The Big Chill

Running private investigator and funeral home businesses means trouble is never far away, and the Skelf women take on their most perplexing, chilling cases yet in book two of the darkly funny, devastatingly tense and addictive new Skelfs series!

"A fiendish mystery that is also deeply moving and laced with suitably dark humour. The start of a must-read series." —Mark Billingham, author, Lazybones

"Showcases a writer at the peak of his powers, except that with every book, Doug Johnstone just gets better." —Val McDermid, author, A Darker Domain

"Emotionally complex, richly layered and darkly funny. An addictive blend of Case Histories and Six Feet Under." —Chris Brookmyre, author, Places in the Darkness

"A tense ride." —Big Issue

"A lovely, sad tale, beautifully told and full of understanding." —Times

"I was addicted from the first page; gripping, gritty and darkly funny as hell." —Erin Kelly, author, He Said/She Said

"A new series from the criminally underrated Johnstone. His warm portrait of the tough, indomitable Skelf women is gripping and blackly humorous." —Observer

"Flawed, funny, brave—and well set up for a series. I wouldn’t call him cosy, but there’s warmth to Johnstone’s writing." —Sunday Times

Doug Johnstone is the author of 11 novels, most recently A Dark Matter, the first in the Skelfs series, which has just been optioned for TV. In 2019 his thriller Breakers was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh, and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for 20 years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.