Fatal Last Words (Bob Skinner Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Quintin Jardine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009 | Series: Bob Skinner Mysteries

August in Edinburgh: As Skinner stands on the edge of a career-defining moment and his fiancée—Scotland's First Minister Aileen de Marco—faces a political crisis, one of Scotland's most successful crime writers is found dead at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. As the mystery deepens, Skinner finds himself crossing swords with an old enemy from the past, while his investigating detectives are faced with the unwelcome complication of a duke’s junkie daughter. Meanwhile a second Scottish celebrity dies violently in Australia. It seems impossible, but could the two be connected? As DCS Mario McGuire heads to Melbourne to investigate, back in Scotland his boss’s big moment is compromised in the most dramatic and unexpected manner, as a famous friendship is shattered for ever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the outset of Jardine's 19th Bob Skinner mystery, one of the stronger entries in this hard-hitting police series (Aftershock, etc.), Skinner is about to be appointed chief constable, a promotion that will coincide with his wedding to Scotland's leader, First Minister Aileen de Marco. When a leading mystery author, Ainsley Glover, turns up dead at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the cause is initially believed to be an accidental, or self-inflicted, overdose of glucose. The case becomes one of murder after the medical examiner discovers Glover was injected with a paralyzing drug—and it rapidly becomes politically sensitive after the police learn Skinner's former boss, ex-politician Bruce Anderson, not only argued with the victim shortly before Glover's demise but lied about his whereabouts at the critical time. Keeping track of all the supporting characters and their personal relationships isn't always easy, but Jardine more than makes up for that with a nice surprise ending. (Dec.)
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Review

"One of the stronger entries in [a] hard-hitting police series."  —Publishers Weekly

"Jardine excels at coordinating the multiple crimes crucial to a police procedural and setting his coppers against the clock."  —Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing; First Edition edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755329155
• ISBN-13: 978-0755329151
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,605,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A slippery slope?, March 3, 2010

By 

Bibliocat (Cambridge, Mass.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Last Words (Bob Skinner Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Quintin Jardine has given us a fine series of books centering on Bob Skinner, but the last two entries make me worry that he's taking the James Patterson approach to selling books to heart and shortchanging the reader at the same time. When a 438-page book has 87 chapters, most between 2 and 5 well-leaded pages long, I smell a rat as I'm jolted from one plot line to another with barely a chance to savor the character and event. Perhaps I'm being unfair; I'm certainly in favor of selling lots of books. But I hate to see Jardine compromise himself in this way. I gave up on Patterson quite some time ago. I'd hate to put Jardine in the same pile. Can you swing the pendulum back, Mr. Jardine?