Thanks to this book the personnel in my office can now get on and off the Internet any time they wish.

The author explained DSL, its advantages and disadvantages so clearly that even our most computer phobic partner had no trouble understanding what I was talking about.

There's business as usual on the crime and murder front, but the spotlight of the book seems to be on the characters' private lives. After years of turbulent and erratic living, where to a greater or lesser degree the characters' problems have been stemming from their larger than life personalities, in the Autographs everyone is longing for a quiet life. From a famous but tired actress to a young sergeant and his secretary girlfriend, all the relationships have either already arrived to a safe port or are well on their way there.

The overall feeling is that they have all reached their peak in a sense. Skinner's playing with his children and believes in his own personality cult, Andy Martin's playing happy families, and his pregnant wife (once a promising police sergeant) starts a family support group of all things.

All of which has the makings, in my opinion, of a major drama to come. The situation carries the seeds of its own destruction. The title as well might be, I believe, Calm Before the Storm. The deeper the calm, the more destructive the storm. In spite of their best intentions, those people have never been peaceful home-makers, conventionally prepared to wait for God and a bus pass. They've lived on the edge and will, I have no doubt, continue to do so, matching their professional challenges with personal crises of their own making.

I'm really looking forward to the next Skinner mystery. A mystery in more sense than one.

Skinner is vulnerable at this point, separated from his wife Sarah. While she and his son are in USA, he has a relationship with another woman. This relatonship is just one of many mistakes Skinner makes during the hard times.

This book more than any of the others in the Skinner series exhibits flaws in the super hero DCC, and it is a great read.

If you should wish to kidnap someone, in Scotland, and be reasonably certain of getting the ransom money without police interference there is a quite detailed description of how to do it. Also a very safe way to launder money. I was interested to read about the role of the collator, I had known about them before but this story showed how important the meta-data really is as the pieces fit slowly together.

A satisfying book to read.

From the dust cover of the Ulverscroft edition...

When a man is found in Glasgow's prosperous West End district, his face blown off by a point-blank-range shooting, the P Division detectives quickly establish the identity of the Man with No Face. Establishing an identity, though, is easier than penetrating the mystery surrounding this killing - a mystery that deepens at every turn. Amid all the murkiness, the only thing that seems clear is that P Division has become involved in one of the most complex cases it has ever come up against - and the most dangerous.

MYSTERY

Four years ago in Glasgow, petty thief Ronald Grenn is convicted of robbery and arson of Cernach Antiques in a crime that seems way beyond the ability of the criminal. Within a few hours of being released from prison, Ronald is found dead in the opulent West End district of the city. His face was blown off by the point blank range of the shot.

Questions soon abound. How could a no-talented bum like Ronald commit the crime? What was a lowlife like him doing in the wrong side of town? Why did the owner of the antique store visit him while he served time? Even worse, why is the supposedly destroyed inventory of Cernach appearing in other antique stores? The Glasgow police begin their inquiries into these questions, hoping to learn who killed Ronald.

THE MAN WITH NO FACE is a fantastic Scottish police procedural that will imbue fans of the sub-genre with an intense need to find the series' previous eight novels. The police investigation into the murder mystery with its link to two other crimes is cleverly developed by Peter Turnbull. The characters provide much depth to the profound plot. However, what makes this book so good is Mr. Turnbull's homage to Glasgow, which, in turn, provides the impetus to a terrific tale that adds luster to an already stupendous series.

Harriet Klausner

Scottish history with its bloody battles, betrayals, and persecutions lends itself peculiarly well to tales of ghostly vengeance. Several stories in this book describe revenants that arose from the persecutions of the Covenanters, the witches, the Royalists, and the Catholics (depending on who was in power). Glamis Castle gets its own chapter, and haunted lochs and beaches also have their stories told. Some of the scariest hauntings are drowned sailors returned from the sea, and some of the least scary involve Baby Boomer types who treat their ghosts like pets or something deserving of pity. It was enough to make me wish that the smug New Agers would some day have to go a round with 'the Deil of Littledean' or the 'Beast of Glamis'.

The author also makes room for several eerie tales of Gaelic 'second sight'. Scots with this 'gift' seem particularly prone to seeing ghostly funeral processions, sometimes with themselves as part of the funeral cortege!

All in all, "Scottish Ghost Stories" is a worthwhile read for those of you who collect tales of 'true' hauntings.