The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone
Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver’s shadowy life.
While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly.
But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears, and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find themselves immersed in an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves?
Fast-paced, darkly funny, yet touching and tender, the Skelf family series is a welcome reboot to the classic PI novel, whilst also asking deeper questions about family, society and grief.
Author Bio
Doug Johnstone is the author of more ten novels, most recently Breakers (2019), which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and A Dark Matter (2020), which launched the Skelfs series.
Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home, which he drew on to write A Dark Matter – and has been an arts journalist for twenty years.
Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
Review
Well I have just fallen head over heels for the Skelf women and their adventures. This is really one of the most unique series that I have read in a long time - who would have thought that an undertakers and a detective agency would have worked so well? Well Doug did and he is onto a winning formula.
The dark humour in these books is terrifyingly good and is balanced out by human stories that tug at the heart strings. ‘The Big Chill’ is the second of the Skelf books and I would actually recommend reading the first book as a lot of the storylines do continue on from it. You could probably read this as a stand-alone but since there has only been one other book I would recommend picking that one up as well. I think it was mentioned at the Orenda Roadshow that the series has been optioned for TV and I can totally see that working!
Now apart from the continuing storyline revolving around Hannah’s father, the adventures the Skelf women find themselves are brilliant. Dorothy has to deal with a car crashing into an open grave whilst a ceremony is taking place and a missing drum student. Also can I add here that Dorothy has great taste in music! Hannah has to deal with a memorial for her dead friend and Jenny has a new man!
I love that it is three generations of Skelf women in this story. First of all there is not enough representation of the older generations in books I feel! Dorothy is portrayed as hip, yoga loving, still got some oomph to her. Just because she has collected her pension doesn’t mean her personality dies! On a side note the lovely @bookbeforeyouleap is doing an awareness on older representation in literature. I love how all the women are dealing with real problems, which we as readers can really relate to. Jenny dealing with a new relationship in middle age, Hannah taking her partner for granted etc. It’s these areas that help build the Skelf world into an intricately woven complex novel that is a pleasure and a delight to read.
This easily a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for me and I’m actually jumping up and down shouting at you to buy this one!
