26) Paths of the Dead by Lin Anderson

The Blurb :

When Amy MacKenzie agrees to attend a meeting at a local spiritualist church, the last person she expects to hear calling to her from beyond the grave is her son. The son whom she'd only spoken to an hour before.

Then the body of a young man is found inside a neolithic stone circle high above the city of Glasgow and forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is soon on the case. The hands have been severed and there is a stone in the victim's mouth with the number five scratched on it. DI Michael McNab is certain it's a gangland murder, but Rhona isn't convinced. When a second body is found in similar circumstances, a pattern begins to emerge, of a killer intent on masterminding a gruesome Druidic game that everyone will be forced to play . . .

My Thoughts :

Many years ago on a trip to Edinburgh I dragged my guy into every book shop and sale I could find.  This was before I got a Kindle and I remember my suitcase being very full and heavy.  Anyway, while in one of those bookshops he came across a display for this series.  There were only three books available back then and they were on offer 3 for 2.  He pointed me in that direction and said something like 'This is something for you' and I read one of the blurbs and saw the offer and decided to take them.  The mixture of the Scottish location, forensic theme and my guy actually suggesting a book for me factoring in to my decision.

What a great decision it was.  I owe my guy big time because this series is amazing.  It doesn't fail to surprise, shock and thrill me.  The characters are like old friends and the author describes the locations so vividly that I could swear I have actually been to Glasgow.  The plot is always so well thought out with some exciting and scary story lines.  These are stories that you can't believe to be true but have to wonder how much reality is woven into them.  I think the answer would be the scariest thing of all.

If you like dark but thrilling mysteries that come across more as realistic than far-fetched then this is a series for you.   A series that definitely needs to be read in order and offers not only a scary insight to the streets of Glasgow but offers a wonderful look at some of the other more beautiful places too.

 In this tenth installment there are some lovely twists and turns that affect the regular characters even more than the previous scrapes and tumbles.  I can't wait to see what happens in the next part.  If it wasn't for all the books on my to be read pile I would already be reading the next installment.