Quintin Jardine - Page 1
First British Edition Headline (2005) |
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Lethal Intent
Would you kill a friend to save a life?
Somewhere in Scotland the unthinkable is about to happen - something that would shatter the very bedrock of society. And for Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner, deadlines are looming...
Four ruthless Albanian gangsters have infiltrated Edinburgh’s underworld and M15 are all over it. They believe the criminals are trying to move into the city’s drug scene. But do they have a bigger, more audacious objective?
And then the son of a police officer is found dead in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. A teenage prank gone wrong, or a foretaste of things to come?
Meanwhile the police force is in trouble as Scotland’s unscrupulous First Minister plans to take it over, threatening to ruin anyone who gets in his way. How do you stop the man who holds the reins of power?
It’s a triple threat for Skinner - is his troubled marriage clouding his judgement?
As the crimes begin to collide, fragments of the truth are revealed. Skinner and his team race against time to piece them together - but will it all come down to a shot in the dark?
Praise for Quintin Jardine’s novels
`Well constructed, fast-paced, Jardine’s narrative has many an ingenious twist and turn’ Observer
`Remarkably assured... a tour de force’ New York Times
`Engrossing and believable characters, it captures Edinburgh beautifully’ Edinburgh Evening News
`The Skinner series grows in authority and should be a natural for television’ Time Out
`Deplorably readable’ Guardian
`If Ian Rankin is the Robert Carlyle of Scottish crime writing, then Jardine is surely its Sean Connery’ Glasgow Herald
Hardback
Headline
(2004) |
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Paperback - Headline (2005) |
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Alarm Call
Revege can have shattering consequences…
I, Oz Blackstone, didn’t go looking for fame: it jumped out of an alleyway and mugged me with a fistful of high denomination notes. When I recovered, I found that I was a movie star, married to a successful businesswoman and about to make a leap into the Seriously Big Time. Like the one-armed bandit of my dreams, life just kept lining up all the cherries.
I should have known it couldn’t stay that good for too long. I should have known that the juiciest fruit go sour.
I got my first taste of bitterness when I found my ex-wife Primavera Phillips drenched in her own tears, her life in ruins, cheated out of her fortune and robbed of her baby boy, Tom, by his lying, cheating con-man father.
What else could I do but help?
Maybe I should have called for help myself, or stuck to the game plan of looking after number one. Instead I set out on a voyage of dark intrigue and wild discovery that would turn my life upside down...
‘Yet another work of Jardine genius that has bestseller written all over it’ Scottish Daily Herald
| Paperback - Headline (2005) |
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Head Shot
DCC Bob Skinner has witnessed the aftermath of murder countless times. Yet nothing could have prepared him for identifying the strangled bodies of his wife’s beloved parents, killed at their lakeside cabin in New York State. Driven by cold rage, Skinner quickly muscles in on the investigation, and soon he’s found links with three other cases where the killing is too professional to be the result of a burglary gone wrong. But can he penetrate the multiple layers of intrigue to unearth the killer?
‘Remarkable assured.. a tour de force’ New York Times
‘In Scotland, Jardine outsells Grisham’ Observer
| Paperback - Headline (2003) |
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Poisoned Cherries
When Oz Blackstone is offered a major role in a cop movie shooting in Edinburgh, he cannot resist taking centre stage. And Oz has had a brief liaison with Susie Gantry, a beautiful and self-possessed business woman, that is
turning into something much more long term.
It all looks like a bowl of cherries until ex-lover Alison Goodchild turns up asking for a favour. But when he finds Alison’s business partner murdered in her flat, Oz can’t help but suspect he’s been set up. And when he discovers a trail of intrigue leading to the cast of the star-studded movie in which he is performing those cherries begin to taste very rancid indeed...
`Perfect plotting and convincing characterisation ... Jardine manages to combine the picturesque with the thrilling and the dream-like with the coldly rational’ The Times
‘Jardine’s plot is very cleverly constructed, every incident and every character has a justified place in the labyrinth of motives’ Gerald Kaufman, Scotsman
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First British Edition Headline (2001) |
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Autographs in the Rain
A Bob skinner takes an evening stroll with a gorgeous filmstar on his arm, surely the worst of his worries is that back at Headquarters, an ambitious new colleague is scheming to enlarge his territory at Skinner’s expense. But when a frightening shotgun attack sends Skinner and his old flame Louise Bankier diving for cover, it seems danger has zeroed in on him once again.
Returning to her native Scotland to shoot her latest film, Louise Bankier is one of Scotland’s most popular exports - except with the stalker who seems determined to scare her witless - and maybe worse. For Skinner, tracking down her tormentor isn’t just business now. It’s very personal indeed.
Meanwhile, the case of a pensioner found dead in his bath turns out to be anything but an open and shut case - especially when one of Skinner’s closest staff is accused of murdering him. And a gang of thieves specialising in stealing items of a rather slippery nature are driving more than one police force to distraction.
On several fronts, Skinner is about to find out that nothing is quite what it seems...
Quintin Jardine is the author, of ten previs acclaimed Bob, Skinner novels: `Remarkably assured . . . a tour do force’ New York Times
‘If Ian Rankin is the Robert Carlyle of Scottish crime writers, then Jardine is surely its Sean Connery’ Glasgow Herald
About The Author
Quintin Jardine regularly reaches the No. 1 slot on the Scottish bestseller list (last year actually ousting J K Rowling from the top slot); in Scotland Quintin Jardine even outsells John Grisham. In Scotland, the feeling has definitely been for a while that Jardine is going to be the next crime writer to break and earlier in the year, the Radio Times ran a cover feature on TV detectives and tipped Jardine's crime series as the next potential TV blockbusting franchise as well!
Quintin Jardine is the author of the highly acclaimed Skinner crime series, as well as the Blackstone novels. A former journalist, he was an advisor to Ministers and Civil Servants for nine years and then moved into political PR before becoming an independent PR consultant to the powerful, rich and notorious.
What he calls the "interface between Old Bill and journalism" has been useful in his
writing career. "In the Scottish Office you have dealings with the Special Branch
boys and in politics you meet some more. I've been working alongside policemen all
my life, so I understand how they operate".
Quintin now spends as much time as he can in his villa in Spain which is where he
writes his books and where his Oz Blackstone mysteries are set. "Mind you, I had
problems last summer. I spent most of my time waiting for the plumber to turn up.
And when he did, this nemesis of mine was called... (pausing for dramatic effect
before revealing the name of his recalcitrant tradesman... ) Rebus.
Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.
Lethal Intent
(Headline,
2005)
Jul 05
Stay of Execution
(
2004)
(Bob Skinner)
Alarm Call
(Headline,
2004)
Headline Pbk Jun 05
(Oz Blackstone)
Unnatural Justice
(
2003)
(Oz Blackstone)
Fallen Gods
(
2003)
(Bob Skinner)
Head Shot
(Headline,
2002)
Headline Pbk Jan 05
(Oz Blackstone)
Poisoned Cherries
(Headline,
2002)
Headline Pbk Jan 03
(Oz Blackstone)
Autographs in the Rain
(Headline,
2001)
(Bob Skinner)
On Honeymoon with Death
(Headline,
2001)
(Oz Blackstone)
Thursday Legends
(Headline,
2000)
Headline Pbk Feb 01
(Bob Skinner)
Screen Savers
(Headline,
2000)
Headline Pbk Nov 00
(Oz Blackstone)
Gallery Whispers
(Headline,
1999)
Headline Pbk Mar 00
(Bob Skinner)
Wearing Purple
(
1998)
(Oz Blackstone)
Murmuring the Judges
(Headline,
1998)
Headline Oct 98
Skinner's Ghosts
(
1998)
Headline Jan 98
(Bob Skinner)
A Coffin For Two
(Headline,
1997)
Headline Oct 97
Headline Pbk 1998
(Oz Blackstone)
Skinner's Mission
(Headline,
1997)
(Bob Skinner)
Blackstone's Pursuits
(
1996)
Skinner's Ordeal
(Headline,
1996)
(Bob Skinner)
Skinner's Round
(Headline,
1995)
(Bob Skinner)
Skinner's Festival
(
1994)
(Bob Skinner)
Skinner's Trail
(
1994)
(Bob Skinner)
Skinner's Rules
(
1993)
(Bob Skinner)
Lethal Intent
by Quintin Jardine
