For the Death of Me by
Quintin Jardine
hbk out November 05
Published by Headline
at £18.99
The popular and prolific Quintin Jardine is forging ahead with his Oz Blackstone
series, after some fifteen 'Skinner' books about Edinburgh coppers.
The new Oz story is in the same vein (often open to let the blood hit the deck!) with
Scots film star Blackstone in his usual tangle with relatives, mostly female.
Trying to live relatively peacefully in Monaco with Susie, his third wife, assorted kids
and temporarily with Prim, his second missus, he arranges to meet an author with a
view to taking film rights on his book, only to find that he is another ex-Caledonian
cop, whom he thought had been shot some time ago. Oz's two latest wives (his first
one, now deceased, turned out to be his sister) have had previous amorous dealings
with this chap and are not too pleased at his resurrection. In the middle of this, Oz's
father collapses in Scotland from a ruptured aortic valve and has to be rushed to
hospital. Oz attends and while there is approached by his lawyer brother-in-law, about
to be made a judge, with the news that his own ex-wife is threatening to pull the rug
from under him by publishing an old photo showing said judge in an embarrassing
situation. The chivalrous Oz flies off to Singapore to sort out said ex-wife and from
there the pace hots up, with quite few corpses to account for.
It's a racy book, written in Quintin's likeable style, with a thrill a minute. Personally,
I prefer his Skinner yarns, as the Oz series is too James Bondish for me, but I doubt if
his bank manager and the gratified Inland Revenue would make any such distinction.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
For the Death of Me by
Quintin Jardine
