This is the first book in a new series and it has definitely whetted my appetite for more. I wasn’t too sure about DS Max Craigie to start off but then he has a cockapoo so he has to be a good guy. Anyway I quickly grew to like him and his ‘unusual’ working practices. The camaraderie with DC Janie Calder was pretty authentic and I’m hoping they’ll remain partnered in future books.

Tam Hardie is the head of Scotland’s most notorious crime family. But he is an old man who has only been given a few months left to live. So when he goes missing, his three sons, including serious hard man Tam Hardie Jnr are understandably worried. Then a body turns up miles from anywhere in a deserted cemetery, buried in an ancient grave with a strange marking that simply says: ‘This grave can never be opened’. So what does it all mean?

Turns out it’s a blood feud dating back 200 years between the Hardies and the Leitch family and Tam Jnr – now just Tam – is never going to let it go. No-one crosses the Hardies and remains alive.

In the meantime ex-Met detective Max Craigie and his sidekick, the slightly odd university graduate Janie Calder, nicknamed Fast-Track Fannie, are sent to investigate the crime scene. But it’s not just the Hardie’s crimes they uncover. When evidence goes missing and Max is prevented from investigating too deeply, he realises that he has uncovered corruption in Scotland’s police force going up to the highest level. The point is – who can he trust if anyone? Apart from his faithful dog Nutmeg of course.

This is a great book which investigates a crime family who virtually run the underbelly of the country, together with an investigation into police corruption reminiscent of Line of Duty but not quite so complicated. ‘Mother of God’ – I highly recommend it for fans of a good crime thriller. Let’s hope it makes it to TV very soon. It will make a brilliant series with Richard Madden as Max of course. And Waffle doggy as Nutmeg.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read, and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(3.5/5 stars) - I don’t typically read police procedurals, but I saw this on NetGalley and thought it would be interesting! Thank you NetGalley and HQ Stories/Harper Collins for this early copy. I kept an open mind for a while because I am not completely sure if the way this book is written is how Scottish people actually talk, but after reading for some time I came to the conclusion that it’s just not very good writing. The conversations don’t make a lot of sense sometimes and the way the characters interact with each other is just not normal. Despite these things, I will say that I was totally locked in while reading and found the story interesting enough to keep going. I saw where another reviewer said it could make a good tv show & I think with some tidying up the characters are fun enough to carry a show.

My thanks to HQ Digital for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Dead Man’s Grave’ by Neil Lancaster in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first in Lancaster’s new series of police procedurals set in Scotland and featuring DS Max Craigie.

‘This grave never to be opened.’ So reads the epitaph on an ancient grave in a remote cemetery. Tam Hardie, Sr., the head of Scotland’s most powerful crime family, finds the grave while undertaking a bit of genealogical research. Yet while there he is brutally murdered and his body dumped inside the grave.

Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder arrive at the scene and soon realise that this murder is part of a blood feud between two Scottish families that stretches back to the 1800s. This might be the latest killing, but it won’t be the last…
 
As the body count rises, it becomes obvious that the Hardie family are being provided with inside information about the investigation. It appears that there is large-scale corruption at the heart of the Scottish Police Service.

Max Craigie was born in Scotland but left at sixteen to join the army and later joined the Metropolitan Police, where he served for fifteen years including five years in the elite Flying Squad. Six months ago he transferred to Police Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime team based in Gartosh. On this investigation he is working with DC Janie Calder, who is treated as an outsider by the dinosaurs in the department as she is a woman and on an accelerated promotion path.

I enjoyed this crime thriller very much. It was a solid police procedural with Max and Janie compelling leads. Add to the mix their gruff boss, DI Ross Fraser, and Nutmeg, Max’s delightful little cockapoo.

Overall, it’s a winning formula with edge-of-the-seat, page turning thrills, great banter between the goodies, and some seriously dangerous baddies.

After such a positive start, I am already looking forward to Book 2, ‘The Blood Tide’ set for publication in early 2022.

Definitely one to delight fans of Tartan Noir.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

* 4.5 rounded up to a 5 *

I was really excited about this book since I knew it contained mystery, murder, and was based in Scotland. I was hopeful that it would turn out great and I would love the novel and want to continue with the series of Max Craigie.

AND…

Happily, I loved the story and the characters throughout the novel. Max was a driven, faulted, and strong main character and enjoyed the viewpoint that he became a cop to be a good guy, not a bad guy. He also had fallen on some bad times being separated from his wife and his last shooting case being looked at closely. Janie was also a lovely added touch as a young and sprite cop, who was bound for quick and easy promotion throughout the force. This caused all the veteran cops to make fun of her, but it did not deter her from her path. This made it seem fitting that both these cops would lead to the downfall of corrupt cops and a gang and their leader.

This book started with a two family battle and led to a whole different plot. At about 25% I was a little uncertain that I was going to enjoy the book. It started almost feeling mystical and folkloric and end up being more realistic. If you like police style policy books and rouge cops, I fully recommend this book. It took me on a wild ride and I can’t wait to continue with the story.

I enjoyed this police procedural - I always love to find new crime series and if they're set in Scotland, so much the better. This brought together various arms of Police Scotland and even showed partnership working with the Met. I'd guess somewhat inspired by the popularity of Line of Duty, but nevertheless I'm looking forward to reading more of DS Max Craigie and his sidekicks. He and Janie (Fast track Fannie to the team) make a good pairing. Not the most compelling piece of writing but plenty of action, Scottish scenery and enough bent coppers to keep even AC-12 busy!! #netgalley #deadmansgrave

Dead Man's Grave is the first book in the new series of DS Max Craigie books and what a start it is. I found it to be a gritty, page turner that kept me hooked right the way through and I am excited to read future books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for my ARC.

One of the best books I have read this year and one of the best in this genre I have read for a very long time!

I have never read anything by Neil Lancaster before but the blurb sounded right up my street so gave it a punt and I'm so glad I did because what a brilliant start to a series.

Max is a very interesting character with a strong back story which most definitely adds to the story as a whole. There are some dark moments interspersed with lighter times and I particularly like the relationship Max has with his boss, Ross, and colleague, Janie, which felt authentic.

What can I say ... brilliant characters, gripping story line, excellent pace, full of tension and action featuring historical feuds, revenge, dirty coppers, gangsters and all set in beautiful Scotland ... just a fantastic book all round really and I can't wait for the next instalment.

Thank you HQ Digital and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

Being a huge fan of Neil Lancaster’s Tom Novak series I was quick to jump on this new police procedural series introducing DS Max Craigie. And how glad I was as Lancaster continues to bring his high octane and well plotted stories to a new character and very different series.

A story set in Scotland and steeped in the past and the criminal underworld. Full of police corruption and serious bad guys, this is an excellent start To a series.

With some great backing characters to support the hard as nails Craigie, this had a feel of line of duty , but even more action packed. It kicks off in fifth gear and never lets up.

Enthralling, entertaining and a great story , a fantastic read and highly recommended

This was a brilliant book, it was so good. It had me gripped right away and even though at times it was gory I loved it. This is another new author and I will certainly be reading more of his if they are anything like this one. A little bit like Martina Cole but set in Scotland, which makes a change. I can’t recommend this highly enough. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Wow. What a great start to a series. Loved getting to know Max, Janie and Ross and can’t wait for book 2. Full of action from the start.

I’d like to thank H.Q. and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Dead Man’s Grave’ by Neil Lancaster in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Tam Hardie Snr the head of the well-known Hardie family of gangsters is missing and DS Max Craigie with DC Janie Calder are called in by Tam Jnr to find him. They drive to where his phone was last located close to the village of Latheron and in an overgrown and disused graveyard they discover his body buried beneath a gravestone with the words inscribed ‘This Grave Never To Be Opened’. They need to solve the case and do everything by the book as they believe there’s corruption at the top of Scottish Police.

‘Dead Man’s Grave’ is a fast-paced police procedural thriller with lots of action, suspense and excitement though rather bloodthirsty. I like the characters of DS Max Craigie and DC Janie Calder who work well together and as this is the first in a new series it bodes well for what comes next. The further I got into the story the more tense and dramatic it became so I was pleased there was a nice ending for Max.

This is the first of Neil Lancaster’s books that I have read, and it certainly will not be the last.

Right from the start, it had me gripped. The opening chapter, with its chilling and atmospheric descriptions of the Caithness landscape, set the scene for a dark and thrilling read. Tom Hardy, head of an infamous crime family, is out to settle an age old feud and goes searching for a grave marked “This grave can never be opened”. What he certainly doesn’t expect to find is what will soon become his grave.

Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder are called in to investigate. Max has recently relocated from The London Metropolitan Police after a shooting incident left him with PTSD. His new partner, Janie, is seen by many on the team as slightly strange – with her love of jazz and obsession for cleaning out the pool cars before she uses them. As the case progresses, their relationship strengthens and they work together very well. The humour they share, often quite dry and dark, brings a welcome addition of light-heartedness.

The twists and turns within the storyline were excellent and kept me gripped throughout.

This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it. Can’t wait to see what Lancaster has in store for Max and the team next!

Many thanks to HQ Digital, Neil Lancaster, and NetGalley for the review copy.

Absolutely great read! This is an action packed, police procedural thriller. like ‘Line of Duty’ but on paper, dealing with a deep and widespread network of corruption in Police Scotland. It was a compelling read right from the unusual quirky start, tightly and cleverly plotted, I was totally gripped.
The main characters of Max Craigie & Janie Calder made a fabulous team, sparking off each other with banter and humour, even under the dark and sometimes desperate circumstances they found themselves in. It was refreshing to meet Jane, not trying to be ‘one of the lads’ but holding her own, a strong, intelligent detective with hidden depths.
I also loved the way some of the characters names conjured up the Scottish accent, like Tam Hardie.
The images of the settings and the narrative were so clear that reading this book, was like having my own private TV series running in my head. Not once was I bogged down with feeling like I was reading too much description- it all just flowed brilliantly and compellingly together.
It is difficult to pass on my feelings without repeating the blurb or giving the plot away, but let’s just say there was a real urgency to find out, reading at speed and feeling alongside the characters as they faced seemingly impossible, dangerous, desperate & challenging situations.
This book provoked real emotions (& especially worrying about Nutmeg).
It is a tense compelling read which I devoured in every minute I could find.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Dead Man’s Grave by Neil Lancaster.

Dead Man’s Grave is the first in the series of the DS Max Craigie books and the first Neil Lancaster novel I have had the pleasure to read, and it was a real page-turner. I sort of wanted to get to the end because I needed to know what happened, and I didn’t, as I didn’t want it to end!

‘This grave can never be opened’. The inscription on the gravestone is just the first mystery we are faced with, and they just keep on coming. Max Craigie and Janie Calder are detectives with Police Scotland, and they discover the first murder victim but are quickly taken off the case as corruption within the force becomes clear. A feud that began in the 1800s has led to the first murder...but will there be more? Craigie and Calder go rogue, as they begin to investigate the goings-on, unofficially.

As a police procedural novel, Lancaster has nailed it (unsurprisingly though, as he used to be a police detective himself)! Details in the book are incredible, and for me, this will always make a story more appealing. I like to know what is happening and why things turn out the way they do! The craggy and beautiful descriptions of Scotland and its surrounding countryside will draw you in. I was watching the dolphins with Auntie Elspeth :-)

The end of the book sets itself up nicely for the next DS Craigie novel and I will be checking out release dates for the next one.

Dead Man’s Grave is the first instalment in the DS Max Craigie Scottish Crime Thrillers series, a book that reels you in from the very first sentence only releasing you from its grasp once the story has concluded. We are introduced to former military man Max who toured Afghanistan and has, like so many other soldiers, been left suffering from PTSD, and his years in the army seep into his dreams causing vivid and terrifying nightmares. After working for London Metropolitan Police, Craigie transfers up north into the Scottish Highlands near his hometown after major questions are asked about his involvement in a questionable shooting. To make matters worse, he's having to go it alone as his wife, Katie, claims to need a break from their marriage. Now based on Police Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime (SOC) team out of Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire, he and fast-tracked partner DC Janie Calder are assigned to investigate the case of missing person and ageing crime kingpin Tam Hardie responsible for the distribution of heroin and cocaine from his busy hub in Glasgow. Tam is the head of Scotland’s most notorious and powerful crime families and apparently disappeared on a visit to Caithness, Dunbeath where he was trying to trace his family history. The pair head to the last place he was seen - the cemetery in Ballachly. Old, isolated and abandoned, they discover a grave with a strange headstone inscription: This Grave Never to be Opened.

This piques their interest and when they open it up they, sure enough, find Tam sprawled below the slab of granite used to cover it. They discover he has been slaughtered using a 200-year-old cutlass, the same one used to off one of his ancestors. Before too long it becomes crystal clear that Tam’s murder is part of an ongoing blood feud involving the Hardie’s, and despite the police’s arrest of the perpetrator the family will stop at nothing to achieve vengeance against their enemy. This is a scintillating and compulsively readable procedural with a complex, thrill-a-minute plot and nail-biting tension running throughout. The tale features police corruption, organised criminal gangs, disturbing violence and retribution, with it all culminating in a rollicking good read. A breathtaking, chilling, Scottish crime fiction mystery thriller about blood feuds, dirty cops, and solving a case that could cost far more than just lives. Get ready for a break-out book from a hugely talented writer and a fascinating new protagonist in DS Max Craigie. It's fast-paced, stylishly woven and thoroughly atmospheric with some beautiful scenic descriptions and never a dull moment. There are ample twists and turns, clever use of misdirection and an unravelling of secrets, mysteries and drama and suspense aplenty as you realise that many people can not be trusted. Exciting and highly entertaining, you will be hard pushed to find a more riveting and refreshingly different thriller this year. Highly recommended.

This is my first book by this author and at the beginning I found the dialogue a little forced. I am glad I persevered as I soon became quite involved in the story - the race to save the lives of characters who were known to be in danger.
DS Max Craigie joined the force to be a good policeman and having moved to Scotland becomes embroiled in the fight to track down the Hardie family and weed out the corrupt police officers. He doesn't know who to trust but teams up with Janie Calder - a good partnership.
This would make a good action film.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Neil Lancaster/HQ for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a brilliant start to a new series.
I was hooked right from the beginning and really enjoyed this book.
Max and Janie are asked to investigate a missing person, due to the position he held in the crime world.
His sons are keen to know where their father is but it’s bad news when Max and Janie find his body in a graveyard. He’s been buried in a grave that has links to his family and it’s soon apparent there has been a feud between two families for hundreds of years.
The Leitch and Hardie families have a long history and it looks like both are out for revenge.
It soon becomes clear that the Hardies have been bribing Police in Scotland and they make it difficult for Max to investigate the case.
Soon he’s pushed aside and told to take sick leave but he won’t let this case drop. With Janie to help him they are ready to take on the Hardies and the corrupt police.
This is a gripping crime thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This book is a gripping Scottish crime and police procedural thriller. The head of Scotlands most powerful crime family goes missing. Detectives Max Craigie and Janie Calder are asked to investigate. Max has just transferred to Scotland from England, after a questionable shooting, leaving his wife behind. Janies is a studiious detective, considered weird by the others at the station. They soon track the body down to an ancient graveyard in a remote cemetery , the grave marked "This grave can never be opened",

The hunt for the killers is on, both the crime family and the police want justice. Little does Max know that the murder is part of a blood feud between families stretching back to the 1800's. The trail of bodies starts building up and Max and Janie find themselves not knowing who they can trust as they uncover corruption at the highest level of the police force. Will they get out of this alive.

This is a gripping book, full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing. It has everything, family feuds, police procedures and even a cute dog called Nutmeg. It is fast-paced and thrilling and will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end.

2,5 stars

A midnight murder in a secluded and overgrown cemetery. On one of the graves you'll find the words: "this grave must never be opened". The story starts out with an atmospheric opening and I only wished it would have stayed that way, but almost immediately we are sucked in a high octane propulsion of action scenes all over Scotland.

The premise is interesting, certainly with a two-hundred years old family feud still acted out to this day, and the book is generally well written. The big letdown for me was the main character, Max. He is your prototype macho who has fought in Afghanistan and came back with PTSD. Then he went working for London police where he shot a suspect and now goes rogue after shouting at the big boss. Being put on leave, he has all the time he wants to do his own investigation, as he is so certain that no-one can be trusted within the police force because everybody is a potential rat and he is the only one who gets the clear picture. The only one he trusts is his poor little damsel-in-distress sidekick. And yes, you will get about ten police acronyms per page. It is a world apart from my favorite detective, Vera Stanhope who does her policing based on facts and intelligence and where there is a bit of mystery that you need to find out.

Highly recommended for lovers of Lee Childs' Jack Reacher - I actually pictured Max as Tom Cruise - but alas not for me.

A sincere thanks to Netgalley, HQ Digital and the author for an advance copy in exchange of an honest review.