Festival of Death: An Edinburgh Murder Mystery (The Edinburgh Murder Mysteries, #1) / The Edinburgh Murder Mysteries (ePub)

This dark tale of murder and mystery unfurls in Edinburgh, set during the acclaimed International Festival. The story ends at Christmas, providing a segue into the sequel, the second book in the Edinburgh Murder Mystery trilogy. The tale focusses on the violent murders of two very different gay men, and the mysterious, apparently accidental, death of a controversy-courting theatre director, who is discovered in sordid circumstances, with his unconscious partner at his side. Debbie Keane is a young detective constable assigned to the investigations, who is unknowingly, closely connected to the gay community, .

DC Keane's boss and mentor, DI Billy Alexander, is a seasoned detective, and a man whose cringe-worthy political incorrectness is performance art worthy of a Fringe First Award. As she gets to know him, Debbie gains insight into his true nature, and discovers the essence of a man who superficially represents all that is wrong with the city she loves. DC Keane also discovers startling secrets about some of the other people she thinks she knows best, when she comes to realize how deeply prejudice cuts and how divided her home city is.

The plot's follow spot picks out the interconnected lives of three women in their late-twenties: the career policewoman, who lives with her partner, a handsome Italian-Scot, the gay woman, sharing her life with a succession of eccentric house-mates, who falls in love with the wrong woman; and the complex, damaged, neurotically beautiful woman, who falls in love with the wrong man. This all-girl ensemble is directed by pivotal male characters, who also orchestrate the dramatic score. The stories of these previously unconnected women unravel as the story is told in pithy Scottish vernacular, with the trailing threads re-weaving them together in a satisfying denouement. Festival of Death is a colourful tapestry of words that depicts vignettes of modern life in historic Auld Reekie.