Meh
I really wanted to like the book - I usually like police procedurals, and other reviewers praised it. However, I'll be honest. It did nothing for me. In fact, "Still Life" plunged me into a reading slump that lasted about a month. I often toyed with the idea of not finishing it, but I plowed on - I promised to give my opinion of an ARC, and what if it gets better by the end? Unfortunately, nope, it doesn't.

The book was boring and slow. I guessed the twist (if we can call it that) early on. I mean, it's the only variant that would make sense, so it was really easy to do. I didn't care about the victim. Also, it was hard to keep track of the secondary characters who blurred into a generic crowd.

The main character (Inspector Karen Pirie) was nothing special. I'm sure I'll forget all about her and about this book in general in a week or so.

I guess we'll part ways with Val McDermid from now on. Still, thanks to Grove Atlantic,
Atlantic Monthly Press and Netgalley for the free advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Still Life by Val McDermid is a highly recommended police procedural and the sixth novel in the Karen Pirie series.

A body with the skull was bashed in is discovered in Scotland’s Firth of Forth and the investigation identifies the body as James Auld, who left the country ten years earlier when he became a suspect in the disappearance of his older brother. The tie to the previous cold case means that Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie of the Historic Cases Unit is called in to investigate. Constable Jason Murray is left to continue the investigation the two were working on, skeletal remains found in a van parked in a Perth garage, and he promises frequent updates to Pirie. Pirie is assigned DS Daisy Mortimer to assist her.

This is a complicated novel following several investigations and narrative threads, which makes it a perfect read for those who enjoy procedurals and like to follow intricate investigations. These two cases are both perplexing and there is much more going on than meets the eye. To make matters even more emotional and troublesome, Pirie is have some relationship issues with her new boyfriend, Hamish Mackenzie, and the man responsible for the death of the love of her life is being released from prison.

McDermid will keep readers entertained throughout this procedural. The pace does seem a bit leisurely at times, but there is so much going on that the extended progress allows you to absorb what has been uncovered in all the areas of inquiry. Some aspects of the plot are more predictable than others, but the denouement cleverly wraps up all the story lines. With skill and competence McDermit keeps all the investigations running smoothly and follows the inquiries with equal interest.

Karen Pirie is an intelligent, intuitive character with flaws, but it is always a pleasure to follow her along in the investigation. It is great to see Murray on the investigation and I'm hoping Daisy Mortimer is added to the team in the Historic Cases Unit. Readers new to the series will still be able to appreciate it without reading any of the previous Pirie novels, although the previous novels will give you much more background information - and are just as complicated and engrossing.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grove/Atlantic.





the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC. I'm a huge fan of Val McDermid which makes me a bit biased. However, I do have high expectations so I'd be the first to say if a book disappointed.
This book did not disappoint. It is the sixth in the series of Inspector Karen Pirie. I have come to like Inspector Pirie a lot. In this book, two plot lines run side by side until they become the same investigation. Pirie is assigned to a case that seems to overlap a cold case she had ten years earlier. A body is fished out from the Forth of Frith and seems to be the brother of the center of her missing person's case ten years ago. Scotland Yard puts her in charge of the body since they said she had to right background with the cold case. From there, the investigarion takes on twists and turns, that are beautifully executed. While all this is going on, Pirie is also trying to balance a new relationship from the previous book. She gets a new partner, another female, who she comes to respect and still has her sidekick Jason Murry who is the closest thing she has to her dead husband.

Ms McDermind has earned the title of the Queen of Mystery. No one can write a book like this and keep the reader guessing and jumping and unable to put the book down until all is known and one is once again deeply satisfied.

It's the first book I read in this series and won't surely be the last as I loved it.
It's a gripping and highly entertaining page turner that thoroughly enjoyed and couldn't put down.
The plot is tightly knitted, fast paced and complex, the characters are well thought and interesting.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and the solution came as a surprise.
I loved Karen, a strong and fascinating woman, and I loved how many woman were involved in the investigation and how skilled they are.
It's an excellent read that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Karen Prie is back and she has a new staff person (Daisy) who is lively. I love it. The mysteries get a bit convoluted but it is interesting to this US reader to hear more about how Brexit is affecting Scotland. It was also interesting that this as this book ends they are starting their shelter in place. I do wonder how detective novels might play that out.

Another so,I’d police procedural from the legendary Val McDermind

I was given a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
I have somehow missed reading this author. A British mystery with well developed characters/ and a plot that doesn't miss a beat. I am off to look for others in this series.

Val McDermott just gets better and better. Karen Prine is called in when a fisherman is discovered dead and the suspense just builds from there. I love the atmosphere of Scotland she so masterfully presents.

I like Val McDermid’s Karen Pirie Historic Cases Unit police procedurals. This is the third consecutive of six that I have read. I really like the main character, a strong, intelligent, vulnerable, but not overly flawed, DCI.

Karen is balancing two cases. A skeleton has been found in a van parked in the garage of a recently deceased woman. She is drawn into the second case, albeit a current one, because one of the suspects in the years old killing of his brother has been found dead. The familiar supporting characters are here, as well as a new female colleague, Sergeant Daisy Mortimer. Still mourning the death of her love, Phil, Karen has established a new relationship with Hamish, who was introduced in the prior novel.

Although I think many of the twists were known to the reader before discovered by Karen, this did not detract from the readability or enjoyment of the story. I always like the the inclusion of topical issues in McDermid’s novels. In this one, there is a hint of the pandemic to come and the book ends just as Scotland is about to go on lockdown for Covid.

McDermid’s vivid descriptions of various locales place you right there in the middle of a scene. And, all the food consumed….you can just about taste those bacon rolls, curry, and croissants!

This reads well as a stand alone, but I think reading the prior novels will give provide more context. Plus, they are a joy to read.

Bloody brilliant police procedural abounding with atmosphere, compelling characters, terrific story telling, and an easy to recommend read to my very picky father. Reader quickly finds themselves transported and immersed in the story which is all I truly want from a novel.

When a body is fished from the Firth of Forth, the trail soon leads to the cold case of the victim’s brother, a Scottish MP who has been missing for over 10 years—and from there to DCI Karen Pirie in “Still Life,” the sixth outing for Val McDermid’s Scottish police inspector. Having investigated that earlier case, Pirie, head of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit, is seconded in to see if there is a link between the recent murder of one brother and the long ago disappearance of the other. Soon enough, Pirie and her temporary new sergeant, Daisy Mortimer, are embroiled in a web of art forgery and concealed identities that will take all their ingenuity to solve—especially while Pirie and her usual sidekick, Detective Constable Jason Murray, are still actively pursuing a cold case involving a skeleton found in a van in the garage of a dead woman.

How am I only now discovering Val McDermid? “Still Life” had everything I want in a police procedural/detective novel: interesting, well-developed characters with a particularly compelling protagonist in Pirie; a fully realized setting (all the better for being Scotland); and a challenging mystery with a believable resolution. I was able to jump right into this sixth novel without any need to have read the previous Karen Pirie books, but I can imagine that longtime fans of the series will appreciate and enjoy plot points such as the prison release of the man responsible for the death of Pirie’s fiancé Phil several years before and her burgeoning relationship with new boyfriend Hamish Mackenzie. I’m sure I’ll be catching up with the earlier installments in this series before welcoming Karen Pirie back for a seventh time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

A waterlogged body, pulled from the ocean by an unsuspecting fisherman. A staid, middle-aged Scottish civil servant, missing for years, finally declared legally dead. The body of an unknown female, now little more than bones, found in a derelict camper van hidden in a recently-deceased woman’s garage. And, a flashy, louche, anti-establishment artist, who committed suicide a decade ago.

There are a lot of dead people woven throughout Val McDermid’s latest crime thriller, Still Life… but, as always, the much-lauded Scottish mystery maven manages to fashion a terrific tapestry from all the pieces and parts.
_______________

Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie takes her job as head of a cold cases squad very seriously—even more so, after losing her own life partner a few years earlier, and feeling firsthand how devastating the not knowing can be, until a loved one’s murder is resolved. Still, some cases are gonna be trickier than others, no matter how dedicated the team.

Take this latest one. When an avenue of investigation leads to a case she worked on previously—one which as yet remains unsolved—it feels almost like a personal affront to Karen, a reminder of her own failure… which, to someone as driven as she, is also all the impetus she needs to go full-on gangbusters.

So, armed with her trusty cadre of underlings and colleagues in complementary fields (forensic pathologists, computer techs, and the like)—while feeling intense pressure from a superior who detests her (and everyone else)—Karen sets out to get this one right… or else.

Little does she know that the various investigative avenues will involve travel to a half-dozen other countries, taking her from the upper echelons of government to jazz clubs to a secluded commune, with lessons in art history and fraud, along the way.

And, since regular life doesn’t stop (for anyone) just because work gets busy, there’s also a personal bump in the road to deal with: the man responsible for her partner’s death is being released from prison… much, much sooner than Karen is prepared to handle.
_______________

I’ve been a fan of McDermid’s for a looooong time, now… meaning there’s a pretty high bar to meet (or top) with each successive story, but—particularly with both her Karen Pirie and Tony Hill series—she always delivers a winner.

From vivid descriptions of place to crystal-clear depictions of her characters (appearances, motivations, foibles, moods, etc.), McDermid is a master at creating a setting and atmosphere that’s practically tangible… which never fails to draw me fully into the story, as it does, once more, in Still Life. This is a cracking-good yarn—smart as hell, cultured but edgy, and populated by a group of people who come across as very real. I enjoyed it immensely.

One final note: Still Life is the first book I’ve read which mentions COVID-19 (in a small way, since the majority of the story takes place right on the cusp of the worldwide pandemic, but still), and I’ve gotta say, living through it for the past 7+ months, now? McDermid’s inclusion of something so monumental—this unknowable entity that’s about to take over the fictional world, too—just feels right.
~GlamKitty

3.5 stars

In this sixth book in the Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie series, the police investigate two cold cases. The book works fine as a standalone.

DCI Karen Pirie of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit believes solving cold cases is just as important as solving new ones, to give bereaved people answers. Thus Pirie digs right in when two old crimes land in her lap.

One case is the murder of a woman whose skeleton was found in Perth, on the property of a road accident victim named Susan Leitch. Susan's sister was cleaning out her deceased sibling's garage when she discovered the bones in an old camper van. Since the corpse must have been rotting away for years, DCI Pirie gets the case.

Another case is the disappearance ten years ago of Iain Auld, a civil servant with the Scottish government. Iain was presumed dead, and his brother James - who had argued with Iain about Scottish independence - was the prime suspect. James ran away before he could be arrested and was in the wind until now, .when his body was fished out of the Firth of Forth. Since the whole business has political implications, Assistant Chief Constable Ann Markie (aka The Dog Biscuit) is pressing Pirie to resolve the case fast.

Pirie has two assistants to help her investigate. Her trainee, Detective Constable Jason Murray (aka The Mint), helps with the skeleton case; and a policewoman from the Fife crime squad, Detective Sergeant Daisy Mortimer, assists with the Auld inquiry.

The first order of business in the skeleton case is to identify the victim, which turns out to be tricky. Pirie and Jason start their inquiries by investigating Susan Leitch, whose garage contained the corpse. Eventually, the detectives narrow down the skeleton's identity to two women, one of whom is presumed to be the victim and one of whom is presumed to be the killer. Inquiries in the skeleton case lead the detectives to an artist colony in Glenisla; a woman's father in the Borders; and a church hall in Manchester.

At one point, Pirie - who's busy with her other case - sends Jason on a solo mission, which turns out to be a dangerous undertaking.

The James Auld homicide is complicated by the fact that he fled to France ten years ago and changed his name. At the time of his death, James Auld was calling himself Paul Allard and playing in a Parisian jazz band. Pirie and Daisy go to France, where they make significant discoveries. They also learn that Auld traveled to London and Dublin before he was killed in Scotland. In time it becomes clear why The Dog Biscuit is so anxious to have the Auld case resolved and out of the public eye; it may be connected to a scandal the government covered up.

To further her inquiries, Pirie needs phones examined; computers scrutinized; DNA analyzed; etc. To get her requests to the front of the queue at the police labs, Pirie coaxes her colleague, Tamsin Martinu, with chocolate biscuits. Tamsin then chivvies her colleagues to go the extra mile, which puts Pirie's cases on the fast track. Pirie's investigations also require cross-border warrants, which her contacts quickly arrange.

The book alternates back and forth between the skeleton case and the Auld case. The story is easy to follow though, and doesn't get confusing.

Pirie's investigations are complemented by her nascent romance with Hamish Mackenzie, a wealthy crofter and coffee shop entrepreneur who wants to wine, dine, and entertain Pirie in style. Pirie usually eats with her police colleagues, though, and much of their food is described. This includes things like bacon, egg and cheese muffins; fried chicken and chips; crab in rice paper wrappers; pad khing; poppadums; pakoras; curries; double mozzarella pizza with spicy salami; and more. The meals make a nice accompaniment to the detective work and sound quite tasty. I also liked some of the novel (to me) expressions, like braw day (fine day); the crack of sparrowfart (early morning); radged (angry); breenge in (rush in); and others.

Some aspects of the story stretch credulity a bit, but I enjoyed this compelling police procedural.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Val McDermid), and the publisher (Atlantic Monthly Press) for a copy of the book.

Karen Pire is investigating two historic cases this time. Her unit has taken on one of them because it occurred in her area. A body is found in an old VW van kept under a tarp in a garage. The mystery has only come to light because the owner of the house was recently killed in a traffic accident. Pirie’s sidekick Murray will need to step up bigtime, because she is soon pulled into another case.

In her second case a body washes ashore. He is the brother of a missing Scottish civil servant. There are implications of foul play, art forgery, scandal and perhaps potential embarrassing repercussions for the government. To help her with this case Daisy Mortimer, a bright but inexperienced second, becomes her eager to learn assistant. Both cases have Pirie running back and forth and covering many Scottish locales and even a side trip to France.

On top of all this, the murderer of her lover and partner is released from jail – sparking her rage. And her current lover, Hamish, seems at times too controlling for her, too rich, and too good a lover! Karen Pirie puts her personal life in the background where it continues to churn – hopefully in another excellent upcoming book.

McDermid juggles all these details with skill, insight, some humor, a whiff of politics and danger. She also acknowledges the coming pandemic, the first book I have read that even mentions this new factor in our lives. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this review copy. Stay healthy, V. M. and keep writing – we need it.

This is my first read of Val McDermid. And I must say I am amazed by this mystery crime thriller. The way DCI Karen Pirie Investigates the case of Skelton discovered in camper and of the body pulled out by a boat, with the help of forensics team make it look so real. And then the political angle gives it a new dimension. I felt like following real crime cases while reading this. Smooth Writing style made it look like an intense thriller movie without any boring moments.

If you're a fan of mystery crime thrillers, do read this one, it will not disappoint you. I will be looking forward to reading more thrillers by Val McDermid.

I like the Karen Pirie series and was well disposed toward this one before I started. It's maybe not the best of them – the story drags a bit in places, and telegraphs plot twists a bit more than I like – but some of the digression was needed to introduce a new member of the Historic Cases Unit, Detective Sergeant Daisy Mortimer, a lively young officer who will balance Pirie's bagman Detective
Constable Jason Murray who is a bit tentative.

The story is convoluted and sad and the writing is very satisfying.

What an entertaining read!

A wonderful; two for the price of one read with two separate cases that both need solving.

I liked the fact that the 2 different cases had nothing to do with each other and both had strong storylines. It's also very realistic because in real life detectives have to deal with multiple cases at the same time and don't have the luxury of concentrating on only 1 as you see in movies and a lot of books. It made the story much more realistic.

A well-written and highly entertaining story that I can recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

In the sixth book in the series, DCI Karen Pirie has started seeing someone seriously for the first time since her partner, Phil’s, death. Yet, Phil is top of her mind because Merrick Shand, the man who killed him is being released from prison after serving a short sentence. Meanwhile, after a woman was killed in a traffic accident, her sister had to clean out her house, and she found an old VW bus in the garage—with a skeleton inside.

The Historic Crimes Unit—namely Karen and DC Jason Murray start investigating the suspicious death in earnest when Karen’s nemesis Assistant Chief Constable Ann Markie, assigns her to a new case. The body of James Auld—who had been living in Paris under the alias Paul Allard—had been found in the Firth of Forth by a lobster boat crew. Auld was notable as a person of interest in the disappearance ten years previous of his brother, Iain, a high-ranking Scottish official serving in London, now presumed dead. As Karen follows Auld’s trail, visiting points in France, Scotland, and Ireland, she finds a link to an art forgery ring. Tracking down ownership of the VW bus largely falls to “The Mint” Murray.

With two ongoing investigations, a new relationship with Hamish, and the distraction of Merrick Shand, Karen’s usual careful grip on her cases may be jeopardized—putting her and her team in danger.

DCI Karen Pirie is a great character, no-nonsense, intelligent and experienced, but vulnerable in her personal life (though I like that the focus is more on the cases than her relationships). She’s so clever and devious (in a good way), but unlike a lot of fictional detectives, she doesn’t rebel against the system, she finesses it.

I love novels set in the art world, but this also had so many other layers: government and familial secrets, hidden identities, and greed. The workings of law enforcement in Europe fascinate me, and Still Life incorporated issues of cross-country cooperation (or obstruction for those resentful of Brexit). Additionally, this is the first book I’ve read that integrates COVID-19.

I’m always a little surprised that Val McDermid isn’t more widely read in the U.S. I encourage fans of Michael Connelly, Karen Slaughter, and Jonathan Kellerman to pick up this book. You can start the series here.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I've read all the Karen Pirie books to date, and enjoyed every one, but I think this one is the best. Karen's character is solid - she's still dealing with the personal pain of the earlier death of her lover, but she has found a new man and is working through the issues of "moving on." While this is a thread running through the book, it does not take over and is worked in naturally. Jason Murray (the Mint!) is also more developed from the prior books, and, like Karen, we are able to appreciate his growing ability and his potential. To add icing on the cake, we have a new character, Daisy, who is working with Karen and (I expect) we will see more in later books. Karen's network of experts (and Jason's) all make appearances in this book, helping to make sure her cases get some priority.

The plot is twisty. She's working on 2 cold cases at once, both of which have twists to them, but I never found it difficult to keep them straight and to enjoy Karen's process of working on both at the same time. The book kept me reading eagerly - no temptation to put it aside!

It was also fascinating to see the COVID lockdowns coming into play at the end of the book. It wasn't important to the plot of this book, but I'll be interested to see if the next book involves some of the difficulties of solving cases in the pandemic world.

And, you don't have to have read the previous books before reading this one - while there are a few references to things that happened in earlier books, they're not at all central to the cases being solved, and they are explained well enough in this book that you won't be left hanging.

Like the previous Karen Pirie books, this one is a winner!

NOTE: For some reason, Amazon said it will not publish this review because it "violates Community Guidelines." WHAT? I honestly can't see anything even vaguely objectionable in this review. And it does not appear that there is anywhere on the Amazon site to ask for clarification.

Val McDermid, master of crime fiction, is at her best in Still Life. She weaves familiar and new characters into a scrupulously crafted plot and keeps the reader guessing until the very end. Settle down into a comfortable chair because you won’t want to put this one down.

When a woman clearing out her late sister’s house discovers a skeleton inside a camper in the garage, DCI Karen Pirie and her partner Jason Murray of the Scotland Police Historical Case Unit are called to investigate. Relying on DNA and forensic anthropology, their work is slow and exacting. Meanwhile, a lobster boat pulls a body from the Firth of Forth and DCI Charlie Todd and Sergeant Daisy Mortimer begin to unravel the mystery of the victim’s identity. According to his ID, he’s Paul Allard, a saxophone player and veteran of the French Foreign Legion. However, this proves false. He’s James Auld, brother of Iain Auld who disappeared ten years earlier. Because Iain was a senior civil servant in the government, the case becomes political and DCI Pirie is asked to take over. Now she must divide her time between the two investigations.

These investigations involve identity theft, murder, attempted murder and forgery. They move between several countries and highlight the tedium of police work. This is the sixth in a series but can be read as a standalone. If you’ve read others, you may more easily understand Karen’s grief and Jason’s development as an investigator. McDermid has delivered another impeccable, multilayered crime thriller. 5 stars.

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

Still Life is the 6th Karen Pirie mystery by Val McDermid. Released 6th Oct 2020 by Grove Atlantic on their Atlantic Monthly Press imprint, it's 436 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
McDermid is a prodigiously talented and precise writer. The characters are so finely rendered and so detailed that they felt real to me. This is an ensemble cast and Inspector Pirie makes good use of her team. The plotting is well controlled and the narrative arc (despite the hefty page count) never drags or loses engagement. Something is happening all the time and it really works very well.

One thing which impresses me very much about McDermid is the realism of her prose. There's one moment in the book which literally made me *gasp* out loud I was so surprised (and dismayed). I stayed up an hour longer than my bedtime to make sure that the situation got resolved. (No spoilers, but *wow*). The language in this one is about par for the modern procedural genre. The cursing is used in context and I didn't find it egregious (there are a number of rugged Anglo-Saxon monosyllables including the f-bomb).

It works fine as a standalone, new readers needn't be intimidated by the thought of needing to read the previous books. This is an enjoyable thriller from a master at the top of their game. The disparate plot threads both those from current events and from the past, intertwine and resolve into a very satisfying and crazy denouement. I like it very much that the author doesn't feel the need to tie every single plot thread together into one overarching solution - the solutions to the mysteries are resolved, but they're not all tied together.

Five stars. Highly recommended for fans of procedurals.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.