Still Life (Inspector Karen Pirie #6)

This is not a bad book. There is a plot, interesting characters. However Karen is turning into wonder woman. With her little clique of specialists she progresses by leaps and bounds, making sense of what had baffled the police for years. Her new side kick Daisy never turns into a real person. Even her mean boss is mostly absent. The love interest is barely there. The reader gets carried along from Scotland to London to Paris to Dublin with lots of stops to describe at great lengths the food the heroes are eating. Once again the ending falls flat with a wholly unbelievable mad and not sanctioned dash across borders. Let us say three and a half stars because I enjoyed parts of it.

I always enjoy and look forward to the next Val McDermid book, but this one was cracking. Two very interesting crimes and the building of the story had me totally hooked. I like Karen Pirie and she reminds me so much of Carol Jordan from the Tony Hill novels. Love reading about what the Scottish eat.

Val McDermid at her best. Loved the way she subtly wove the current pandemic into her novel. Love the way she has you chasing a current case and an historic case simultaneously. The characters are so real. Really do enjoy her stories. In her acknowledgements she mentioned the difficulty of writing a novel during Covid in lockdown. There are so many professions we overlook that have been affected by this pandemic. So well done Ms McDermid and all you writers out there. Keep up the good work – we need some excitement in our dull year.

Val McDermid is one of the best. I enjoy the Tony Hill books more, but Karen Pirie is also a compelling protagonist. This plot was complex, and about a third into the book, it becomes very difficult to put down. McDermid knows how to spin a plot, and this story takes the “polis,” as they say, to Paris, different points in Scotland, and to Ireland. Karen Pirie is a brilliant officer who maintains good contacts with the CSI folks, as well as the digital investigators — which helps to ease her requests. She learns a little about art, but gets further into the jazz world. And she solves two different cases.

I give this book four and a half stars.

Wow, this one didn’t disappoint. Well thought out, twists and turns…. Paris, jazz clubs, murder, and The Mint. I have come to just love Karen’s sidekick, he’s honest and bumbling.

Love seeing a new member to the team, Daisy.
One thing I’d love to see in a future book, is the Dog Biscuit get hers. She needs to be taken down a couple notches.
Or as we say in the South, she needs the slack jerked outta her!

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