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Book Summary and Reviews of Bred in the Bone by Christopher Brookmyre

Bred in the Bone by Christopher Brookmyre

Bred in the Bone

A Jasmine Sharp and Catherine McLeod Novel

by Christopher Brookmyre

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  • Published:
  • May 2014, 416 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Bred in the Bone is the stunning third novel in Brookmyre's series featuring private investigator Jasmine Sharp and Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod. Set in the disturbing underworld of Glasgow - a place where countless old scores are still waiting to be settled, and where everyone knows everyone else - Bred in the Bone is a masterful mystery novel that will appeal to readers of Denise Mina, Val McDermid, and Ian Rankin.

Private investigator Jasmine Sharp's father was murdered before she was born, and her mother went to self-sacrificing lengths in order to shield her from the world in which he moved. Since her mother's death, all she has been able to learn is his first name - and that only through a strange bond she has forged with the man who killed him: Glen Fallan. But when Fallan is arrested for the murder of a criminal her mother knew since childhood, Jasmine is finally forced to enter his domain: a place where violence is a way of life and vengeance spans generations.

Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod has one major Glaswegian gangster in the mortuary and another in the cells for killing him - which ought to be cause for celebration. Catherine is not smiling, however. From the moment she discovered a symbol daubed on the victim's head, she has understood that this case is far more dangerous than it appears on the surface, something that could threaten her family and end her career.

As one battles her demons and the other chases her ghosts, these two very different detectives will ultimately confront the secrets that have entangled both of their fates since before Jasmine was even born.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Peppered with choice Glaswegian slang and oozing with just the right combination of black humor and sobering commentary on the city's dark underbelly, this entry should cement Brookmyre's reputation as one of today's top Scottish crime writers." - Publishers Weekly

"Although his characters are satisfyingly multidimensional, the uninitiated will find the long, slow exposition that relies on previous cases even more challenging than the Scottish slang." - Kirkus

"For fans of gritty British crime novels in the tradition of Ian Rankin and Val McDermid." - Library Journal

This information about Bred in the Bone was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Christopher Brookmyre

Christopher Brookmyre has established himself as one of Britain's leading crime novelists since his award-winning debut novel Quite Ugly One Morning. He has worked as a journalist for several British newspapers and is the author of twelve novels, including Where the Bodies Are Buried, One Fine Day in The Middle of the Night, and Not The End of The World.

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