This is book #5 in the Inspector Karen Pirie series. I haven't read any of the others, but I thought this book functioned well enough as a standalone. I was given enough background info to know what happened before, but it wasn't an info dump, which I appreciated. I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.

I loved the MC, Karen, who does not let anyone tell her what to do. I liked the complexity of the plot (3 cases to solve!) and the barest hint of romance.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for a copy of the ARC.

I liked Broken Ground because it's historical fiction and a contemporary mystery. The story lines are nicely tied together, and the story is cohesive. The characters are engaging and relatable. It's an intriguing read that's interesting from beginning to end. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Broken Ground' is a solid, engaging procedural mystery
By Sandy Mahaffey For The Free Lance–Star Jan 5, 2019
I enjoy a good police procedural, but there are caveats. The characters need to be well-developed, the plot intriguing, and any violence should take place off page, with only the necessary details given (I don’t enjoy reading gruesome prose). Sound impossible? Well, I certainly found that with Val McDermid’s “Broken Ground.” Another confession: It’s the first of her more than 30 books I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.
My research has shown the prolific Scottish author has multiple series going. This one centers around DCI Karen Pirie, head of a small Historic Cases Unit (cold cases in the U.S.) McDermid gives enough backstory on Pirie for this newcomer to be able to jump right in. Pirie is still reeling from a devastating loss in her personal life and her supervisor is determined to ruin her career for reasons unknown. Her unit consists of herself, a rather green assistant and now an unrequested third member foisted upon her by her antagonistic boss. She has supportive friends and is determined to work within the law. She’s not perfect, but her heart and motives are in the right place. She is a realistic detective who juggles more than one case at a time, but is determined to solve them.
The HIC cases combine mysteries, some history, old grudges and modern forensic science to create plenty of intrigue and tension in the plot. Pirie is pulled away from trying to solve old serial rapes to head out to a newly uncovered cold case, literally. A young couple attempting to find a buried inheritance from her grandfather, with nothing but a vague map, find more than they expected. Namely a corpse buried in a peat bog. The Scottish countryside, its culture and the wonderful characters add flavor, humor and a realistic feel. The “treasure” itself dates back to the end of World War II, but the Nikes worn by the victim are from about 1995, creating a bit of a snarl in the investigation.
While sitting in a coffee shop working on the peat bog case, Pirie overhears a discussion between female friends about one’s pending divorce and the husband’s aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, this pulls the detective into another case, not historic, but the overheard discussion pulls her into the midst of it.
McDermid gives the reader a good feel for the steps used in the investigation process without becoming tedious. I was always engaged in the plot and got a good picture of the characters with all their quirks, strengths and weaknesses. Personal relationships also play a major role.

If you’re in the mood for a solid detective story with well-developed characters and a beautiful Scottish landscape, this is the book for you.

When a body is found buried with 2 old motorbikes there are so many unanswered question for the police to investigate. Why was the body buried after the motorbikes and who put them there are just a few that need to be solved. Karen Pirie is feeling the heat from her new boss and feels pressured to give her some of these answers.
Although the story is entertaining I found the ending to be a bit disappointing. I'm the type of reader who enjoys having all the ends connected and solved, which this didn't. If you are the type of reader who doesn't mind an incomplete ending then you will enjoy this book. The characters draw you into the story and you can feel their frustration at times.

Broken Ground by Val McDermid is a complex police procedural wrapped in a historical thriller. The characters are so distinct, complex and growth throughout the story. This is at times a dark, winding tale and at others a bright hopeful one. Loved this book and can't wait to read more.

Many thanks go to Val McDermid, Little Brown, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. So I jumped into the middle of this series, but it had no effect on my comprehension of the plot or the characters. This can be a freestanding read. Karen is lead detective of the HCU which got involved in two investigations: a rape/murder, and a murder/attempted theft. There is a mole in her department who is a total idiot. She hates her boss, and the feeling is mutual. She meets quite the handsome man, but he's a liar. Well you see how her luck runs. But she's a terror on crime, and always bags her man. These cases are no exceptions. I've not read much McDermid at all, I'm ashamed to say. If this book is representative of her other writings, then I'm missing out. There is a surge and flow to her work, which grabs one's attention. I will more than likely look for the other books in this series.

This book was well done yet I had some difficulty getting into it. It had to due to my interests and not the book.

As an avid fan of historical mysteries, I enjoyed the pacing of the investigation into the discovery of a body buried amid a pair of WWII era motorcycles, though there seemed to be too many subplots distracting from the inadvertent main investigation. The original cold case DCI Karen Pirie is handling becomes almost an afterthought to the aforementioned cold case, in which she (almost) inserts herself in without the proper authorization, as does the second "case" she gets herself involved in is purely by chance. It was challenging to keep track of the progress of each case, though they (more or less) stayed separate cases. The occasional flashbacks were also a touch disorienting to keep track of the names, though it provided a fair amount of exposition.

The resolution seemed to come together too conveniently, and the guilty party doesn't make an appearance until almost the very end. As this is part of a series, I can only presume the fallout of the events will carry through future stories.

This is a fairly difficult book for me to review... It started very slow and the characters were just not interesting. As the story developed, it did become more engaging and the Scottish elements were great. I also enjoyed having a side plot along with the major mystery. Our detective Karen was a strong heroine who held her own against many personal and work-related battles.

Overall a decent novel that I would recommend to mystery readers. Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the free e-book in exchange for my honest review.

DCI Pirie is a Scottish police officer that works on cold cases. In this novel she works on 3 different cases, one of which dates back to WW2.

This was my first Val McDermid book and though I enjoyed it, it was only ok. The first half of the book took me a while to get into as I felt things were progressing very slowly. There was some confusion in the names for me with a Joey, James, Jimmy, etc. but that was only an issue in like one chapter for me. The second half of the book was much more fast paced and my speed, but the conclusion was WAY too neatly wrapped up. Like literally you get the conclusion of the 3 cases in like 2 paragraphs. I would read another novel by Val McDermid given that it's her 32nd novel and they're rated pretty well, but I won't be actively seeking another out at this point.

In December 2016, I reviewed Out of Bounds by Val McDermid. Back then, I said, “I’m not sure why I haven’t read Val McDermid before, or why I wanted to read this one, but I am so glad it happened…McDermid fans may already be familiar with Chief Inspector Karen Pirie of Police Scotland, as Out of Bounds is #4 in a series with this feisty female protagonist. I plan to read the first three in the series (The Distant Echo, A Darker Domain, and The Skeleton Road), but this story doesn’t require any prior knowledge, and functions as a standalone novel.” Well, I’m embarrassed to say I never got to the first three, but I definitely will now that I have had the opportunity to read #5 in the Karen Pirie series. Many  thanks to  Grove Atlantic / Atlantic Monthly Press and NetGalley for a copy of Broken Ground in exchange for this honest review.

I love Detective Karen Pirie, and although I know some readers quibble with the fact that it might not be realistic for a detective of her rank to do some of the more mundane tasks she does, I think all that is explained quite well in the context of the details that make her character so REAL and relatable. And she truly is: “She was, she knew, the kind of woman men either dismissed or treated like the sister they were slightly intimidated by.”

Karen is in mourning (no specifics here to avoid any spoilers), and is still not back to feeling safe enough to let people in: “She’d spent most of her adult life in a state of mild wariness, always cautious about letting people too close.” In Broken Ground, she gets the chance to get past that a bit, while working on a fascinating case involving World War II espionage, Indian motorcycles, Nazi looting, and diamonds. Oh, and peat bogs!

A woman named Alice Somerville is searching for her inheritance: a pair of Indian motorcycles reportedly buried in a Scottish peat bog by her grandfather at the end of World War II. When Alice finally locates and uncovers the Indians, she also finds the peat bog also contains a body with a bullet hole between the eyes. Karen Pirie is called in and works this case along with another mystery, all while dealing with a new detective partner, assigned to spy on her by her new boss. That female boss seems to have a problem with Karen, one that too many women have experienced. As Karen notes “So few women made it to the top of the tree and for evert one of them who understood the importance of solidarity, there was one ready with an axe.”

Even more than when reading the Lynley/Havers novels by Elizabeth George, I find myself using the dictionary feature of my Kindle a LOT when reading Val McDermid, and even then for some of the words I needed to infer meaning from context. For example, it was easy to find that keelie, doddle, and drookit were all pejorative names for certain characters, and my dictionary helped me with oxters (armpits) and braw morning, but I was on my own with “snell north wind,” “gallus swagger,” and “cheffy TV shows.” All of McDermid’s descriptions of Scottish locations are vivid. This is particularly true for Edinburgh, as noted in this line Karen comes across in a newspaper:  “underneath the glamorous skirts of the Athens of the North are some very shabby shoes.”

Lots of plot twists and some suspense, great characters, and sure to be enjoyed by fans of Tana French or Elizabeth George. Four stars.

With her 32nd novel, Val McDermid continues a long winning streak of first-rate Scottish crime fiction. Cold case detective Karen Pirie is called to a remote Highland peat bog where two well preserved vintage motorcycles were found, along with a dead body. Pirie investigates, with the help of “The Mint,” but is targeted and sabotaged by her new boss “Dog Biscuit” and her lapdog McCartney. (Such great nicknames!) One of the things I appreciate most about McDermid is her accurate descriptions of forensics and her well-developed characters. Pirie is doggedly determined to do everything she can to solve cold cases and believes that “in my unit we try to treat each life as equally valuable.” (Much like Harry Bosch’s philosophy in Michael Connelly’s novels “everybody matters, or nobody does.”) Although Broken Ground is not as impressive as some of the other books in this series, it is a worth-while read.

My review was posted on Goodreads on 12/31/18.

It's been a long time since I've read Val McDermid, and this is the first I've read from this series but I loved it! It was so interesting and the story just flowed along. I'm sure that reading the prior books in the series would give more background to the characters but I didn't feel that anything was lacking in the reading. The detail given to the crimes and solving them was fascinating. I'll definitely read what came before this book and what comes after.

This is a great book for many reasons. The story is unique and interesting. The characters are very realistic and likeable. The setting is somewhat glamorous, and the style generates emotional reactions. The action takes place in northern Scotland, and a bit of Scottish vernacular adds to the power of the book. The search for two motorcycles hidden by soldiers at the end of WWII kicks off a murder investigation which is only one of many vexing cases of the Historic Crime Unit headed by a DCI with problems of her own, including a nasty, new boss who is out to get her. The book is quickly engrossing and held my attention up to the end. I put it on my read again shelf.

3.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 5 of the series. I have not read any of the other books in the series, but I was able to enjoy this book nonetheless. There was enough backstory included by the author for me to not feel completely lost in understanding the main characters, so I didn't feel like I was missing much.

There are several plot lines to follow in the book. The main mystery finds Inspector Pirie, head of the Historic Cases Unit, investigating the 25 year old murder of a man found buried in a Highland bog alongside 2 vintage Indian motorcycles that had been buried by allied forces at the end of WWII.

A secondary mystery surrounds a conversation that Pirie overheard in a restaurant. She warns a woman about possible violence that could occur in a domestic dispute. When things go horribly wrong, Pirie must deal with the guilt of her decision to intervene.

Meanwhile, Pirie's new supervisor is out to get her and assigns a detective to her unit to spy on her. This plot was the least developed one, was fairly predictable and didn't seem to really go anywhere.

The book is well written and interesting. It's a fast read and I really enjoyed it. The story line wraps up nicely, although the ending was very abrupt and kind of weird. Overall, however, I recommend reading this series and this book.

This was a police procedural novel set in Scotland. It was the 5th featuring the same detective, Karen Pirie. As I was enjoying it so much, I was looking forward to reading the first 4. But then, the ending was the pits!! It just quit!! It wasn't like, "to find out what happened, you need to read the next installment" at all. It was just like the author got tired, summed up the murder and murderer (but not the arrest nor conviction) and quit. The ending was most unsatisfying.

Consequently, I’m giving this book 3 stars instead of the 5 I was planning on.

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

This was a great book. I enjoyed it so much I got all the books from this series. As happens to me all the time, I find a good series I like but somehow I never start at the first book, so I have a lot of catching up to do. Even though I haven't read the other books in the series it was easy to know what was going on and to learn the characters each of who have a very distinct personality. I liked the fact that there was three mysteries running consecutively. It kept you thinking and wanting more, but was written in such a way that it was not confusing. I received this ebook free from NetGalley for an honest review.

I received an advance copy ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Atlantic Monthly Press.

Karen Pirie is a seasoned Detective assigned to the Police Scotland Historic Cases Unit. She is recently bereaved with a boss who is determined to undermine her. While assigned to a case involving a body found in a bog, she overhears two women talking in a cafe. Ever the watchful police officer and feeling it her duty to step in and a say her piece, her words forever alter three lives.

Added to this is a love interest - is he friend or foe? As well as a troublesome co-worker who has been planted by the boss, Karen's got her hands full.

While I gave this four stars, I felt oddly disconnected from this book. The only character I could relate to on any level was Gerry McCartney, the plant sent to keep an eye on Karen. I finished the book last night feeling that the ending was oddly rushed. In addition, Karen is juggling three cases, which I feel is a lot for a reader to keep track of. While this is a good novel and had some interesting twists and turns, for me at least, sadly not a page turner.

EXCERPT: What appeared to be a crude sculpture of a motorbike had been propped upright on one side of the hole, looking like a potential entrant for the Turner prize. Beside it, his torso twisted at the waist, making an awkward angle to his legs, lay their victim. The peat had stained his skin the color of weak coffee, but apart from that, he was as perfectly preserved as a shop window mannequin.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Alice Somerville's inheritance lies six feet under in a Highland peat bog - a pair of valuable vintage motorbikes buried by her grandfather at the end of World War II. But when Alice finally organises their recovery, she finds an unwelcome surprise -a body with a pair of bullet holes . . . and Nike trainers. DCI Karen Pirie of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit is called in to unravel a case where nothing is quite as it seems.

Meanwhile an overheard conversation in a cafe draws Karen to the heart of a murder she thought she'd already prevented.

As Karen gets closer to the several truths, it becomes clear that not everyone shares her desire for justice. Or even the idea of what justice is.

MY THOUGHTS: I have read a number of books by this author, but this is my first in this particular series. And while it didn't set my world on fire, it was a good solid read and I do want to read more.

I like Karen's character. She is in the minority of female detectives for having no major hang-ups/character flaws. She is a nice normal person who has suffered personal tragedy and is now rebuilding her life. She doesn't like her boss, and the feeling is entirely mutual. But where her boss isn't above using dirty methods to try and discredit Karen, Karen has morals and scruples.

The story is told over multiple timelines, and from multiple points of view. But this is well executed and doesn't cause any confusion.

While I have to admit to finding the writing a little slow paced, the plot was intriguing enough to keep me interested and reading. I also felt that the ending left something to be desired, more in execution than plot. It felt rushed and a little incomplete, hence the not quite 4-star rating.

One particular turn of phrase that has stuck in my mind, and perfectly describes Karen's predicament is 'a case from the past that has more holes than a box of doughnuts.'

🎅🎅🎅.5

THE AUTHOR: Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.

She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Broken Ground by Val McDermid for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Val McDermid is a legend. Period. Fans of her Karen Pirie series know to expect a deep-dive into the past with this historical crimes division. Broken Ground is the strongest book in this series yet with some of McDermid’s most evocative writing, a wonderfully executed plot, and those characters that we have all come to love.