries, everything from art fraud, identify theft, and just plain assault. We also visit France, and Northern Ireland!

On the whole I really enjoyed the story, liked the majority of characters but not sure about Daisy Mortimer, she made some very basic errors, and I have to say I am not sure a senior would have acted as they did at the end (apologies for the cryptic sentence, but don't want to give to much away)

Would have given it 5 stars but the politics were a bit tedious.

Highly recommended

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for giving me the chance to read the book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Detective Sergeant Daisy Mortimer was transferred less than six months ago to the Fife-based crime squad. Before that, she’d been in a general CID office in Falkirk.

Her boss, DCI Charlie Todd called to inform her that a lobster boat out of St Monans pulled a body out of the sea. Judging by the body, the victim was brutally attacked and thrown into the sea to drown.

The detectives head off to investigate. Detective Daisy manages to track down the man’s identity through the French Ministry of the Interior.

The victim was a UK citizen named James Auld until two years ago when he officially became a French citizen called Paul Allard. He lived in Paris and assumed the false name to join the French Foreign Legion.

Using the police database, Daisy uncovers more about Paul’s background. Ten years ago, James’s brother, Iain Auld disappeared without a trace. He was a civil servant in Scotland. The night before he went missing, a neighbor heard the brothers having an altercation.

After Iain disappeared, a bloodstained T-shirt was discovered in the basement of James’s flat, making James a person of interest in his brother’s disappearance. Though, there was no sufficient evidence to charge James with; he’s later released.

Unable to bear police scrutiny and the pressure of being tagged a suspect, James fled the UK to France. There, he joined a music band in Paris and later signed up for the French Foreign Legion.

So why did he come back after all this time?

Meanwhile, a woman named Stella Leiter is sorting out the belongings of her late sister, Susan Leiter when she stumbles on skeletal remains in a VW camper in her sister’s garage. The flat tires of the van suggest the van has been sitting there for a while. To the best of Stella’s knowledge, her sister doesn’t own a car, much less a camper.

So Stella calls the police who seeing as its a cold case reach out to DCI Karen Pirie of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit. Her partner DC Jason Murray would be there to assist.

Back at Fife, Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) Ann Markie interrupts Detectives Charlie and Daisy’s investigation by informing them that she’d be assigning DC Karen to lead on the case. Turns out Karen reviewed Iain’s file two years ago though she didn’t make any headway.

ACC Ann Markie then assigns Detective Daisy to work with Detective Karen. Their first task would be to visit James Auld’s apartment in Paris. Daisy happens to have studied French and Legal Studies so her skill set would be useful during their trip.

In Paris, they find evidence in James’s apartment that points them in the right direction.

As Detective Karen digs deeper, more evidence comes to light and soon they uncover links between a fire incident in an art gallery, Iain’s disappearance, and possibly James’s death.

Detective Karen has to find the killer and understand the mystery that surrounds the Auld brothers.

Meanwhile, Karen’s been seeing a guy named Hamish, a crofter, and owner of several chains of hipster coffee establishments in Edinburgh.

Hamish comes across as overly sweet, and Karen finds his kindness a bit too stifling to her liking. Perhaps he’s trying to compete with her late boyfriend Phil. Karen thinks she’s not ready to commit fully in their relationship.

Moreover, Karen thinks Hamish was being intrusive when she discovered he followed her to meet the man responsible for Phil’s death the day he was released from prison.

But Hamish insists he was only there to make sure she didn’t do anything rash. Her closest friends think she should try and work things out with Hamish.

Solid detective story. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Val McDermid, and Grove Atlantic for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to the author, Grove Atlantic Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the the first of the Karen Pirie books I've read, but the by far not the first book by this author, so I was curious to get to know this character. As to be expected, the storytelling is excellent, with various threads running in parallel and lots of twists - many of them unexpected, which is a joy to read. The main character goes through a lot of personal strain, which doesn't stop her from getting on with unravelling the threads of this complex story. I particularly enjoyed the interaction between Pirie and her two assistants, which gives the story an added dimension - not just focussing on the bad guy, but also on how things happen on the police end. I would highly recommend this police procedural, and look forward to reading my way through the previous books in this series.

Love all Vals books. Based in Scotland you feel like you are actually in the story. Brilliant Police book

Long, straightforward police procedural; sixth in the series but can be read as a standalone.

Karen Pirie solves two cold cases in less than two weeks, with much travel that adds little except jurisdictional complexity, much adulation from her subordinates, and much slavish and unconditional support from her significant other, which annoys her.

Slow-moving and overly elaborate on minor details like drink composition (‘Mediterranean tonic, slivers of apple and rhubarb”), while skating over certain plot points, like conflating money laundering with sale of art with unclear provenance and dismissing the issue with a throwaway line about government audits.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Yes, I've been on a British procedural read-a-thon these past few months! But it's hard to find characters and places that can take you away for a mini-vacation, without making you want to grown at their unbelievability, and these books seem to offer what I'm looking for right now .LOL But the good news is you get to check out series you might not know about, like this one!

I've only read a few of McDermid's books (this is book 6 in the series), but they definitely capture the uniqueness of Scotland, along with some very tough cases to solve! No grisly murder here, no it all starts with a found skeleton, and the case unravels, backwards, and Karen and her team strive to figure out who it actually IS and what happened. It;s such a tightly woven web of deceit, that when the end happens, you find yourself wanting to wind it back up a bit, and send the team off on a few more red herrings or two, to keep the story going longer! This book will get you hooked on the series, so be prepared to catch up on the previous 5!

A lobsterman makes a grisly catch: a corpse tangled in his nets. A young woman is killed in a cycling accident. Because the body in the net and the deceased cyclist are both linked to earlier cold cases, both cases are assigned to DCI Karen Pirie and her team in the Historic Cases Unit, Scotland Police.
The man in the fishing nets is identified as a French national named Paul Allard. The French authorities inform the Scotland Police that Allard was born James Auld, a British citizen who’d disappeared ten years ago. At the time, Auld was the prime suspect in the disappearance and presumed murder of his brother Iain, a high-ranking civil servant in Edinburgh. He’d made a new life in France, but for some unknown reason he’d returned to his home country.
The accident victim is identified as Susan Leitch. When her sister Stella goes to clear out her house, she finds no skeletons in the closet, but there is one in a VW camper van in the garage. Stella believes the victim might be Amanda McAndrew, Susan Leitch’s former lover, or the woman Amanda became involved with after she left Susan.
Karen and her team doggedly track down all leads to solve both cases and bring the killers to justice. Their search leads them down country roads and city streets in Scotland, and to France, where DS Daisy Morton’s fluency in French proves invaluable.
Still Life is a solid police procedural with a complex and compelling plot. The characters all ring true, especially protagonist DCI Karen Pirie and her colleagues, DS Daisy Mortimer and DCI Charlie Todd. Their personal backstories and their interactions with each other add richness and complexity to the story.

Hurray for DCI Karen Pirie! She is back in a book that takes place just before the COVID19 lockdown in Scotland. She continues to be plagued by her supervisor, “The Dog Biscuit”. Her sidekick, “The Mint” continues to develop character. Her romance with Hamish continues to grow and she is struggling to solve two different murders. McDermid can combine all these elements into a very readable story. When I read a Karen Pirie book, I cannot decide if these police procedural books are more plot driven than character driven. She excels at both and there’s always food involved which makes me happy.