I don't know who of you ever read a short story in Roald Dahl's book Kiss Kiss? If you have you will know what I mean. I was both revolted and intrigued by the manner that the murderer disposed of the bodies. Well, I will say no more. Don't want to spoil the delicious anticipation. But have to admit thatI was thoroughly surprised at the ending.

I loved this book. If I can have one gripe it is about the length. Too short. I was just getting into the flow of things and it ended. I hope this was a warm up for more books to follow.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Lindsay is one of my favorite authors, really love the edgy Thomas Hutton series and have read and enjoyed a few Barney books as well as the quirky but very good Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! so a chance to start a new series was something I looked forward to and this does not disappoint. Cold Cuts, while only a novella, does a good job of introducing us to main characters Pereira (single mother struggling to have a home life while having a demanding job with unpredictable hours) and Bain (younger, but eager protégé). pretty gruesome crime in this one as body parts turn up in the meat at a local deli. great cast of supporting characters and suspects in this one, Lindsay does his usual great job with acerbic wit and one liners. so a decent mystery as well as good character development with Pereira as she puts up with old timers in positions of authority who look down on her sex and ethnicity. Lindsay does a great job with this and I look forward to reading the new full length novel with these characters. thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy, 4 stars.

The book is fast paced thriller. It starts with parts of human meat being served in a restaurant. The case investigated by DI Aliya Pereira and her partner DS Marc Bain . Within the circle she is known as the box ticker and complete opposite to Bain who talks mile a minute.

The investigation takes them through meat processing unit where they try to find the places the meat is distributed and where exactly the human meat is added. The story is quite intriguing and finding the murderer at the end is a surprise.

I liked the book.

Cold Cuts sounds like one dark and gruesome book. And it kinda is. Good thing it is a short one and the fast pacing and interesting storyline managed to get me hooked until the end. Since the book is really short, more like a novella, there’s not a lot of details to the story and not a lot of background story about the main characters Pereira and Bain. Perhaps more details about the main characters will be addressed in the next book since it's the first book of a new series. Despite the lack of information, though, the author still managed to execute a good story. Enough mystery to pique your interest till the last page. All in all, it is a well-written mystery. Unpredictable and surprising twist.

Cold Cuts is the first that I’ve read by Douglas Lindsay and what a treat!! Cold Cuts is the start of a new police series, set in Scotland. Well written, novella length and highly recommended.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my advance copy in return for an honest review.

I read the second book in this series first. I'm glad I did, because had I read this mess first, I would have given up on this author! First off, the mystery meat. Eww! I have a thing about sandwich meat from places where I did not see it being made. Seriously, it's a thing! I take it apart and carefully check if it's freshly sliced or ground up and pressed. If I don't recognize it, then my man is going to be eating it! "Or as I call him, the human garbage disposal." Also, my takeaway from this short story, and the next book also, was that if you say the word youse, then youse are probably the killer, or in league with the killer, who also says youse. Really? What the hell is wrong with folk that they can't say the word you? Duh, you're already killing the English language....of course youse are a murderer.

Cold Cuts is my first book by Douglas Lindsay but I have already sought out his other novels to read as I loved this one so much. He is definitely my newest favourite author and I want to read everything he has wrote.

SYNOPSIS - Revenge is a dish best served ... sliced.

The new cold meat option in the sandwich shop isn't chicken, and it isn't pork. It's Kevin Moyes, missing for two weeks, now presumed dead.

The Serious Crime Unit are notified, and the hunt for the macabre butcher takes detectives Aliya Pereira and Marc Bain to the meat-processing factory where the human flesh entered the food chain. They are followed by a media frenzy, with Pereira's boss demanding immediate results. But while the factory is clean and no one is talking, some of the players have gone missing, people are still dying, and the butcher's work is not yet done.

COLD CUTS introduces DI Pereira and DS Bain, Glasgow detectives on the trail of a killer through a sordid underworld of deceit, vengeance and murder.

Tartan Noir never tasted so delicious.

Firstly, it was very easy to get into and the suspense starts right at the beginning and continues right until the end. The chapters are a perfect length and the style of writing is excellent and simple to follow. It is plotted to perfection and at no point is it boring or slow. Due to some gore this may not be a book for the squeamish, for me I liked this aspect as it sets the story apart from other crime novels.

I enjoyed each characters traits especially Pereira who is a capable copper and her relationship and interaction with Bain was a delight, they worked very well together. There was enough information about Pereira and Bain, just the right amount and I look forward to learning more about them both in the rest of the series.

I love that Lindsay has broached the serious subjects of workplace discrimination, racism and gay rights in the book. The diversity in a joy to behold, I am so glad that writers are using characters that are diverse as it reflects real life and has been a long time coming. Lindsay lightens the mood throughout using black/dry humour and this balanced out against the grisly aspects with great success - tartan noir at it's very best.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book, a fantastic read in my opinion.

I would like to thank Bastei Entertainment/Douglas Lindsay and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

COLD CUTS is a treat for those who not only like crime thrillers, but like looking at the start of a brand new series. This series features DI Aliya Pereira and DS Bain, Glasgow detectives.

Kevin Moyes has been missing for weeks. Part of him as finally shown up ... as a new kind of cold meat in a sandwich shop. Made me think of SPAM, the canned 'meat'. I suppose we could call it the 'other' white meat.

The Serious Crime Unit is called and Pereira and Bain are on there way. The hunt for this killer takes them through to a meat-processing plant, looking for clues how the human flesh got delivered to the shop.

And how many other deliveries have their been? How many stores have received this 'surprise' meat?

Mr. Moyes is not the only person gone missing. Makes you wonder where the next body is found.

I enjoyed meeting the new characters ... professionally and personally. Pereira is a single mom trying not to feel guilty about all the time she doesn't spend with her children. Bain is fairly new and trying to show that he is worthy of being a part of the Serious Crime Unit.

This is well written with a unique killer and notable characters. Look out for the twists and turns and the very surprising ending. I look forward to the next in the series .... THE JUDAS FLOWER.

Many thanks to the author, be-ebooks / Netgalley for the digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Revenge is a dish best served ... sliced.

The new cold meat option in the sandwich shop isn't chicken, and it isn't pork. It's Kevin Moyes, missing for two weeks, now presumed dead.

The Serious Crime Unit are notified, and the hunt for the macabre butcher takes detectives Aliya Pereira and Marc Bain to the meat-processing factory where the human flesh entered the food chain. They are followed by a media frenzy, with Pereira's boss demanding immediate results. But while the factory is clean and no one is talking, some of the players have gone missing, people are still dying, and the butcher's work is not yet done.

COLD CUTS introduces DI Pereira and DS Bain, Glasgow detectives on the trail of a killer through a sordid underworld of deceit, vengeance and murder.

My thoughts:
This is my first time reading any thing by this author, and while the story is pretty good , I do have to say some of the characters where a bit strange and creepy.
With that said I would like to think NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this story in a change for my honest opinion.
Update :
After trying to read book 2 last night, I realized that this was actually a 3 star book for me and that I won't be going on with this series.

Loved this book! I am a huge fan of Douglas Lindsay and was delighted to discover he had started writing a new crime series. This one is the first in the DI Pereira and DS Bain series and features a killer who disposes of their victims by chopping them up and putting them into the food chain.
This is a pretty short story which introduces us to the main characters and contains the author's trademark black humour which really appeals to me. Set in and around Glasgow, this is probably the first book I have read to heavily feature my home town of Cumbernauld which was great fun!
Grisly goings on, some brilliant villains with typical Glasgow patter and a strong thread of black humour, everything I need for a crime novel, fantastic!
Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book as an arc.

An author I have long admired and collected but never really read. Cold Cults marks a new police series from this author and too good an opportunity to pass up.
DI Pereira and DS Bain are the detectives chosen to head up this new police procedural series based in Glasgow.
I have always loved crime set in Scotland and so that is a winner for me; that this first case starts on Millport is also a plus having been there. The cop team is very important, so we have a female DI and and male as her junior. That she is also Indian and unmarried is also added into the mix but the backstory is for later books. We do learn that she relies a lot on her Mother for childcare and she often works late. Her boss is moving on and she had yet to meet his replacement.
Meanwhile she has been given a case where human remains have ended up in the food chain.
I enjoyed the logic and pace of the investigation; the plot was outrageous at times but Bain enters into this side of the story by imagining the case becoming a Cohen Brothers movie.
Quite dark at times with hints at the modern world we live in regarding mobile phones.
Not overtly graphic but well told that you imagination did a lot of the work for the author.
The menace that certain characters bring was also well written and gave the story that extra lift and an uneasy smile on your face.
A promising start and good to know that the next book is due out as well to cement this new series.

‘Cold Cuts’ might not be a ground breaking crime book, but it is none the less an enjoyable read with some pleasing diversity in main characters and a very fast moving plot. We follow our main character DI Pereira and her partner Detective Bain as they tackle a case in which the victim is packaged up and delivered as meat products. As they delve deeper into the case the whole narrative takes a disturbing turn with more victims emerging, more suspects to consider and more at stake. as Pereira is pressured to solve the case and the press wants answers. While it was very simply written and follows a straightforward storyline, it was such an enjoyable read-very much like an episode of Law and Order SVU. You see the start of the investigation, get to know more about the victims and the suspects, there is some character development of the detectives and then with a slight twist the killer is captured. At the end you can sit and read it in one sitting and then walk away with closure.

What I Liked

Aliya Pereira- I really liked Aliya as a main character. While we don’t know too much about her by the end of the book, what we do know makes us become invested in her. As a person of colour, single mother and bisexual we see her have to deal with discrimination in the workforce as one of the few female detectives while trying to solve the case. Once I saw her stand up to her new supervisor at the beginning of the book and her skills as a detective I instantly liked her and enjoyed following her throughout the story.

Easy to follow story and a creepy twist- Like I mentioned in my summary, it was not a complex or cutting edge book. It was however very easy to follow and the writing was simple and straightforward at telling the story and conveying the main plot points. The creepy twist at the end was unexpected and left me with a little something to think about after I had finished it.

Modern Setting- The crime books I normally read are set in the past and I found it very entertaining to see the hints of a more modern setting in this one. There were small references to recent video games, social media and a how we are a very technologically inclined society. It just added a little something to the story and I appreciated it.

What I Didn’t Like

Not much focus on the main selling point of the book- Cold Cuts was a fun book to read, but I really wanted them to play up the main focus of the book ; people being murdered, packaged and distributed to the people. The story could have gotten a lot darker and really focus on this ideas as it really could have amped up the plot.

Unnecessary change of POV- While I had no problem with the writing style most of the book (apart from it being very simple and straight forward) we did get some weird changes of POV towards the end of the book. The majority of the book follows DI Pereira throughout the course of the investigation, but one or two chapters follow one of the suspects. It was very out of place and I would have liked it if it was either not included or more heavily included.

Investigating a case of how human meat has gotten into the food chain, are Detectives ​Aliya Pereira and Marc Bain. Kevin Moyes has been missing 2 week when he turns up on someones pork sandwich. Nice!
The book has mystery and gore but no more than any other book i've read, the human meat side of it although it made me go yuck and not want to get a sandwich from anywhere doesn't put you off reading the book.
It felt like something was missing to me, (and I don't mean salad cream with the sandwich) maybe it was just a little to short, maybe a few more chapters could of ironed out the story a little so it felt less rushed.
It was an interesting read, I liked the idea behind how things were found and traced and how we got to the conclusion. I'm going to say it was to short, as I can't say I hated the book, but I cant say I thoroughly enjoyed it. it's a down the middle 3/5 from me.
I have noticed that there is now a book 2, and i'm intrigued as to how that one will be that I probably will purchase it to find out.

DI Pereira and DS Bain are on the trail of a killer - but not just any killer. This one actually sliced up the victim, packaged up the body parts, and distributed them for public consumption. To describe this scenario as disgusting is hardly necessary, but I've read other horror stories that were more graphic, so this wasn't the worst problem for me in the book, although I found it rather tasteless (pun intended).

The book is short, a bit more than novella length, and I count this as a blessing. There was very little in which to engage the reader, aside from the gory basis of the story. None of the characters were developed; we know very little about the detectives on the case, and less about the suspects. However, I get the feeling that this was intentional on the part of the author, Douglas Lindsay, and although I didn't care for this aspect, I believe there are others who like this type of storytelling. I would have enjoyed knowing more about DI Pereira, particularly, including her background as a detective, and more about her personal life, about which the author drops tantalizing hints, but never follows up on. I suspect these facts will be fleshed out (sorry, punning again!) in future sequels, but I wanted more info up front.

The ending was just that: an ending. I said aloud, "Really? This is it?" as I read the last paragraph. Then I realized that this book would be a perfect TV show. In fact, it reads exactly like a crime show. Little time to develop characters, the case is presented, the detectives find a few clues and close the case. And the dialogue (which, by the way, was my favorite part of the book and the reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1), was quick and witty at times. The ending was a perfect ending to a crime TV show. Boom. Case closed with a bit of creepiness hanging on there at the end.

I won't be reading any more of this series, but I have no doubt others will enjoy it. For those of you who choose to read it, dig in with relish. And maybe some salt and pepper.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bastei Entertainment for an ARC for my honest review.

Actually 4.5 stars.
I am a bit fan of this author and have been since about 2011 when I first read the Barney Thompson series, followed more recently by Jericho and Hutton as well as a few stand alones. This one marks the beginning of a new series starring DI Pereira and DS Bain from the serious crime squad working out of Glasgow. It is only really a novella by length and so breaks the trend of using the first in series to set up and define the characters and setting, rather we drive straight in on a case and get a bit of everything and not enough of anything for me to make a complete decision as to whether this will be a series for me to avidly follow initially. That said, I did enjoy this book and have enjoyed every book by this author thus far so chances are good that I will be a fan of this new series in time.
So, there's this sandwich shop in Millport and they receive a delivery of meat. Nothing new there, apart from the fact that one of their orders has been substituted (queue home delivered shopping sympathy moans). Not being 100% sure what meat it is, they decide to accept it and sell it anyway. Trouble is, as the blurb explains, it isn't pork and it isn't chicken. Turns out, it's missing person Kevin Moyes. DI Pereira is given the case, along with trusty sidekick DS Bain, with new DI Cooper keeping a bit of a close eye on her. He thinks that she has only got her position in the police because she is a box ticker's dream hire being an Asian, bisexual single mum; the result of positive discrimination. Anyway, our two intrepid investigators trace the dodgy meat back to the distributors and then further back, identifying the meat processing plant; the suspected point of origin. All this taking place interspersed with Bain's wide array of trivial facts and figures, injected at poignant times giving the occasional moment of hilarity. Black humour anyone?
The plot itself is intriguing and really contains a bit of everything. Too much to mention here, and definitely too spoilery to give any details. It is also very well worked out. Not too much is revealed too early. Indeed, the book will have you guessing right until the last page and probably beyond as the penny finally drops.
Pereira and Bain work well as a combination. Chalk and cheese really but they complement each other very well. They remind me a bit of a straightman and a stooge at times with their banter and irreverent conversational topics but this in turn balances out what is a rather grisly series of crimes that have been committed. It's very much tongue in cheek at times. And funny, often very funny, mostly when it shouldn't be but hey, that's black humour for you.
The other characters are all an eclectic mix of weirdos. Each with a part to play in the whole story but individually, definitely people you would want to avoid at all costs. Creepy does not really do them justice!
Being very familiar with this author's work and knowing what I was getting into having read his other works, I knew I was in for a treat as soon as I read the synopsis. And I wasn't disappointed. Yes, I would have liked a bit more background, yes I would have probably preferred the author to stick to the traditional way of starting a new series, introducing his characters and all, but you know what, this author has always coloured outside the lines for me and I guess I should have expected something like this being as he has towed the line for his previous two series (Hutton and Jericho) starting both these off in the more traditional way.
All in all a different but very enjoyable series opener. I see that there is a second in series up for pre-order already. One with a much higher page count. I've enjoyed my introduction to our motley
crew in this, dare I call it, "taster", so I am definitely looking forward to a more "meatier" second course! (sorry, not sorry)
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

https://bookstalebyme.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/cold-cuts-book-review/

This book had plenty of gore and a bit of a mystery, but it felt like I was just thrown into the story already in progress and was quickly finished with the barest of details in between.

I was given an eARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

I like this book. Before writing this review, I went to Amazon to find more! and pre-ordered the next in this series.

This was a short, easy and entertaining read for me. Yes, it was about a gory and grisly murder (s). But that was balanced with a nice, dry humor The main characters were interesting and well-balanced, yet not without personalty and their individual "quirks".. Quirks a fine -- we've all got them, but so often these days I find the story gets lost in the "quirks". Not so with Cold Cuts. The story was detailed enough that it made sense, but not so detailed as to slow it down. I am looking forward to the further adventures of Pereira and Bain!

As a fan of the author's Westphall and Jericho novels I was intrigued by this new series.
By far the most bizarre crime novel I've read recently, possibly ever

Excellent book. I adored the storyline and the characters. A real page turner. I would this recommend this book.