Skinner's Rules (Bob Skinner Mysteries) [Paperback]

Quintin Jardine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1994 | Series: Bob Skinner Mysteries

As head of Edinburgh's CID, Bob Skinner has seen it all—but even he is shocked by the mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The motive for the brutal murder remains a mystery, until an elaborate smokescreen emerges which shrouds an intricate conspiracy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A vicious and possibly insane killer is stalking Edinburgh's Royal Mile in this striking debut, nominated for England's John Creasey Award for Best First Novel. The mutilated and decapitated body of advocate Michael Mortimer is discovered in what seems to be an isolated incident. More vicious murders suggest the work of a serial killer, but then Mortimer's lover, Rachel Jameson, dies when she is pushed under a train. Detective Chief Superintendent Robert Skinner of the Edinburgh police discovers that Mortimer and Jameson had successfully represented the defendants in a rape-murder case. When one of the defendants turns up dead and mutilated, political considerations prevent Skinner from jailing his suspect. His doubts about the motive behind the murders become certainty, leading him into a maze of dangerous and conflicting loyalties where his own rules of conduct are no longer valid. Solid plotting (including surprises) and short, snappy chapters that tell the story through action and dialogue leave the story lacking only in convincing atmosphere.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Jardine's first novel, a police procedural, relies heavily on realistic detail in character and plot for much of its chilling credibility. DCI Robert Skinner, lean and intent at 42, seeks the serial murderer of four people-all killed with grisly efficiency-in Edinburgh's Royal Mile. With equal aptitude, Skinner focuses on two of the victims-both lawyers-and catches the supposed killer. Something continues to nag at him, though; he reopens the case, discovering political conspiracy, Intelligence manipulations, and cold-blooded "eliminations." Spine-tingling suspense arises from a dramatic, tightly wrought plot. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747241392
• ISBN-13: 978-0747241393
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basically Silly, January 4, 2007

By 

J. Poole (Gilbert, SC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Skinner's Rules (Bob Skinner Mysteries) (Paperback)

Well, if you like books about a middle-aged cop who leaves guys half his age moaning in agony after a karate session, leaves women half his age moaning in bed, and every time his superiors meet with him, they promote him... then you'll like this book. If that sounds a bit silly, then the actual plot is even sillier, so perhaps you should pass. If Rankin's Rebus is too screwed up to be believable, then Skinner is too perfect to be believable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Series Debut Full of Missteps, August 28, 2005

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Skinner's Rules (Bob Skinner Mysteries) (Paperback)

The first of Jardine's 11-book (so far) Skinner series introduces us to Edinburgh's Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner. Unlike a lot of series heroes, Skinner is a pretty well adjusted, good-looking, sharp-dressing, kind of guy. The only dark part to him is his wife's death in a car accident years ago, but he seems to have sorted that out in his head as well. It's kind of a nice change of pace to come across a policeman protagonist without tons of neurosis or baggage -- and yet he's almost boringly good. In addition to the above, he's a crack shot, a karate black belt, a good cook, a great father to his daughter, and a sensitive lover to his American doctor girlfriend. There's not a whole lot of room for him to develop as a series character, just wind him up and unleash him on the crime...

The crime here is a nasty decapitation killing of a young advocate in the wee hours on the Royal Mile. Soon after Skinner has launched the investigation, a homeless man is set on fire and killed not too far away. There are very few leads and Skinner's team is getting nowhere, when a woman is killed with a meat cleaver and a young policeman has his throat cut in the same area. Now it's clear that there's some sort of maniac at work, but there's still no physical evidence to go on and not much else. When another advocate, the girlfriend of the first victim, jumps or is pushed in front of a train in Glasgow and dies, Skinner finally has something to go on. Jardine nicely covers the procedural aspect of the investigation into the lives of the two advocates, including searches of their homes, interviews with family and friends. This is all the usual stuff, but it's done quite well. When another victim from the past turns up, Skinner's got a motive and soon a suspect in custody.

Unfortunately, this is where the book starts to veer into the ridiculous thriller zone. It seems the suspect has diplomatic immunity, and the Foreign Office is adamant that he can't be charged or publicly accused in any way. Why a businessman running a chemical plant in Scotland would be granted diplomatic accreditation is never explained, and Jardine seems to hope that the reader won't realize that this makes no sense at all. The FO's insistence that the Japanese not drop his diplomatic immunity because otherwise some sort of legal precedent might be set is equally off-base, there have been numerous instances of diplomats who've committed crimes and had their immunity revoked by their own governments. This is all a flimsy device to set up future plot developments.

Naturally Skinner's not happy with this outcome, and weeks later a reason to reopen the investigation pops into his head. Now, however, he's proceeding with extreme discretion, using only a hand-picked team to sift over the evidence again, looking for links between the two dead advocates. Again, the procedural aspects of this are done quite well, and one gets to see a little more of the supporting police cast at work. Although, again, all the police seem fairly good, well-adjusted people who do their jobs well. As in so many crime novels, the answer lies deep in the past, and in the final third of the book, we're dropped into a ridiculous James Bond plotline. Without giving it away, this involves the impending visit of a fictitious new Syrian president to a participate in a debate at Edinburgh University (yeah, right!), shadowy SAS operatives, and "an enormously sophisticated operation, brilliantly conceived by totally ruthless men" leading to "economic enslavement" of the world. This is just awful, implausible stuff, the kind of conspiracy plotting that anyone with an ounce of sense could poke holes in without any effort whatsoever.

I prefer my crime novels to stick to realistic plots, so by the end, I was pretty disappointed with this series debut. It may be a case of a first-time writer overreaching himself, so I might try one or two more in the series to see if they're any better and if the characters develop at all. Edinburgh never really comes alive in the book either, so hopefully future installments make more use of the city's atmosphere.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A worthy start to a Scottish based crime series, but....., August 17, 2004

By 

Peter Greed (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skinner's Rules (Bob Skinner Mysteries) (Paperback)

This was my first Skinner book, and I enjoyed it. I have since read several more, and they have became progressively worse! Skinner becomes more irritating and arrogant as the series advances, but this one was good.