 | |
| Author | Stuart MacBride |
|---|---|
| Country | Scotland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Logan 'Lazarus' McRae |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Harper Collins |
Publication date | 2015 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 581 |
| ISBN | 978-0-00-749460-6 |
| Preceded by | 22 Dead Little Bodies |
| Followed by | In the Cold Dark Ground |
The Missing and the Dead is the ninth instalment [1] in the bestselling Detective Sergeant McRae series of crime novels [2] set in Aberdeenshire from Stuart MacBride.
Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae manages to catch Graham Stirling who has kidnapped Stephen Bisset and tortured him. Unfortunately the only way to get Stirling to talk is to break a few rules regarding procedure....
With Professional Standards breathing down his neck, Logan is sent on a "development opportunity" [3] babysitting a rural patch of north-east Aberdeenshire as a police Sergeant. A child's body found in the Tarlair Swimming Pool, a hopeful mother of a dead girl and Detective Chief Inspector Steele messing things up really do not help Logan settle into his new job. The dead girl's mother (Helen) even moves into Logan's police house whilst he is supposed to be finding out who the dead girl is and who killed her.
Added to this is the prospect of fighting off the son and daughter of Stephen Bisset who want answers from Logan, Graham Stirling being released and twisting the story of Stephen Bisset's death means that Samantha (Logan's girlfriend) is kidnapped while still comatose from the fire in Logan's flat in a previous story. [4] [5]
The original cover features the open-air Tarlair Swimming Pool on the Banffshire coast. MacBride said that he scouted the location and when he saw how dilapidated the swimming pool was, he declared that he "just had to find a body in there." [6] MacBride also went on several drugs raids with Police Scotland and also spent some time with their traffic unit in the area. [7]
Shirley Whiteside, writing in The Independent, was positive about the book and states that "MacBride has written another riveting page-turner. Although seamed with his usual pitch-black humour it is not as macabre as some of McRae's previous outings but is more emotional and affecting." [8]
Laura Wilson, writing in The Guardian, was impressed by the slower pace of the novel stating that
The result is some slackening of tension – MacBride’s novels are usually fairly humming with it – but so skilful is the storytelling, and so strong the characterisation, that this window on to the world of some old friends proves both intriguing and engrossing. [9]
Jane Jakeman, writing in The Independent, said "This is a big, fat book, with the story unrolling over nearly 600 pages, but the multiple plots move fast and MacBride convincingly conveys the dilapidated atmosphere of the police station – surely the most realistic in this fictional survey, with its peeling walls and ancient banter." [10]
Past Mortem is a detective novel by Ben Elton first published in 2004. It is about a serial killer on the loose in England, mainly in the London area, and Scotland Yard's attempts at tracking him or her down. At the same time, Past Mortem raises a number of sociological, psychological and moral questions such as bullying, revenge, "getting a life" versus living in the past, domestic violence, and the changing market value of people as they get older. Apart from its serious aspects, the book also contains a lot of humour, especially when the respective private entanglements of Detective Inspector Edward Newson, the officer in charge of the police investigation, and his assistant, Detective Sergeant Natasha Wilkie, are described. However, as one critic put it, "some of the descriptions of the sex scenes might prove a bit much for the faint-hearted".
The Long Wait is a 1954 American crime drama film noir directed by Victor Saville starring Anthony Quinn, Charles Coburn, Gene Evans and Peggie Castle. The film is based on the 1951 novel of the same title by Mickey Spillane. It was an independent production distributed by United Artists.
Philip MacDonald was a British-born writer of fiction and screenplays, best known for thrillers.
Stuart MacBride is a Scottish writer, most famous for his crime thrillers set in the "Granite City" of Aberdeen and featuring Detective Sergeant Logan McRae.
Murder on the Blackboard is a 1934 American pre-Code mystery/comedy film starring Edna May Oliver as schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and James Gleason as Police Inspector Oscar Piper. Together, they investigate a murder at Withers' school. It was based on the novel of the same name by Stuart Palmer. It features popular actor Bruce Cabot in one of his first post-King Kong roles, as well as Gertrude Michael, Regis Toomey, and Edgar Kennedy.
The Detective is a 1968 American neo-noir crime film directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Aaron Rosenberg, and starring Frank Sinatra, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp.
Tigerlily's Orchids is a 2010 book by the British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. It is her 60th published novel.
Tarlair Swimming Pool is a disused lido at the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. This outdoor swimming complex was built in an Art Deco style with a main building backing onto the cliffs and changing rooms to its left hand side. It is considered by Historic Environment Scotland to be the best example of only three surviving outdoor seaside pools in Scotland, the others being at Stonehaven and Gourock.
Cut Like Wound is a detective fiction novel written by Anita Nair, set in the city of Bengaluru. The novel, written in Indian English, was first published in India by Harper Collins. To bring out the true functioning of a police establishment in India, the author interacted in real life with the officials in a police station. It is Anita Nair's first book of crime fiction. This book also marks the entry of Borei Gowda as detective protagonist.
Close to the Bone is the eighth instalment in the bestselling Detective Sergeant McRae series of crime novels from Stuart MacBride.
In the Cold Dark Ground is the tenth instalment in the bestselling Detective Sergeant McRae series of crime novels set in Aberdeenshire from Stuart MacBride.
A Dark so Deadly is a novel by Stuart MacBride which is set in the fictional town of Oldcastle. Whilst this is a stand alone novel, its setting of Oldcastle and the use of one of its characters, Dr Alice MacDonald, provide a link to the two Ash Henderson novels. A Dark so Deadly was the first novel in a run of seven books for Stuart MacBride not to have debuted at number one in the book charts.
The Blood Road is the eleventh book in the bestselling Logan McRae detective series set in Aberdeenshire by Stuart MacBride.
Cold Granite is the debut novel written by Stuart MacBride. It features Detective Sergeant Logan McRae as its central character, who works for Grampian Police in Aberdeen, Scotland. Logan McRae went on to feature in a series of books which became a bestseller series for MacBride.
Shatter the Bones is the seventh book in the bestselling Logan McRae detective series set in Aberdeenshire by Stuart MacBride.
Now We Are Dead is a spinoff novel from the bestselling Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride. The novel features some of the usual characters from the series but McRae's character appears in only two scenes with the story revolving around Roberta Steel. The novel has been described as being "lighter" and "more fun than the violence and misery of MacBride's blacker thrillers".
All That's Dead is the twelfth novel in the bestselling Logan 'Lazarus' McRae series written by Stuart MacBride.
Stuart Lubbock was a meat factory worker from Essex, England, who died under suspicious circumstances at the home of television personality Michael Barrymore.
