Hardcover / ISBN-13: 9781408734025

Price: £22

ON SALE: 23rd October 2025

Genre: Crime & Mystery / Suspense

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THE POWERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES


‘Beautifully structured, witty and twisty’ ANN CLEEVES
‘A perfect crime novel’ KATE MOSSE
‘Powerful, moving and wise’ HARLAN COBEN
‘Full of humour, heart and trademark twists’ CHRIS WHITAKER
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The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .

When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson’s book club have to do with his demise – and what will they do to keep their secrets?

Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland’s rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits – and possibly beyond . . .

‘Blends procedural tension with eerie rural isolation’ I PAPER
‘Showcases the agile plotting that makes this among the best crime fiction series today’ IRISH TIMES

Reviews

A supremo of the genre at the height of her powers . . . An unmissable new series
Peter James
Silent Bones is brilliant - really intricate, gripping and asking some tough questions; a perfect crime novel
KATE MOSSE
Powerful, moving and wise - Val McDermid's books are always enthralling
HARLAN COBEN
A beautifully structured, witty and twisty novel with the friendship between the magnificent Karen Pirie and her team at its heart
ANN CLEEVES
Praise for Val McDermid
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McDermid is at the top of her game in the masterful latest installment of her DCI Karen Pirie series . . . McDermid's procedural instincts are as strong as ever, and she balances them with wrenching developments in Karen's personal life . . . Readers will rest easy knowing they're in the hands of a seasoned storyteller
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW
A tour-de-force . . . The Queen of Crime has delivered another masterpiece
David Baldacci
Praise for Val McDermid
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McDermid blends procedural tension with eerie rural isolation
I PAPER
Showcases the agile plotting that makes this among the best crime fiction series today
IRISH TIMES
A propulsive, razor-sharp thrill-ride full of humour, heart, and trademark twists. I love Karen Pirie, and Silent Bones adds to a classic series that just keeps getting better
CHRIS WHITAKER
McDermid is at her considerable best here
Guardian