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A Dark Matter

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A Dark Matter

By: Doug Johnstone
Narrated by: Sarah Barron
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About this listen

Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators....

When patriarch Jim dies, it's left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events. Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman, suggesting that Jim wasn't the husband she thought he was.

Hannah's best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something far darker than any of them could have imagined. As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything....

©2020 Doug Johnstone (P)2020 Isis Publishing Ltd Crime Fiction Detective Fiction Genre Fiction Mystery Private Investigators Psychological Marriage Suspense Crime

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All stars
Most relevant
Great thriller. The unexpected ending had me having to think properly about what was happening!

Brilliant

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to others in this series. The characters are well portrayed and although there dark themes the end is uplifting so the overall effect is not depressing.

Very enjoyable listen

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You have to congratulate Doug Johnstone, what a setup! The marriage of a traditional Scottish funeral directors with all its stiff upper lip decorum with the down and dirty world of private investigation. As it turns out there's actually more similarity between the two than you might expect. And the book gets off to a grimly dark start and definitely it fits into Scottish Noir more than anything else.

The question is whether the story fully exploits that amazing setup and although I enjoyed it I'm not quite convinced that it did so fully. There's a fair amount of feminist sexual politics in there that I was starting to find a little overdone but I *think* Johnstone was boxing clever here. While his female leads who covered three generations of the Skelf family were pretty free with their thoughts of predatory men and similar the author countered that with a balance of good and bad characters of both sexes. There was no falling into the trap of mirroring those views with a completely predictable set of characters. An interesting approach.

The narration by Sarah Barron is really decent quality and I enjoyed her performance from start to finish making this a decent package and a credible opening to what I believe is to be a series. For those who like a bit of genuine dark noir with a decidedly female perspective, it's a worthwhile purchase. If you're squeamish about the process of dealing with dead bodies though, then as you might expect, this won't be a comfortable listen!

Death and Sexual Politics!

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Thanks Doug,
Another great story incorporating the local Edinburgh scene. Sarah also does a great job of telling the story. Your latest is a welcomed release and this kept me sane while painting my fence in the past few days in lockdown.
I can imagine you have another plot for these women, already bubbling away in your head. Keep up the good work.

Great story with twists and turns all the way.

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A Meaty read ..Living in Scotland and knowing the areas he writes about makes me love his books .I find the pace and storylines so relatable .Even-though some of the happenings are upsetting or scary .The way he writes is up beat .I find this style of writing much more palatable .The characters in this story are strong women but really likeable.pleased there are others to come .You'll enjoy it .His books are never long enough as I don't want them to end .I wish he'd write faster and many more .

Love Doug Johnstone's books

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