Christopher Brookmyre

Scotland has often been depicted as a land of haunting, misty moors, and literary genius. But Scotland has also been a place of brutal crime, terrifying murder, child abuse, and bank robbery. Crime can strike anywhere. From the southern border to the Northern Isles, suspicion and suspense are never far away. Edinburgh, with its reputation for civility and elegance, has often been the scene of savagery; the dark streets of industrial Glasgow and Dundee have protected thieves and muggers, while the villages of coast and countryside hide murderous men and wild women. From murder in a Hebridean blackhouse and a macabre tale of revenge among the furious clamour of an eighteenth century mill, to a dark psychological thriller set within the tourist throng of Edinburgh Castle and an 'urbex' rivalry turning fatal in the concrete galleries of an abandoned modernist ruin, this collection uncovers the intimate--and deadly--connections between people and places. Prepare for a dangerous journey into the dark shadows of our nation's architecture--where passion, fury, desire, and death collide.

A robbery in Scotland might not seem like an unusual background for a crime novel--until it's put into the hands of one of the U. K.'s leading satirists, Christopher Brookmyre. Now available for the first time in the U. S., The Sacred Art of Stealing is narrative catnip for fans of crime fiction laced with dark humor. This is how the story goes: Their eyes met across a crowded room. She was just a poor servant girl and he was the son of a rich industrialist . . . Well, the eyes meeting across a crowded room part is true. Where it differs from the fairy tales is that the room in question was crowded with hostages and armed bank-robbers, and Zal Innez's eyes were the only part of him that Angelique de Xavia could see behind his mask. Angelique had enough to be fed up about before the embarrassment of being a cop taken hostage by the most bizarrely unorthodox crooks ever to set foot in Glasgow. Disillusioned, disaffected and chronically single, she's starting to take stock of the sacrifices she's made for a job that's given her back nothing but grief. So when her erstwhile captor has the chutzpah to phone her at work and ask her out on a date, Angelique finds herself in no great hurry to turn him in. She knows now that the cops will never love her back, but maybe one of the robbers will.

In the early hours of 14 June 2017, a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, killing at least 72 people and injuring many more. An entire community was destroyed. For many people affected by this tragedy, the psychological scars may never heal. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition that affects many people who have endured traumatic events, leaving them unable to move on from life-changing tragedies. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the focus was rightly placed on providing food, shelter and health care for those left homeless – but it is important that we don’t lose sight of the psychological impact this fire will have had on its survivors. 24 Stories is an anthology of short stories, written on themes of community and hope, by a mix of the UK’s best established writers and previously unpublished authors, whose pieces were chosen by Kathy Burke from over 250 entries. Contributors include: Irvine Welsh, A. L. Kennedy, Meera Syal, John Niven, Pauline Melville, Daisy Buchanan, Christopher Brookmyre, Zoe Venditozzi, Nina Stibbe, Mike Gayle, Murray Lachlan Young, Barney Farmer.

Dead Girl Walking is the latest thrilling novel from one of Scotland's most treasured crime writers, as well known in his native country as Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, and Denise Mina. Christopher Brookmyre's books have sold over one and a half million copies worldwide, and in Dead Girl Walking, he has written his most addictive thriller yet--a gripping story of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and murder. Life is dangerous when you have everything to lose. Famous, beautiful, and talented, Heike Gunn has the world at her feet. Then, one day, she simply vanishes. Meanwhile, maverick Scottish journalist Jack Parlabane has lost everything. Once highly regarded for his tireless investigation of even the most unpleasant of Glasgow's gangsters, his involvement in a scandal involving a lost government laptop has cost him his career, his wife, and his self-respect. A call from an old friend offers Parlabane a chance for redemption--but only if he can find out what happened to Heike, the lead singer of the internationally renowned folk rock band Savage Earth Heart. Pursued by those who would punish him for past crimes, Parlabane enters the secret-filled world of Savage Earth Heart, a group at its breaking point. Each of its members seems to be hiding something, not least its newest recruit Monica Halcrow, whose speculated relationship with Heike has become a public obsession. Monica's own story, however, reveals a far darker truth. Fixated on Heike from day one, she has been engulfed by paranoia, jealousy, and fear as she discovers the hidden price of fame. And she may not be the only one suffering. From Berlin to Barcelona, from the streets of Milan to remote Scottish islands, Dead Girl Walking is a whirlwind tour of the dark side of the music industry from one of Britain's masters of crime writing.

Bred in the Bone is the stunning third novel in Brookmyre's series featuring private investigator Jasmine Sharp and Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod. The novel is set in the grisly underworld of Glasgow--a place where countless old scores are still waiting to be settled, and where everyone knows everyone else. Private investigator Jasmine Sharp's father was murdered before she was born, and her mother went to self-sacrificing lengths in order to shield her from the world in which he moved. Since her mother's death, all she has been able to learn is his first name--and that only through a strange bond she has forged with the man who killed him: Glen Fallan. But when Fallan is arrested for the murder of a criminal her mother knew since childhood, Jasmine is finally forced to enter his domain: a place where violence is a way of life and vengeance spans generations. Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod has one major Glaswegian gangster in the mortuary and another in the cells for killing him - which ought to be cause for celebration. Catherine is not smiling, however. From the moment she discovered a symbol daubed on the victim's head, she has understood that this case is far more dangerous than it appears on the surface, something that could threaten her family and end her career. As one battles her demons and the other chases her ghosts, these two very different detectives will ultimately confront the secrets that have entangled both of their fates since before Jasmine was even born.

Cult legend Christopher Brookmyre's first novel for Orbit - an explosive, thought-provoking trip (literally) through the worlds of virtual reality and retro video games

Where the Bodies Are Buried is the latest work from Scottish crime writer Christopher Brookmyre, best known for his comic crime novels. His latest book is just as richly Scottish as his earlier work, but it is his grittiest and most realistic novel yet. When small-time heroin dealer Jai McDiarmid turns up dead one fine Glasgow morning, no one is that surprised - he'd been sleeping with a drug trafficker's girlfriend and had made himself a lot of enemies - so many, in fact, that Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod doesn't know where to start when she is assigned to the case. Meanwhile, out-of-work actress Jasmine Sharp is doing her best to be a private investigator, but her PI mentor Uncle Jim, who was meant to be showing her the ropes, has just disappeared in mysterious circumstances. She begins looking at the open cases that Jim was investigating - which sends her into trouble, fast. And when she soon finds out that Jim's disappearance has something to do with Jai's death, she teams up with Catherine - and together they stumble upon an old open case which throws everything into question. In Glasgow, nothing is quite what it seems.

* Bad language. Scatalogical humour. Razor wit. Convoluted plot. High readability. It can only be a Christopher Brookmyre novel.

The third book in the Angelique De Xavier series, from author Christopher Brookmyre. If society has the B-list celebrities it deserves, it now has a killer to match. Except that Simon Darcourt is a great deal more successful in his career choice than the average talent show contestant. He's also got the media taped - by the simple expedient of by-passing them completely and posting real-time coverage of his killings on the internet. He's got viewing figures to make the world's TV executives gasp in envy, and he's pulling the voyeuristic strings of every viewer by getting them to 'vote' to keep his captives alive. Angelique De Xavier, his previous nemesis, is drafted onto the police team trying to bring this one-man celebrity hate-fest to an end. But she can't do it alone, she needs the magical skills of her lover, only she doesn't know where Zal is and meanwhile a whole load of celebs are, literarly, dying to be famous. An intelligent satire, a thriller with exhilarating pace - Christopher Brookmyre at his best.

Bad language. Scatalogical humour. Razor wit. Convoluted plot. High readability. It could only be a Christopher Brookmyre novel.

Do you believe in ghosts? Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living? Aye, right. That was Jack Parlabane's stance on the matter, anyway. But this was before he found himself in the more compromising position of being not only dead himself, but worse: dead with an exclusive still to file. From his position on high, Parlabane relates the events leading up to his demise, largely concerning the efforts of charismatic psychic Gabriel Lafayette to reconcile the scientific with the spiritual by submitting to controlled laboratory tests. Parlabane is brought in as an observer, due to his capacities as both a sceptic and an expert on deception, but he soon finds his certainties crumbling and his assumptions turned upside down as he encounters phenomena for which he can deduce no rational explanation. Perhaps, in a world in which he can find himself elected rector of an esteemed Scottish university, anything truly is possible. One thing he knows for certain, however: Death is not the end - it's the ultimate undercover assignment.

Are the characteristics of an adult killer or his victim visible in the playground or at the school disco? Or are the roots of a motive for murder seeded there? With characteristic brio and humour, Christopher Brookmyre investigates ...

Intrigue. Espionage. Advanced technology. Clinical violence. Hoovering. It's another gripping standalone novel from Christopher Brookmyre.

A ‘team-building’ weekend in the highlands for lawyers, advertising execs, businessmen, even the head of a charity and a journalist. The organisers have pulled some surprises - stalkers in the forest, mass mobile phone thefts, disappearing staff and guests: nothing can bring out people’s hidden strengths or break down inter-personal barriers quite like not having a clue what’s going on and being scared out of your wits. However, when the only vehicular access for thirty miles is cut off it seems that events are being orchestrated not just for pleasure... And that’s before they find the first body. Thereafter, finding out who your colleagues really are is not so much an end product as the key to reaching Monday morning alive.

A robbery in Glasgow might not seem an unusual background for a crime novel - until it's put into the hands of Britain's leading satirist ...

The first book in the Angelique De Xavier series, from author Christopher Brookmyre. Back when they were students, just like everybody else, Ray Ash and Simon Darcourt had dreams about what they'd do when they grew up. In both their cases, it was to be rock stars. Fifteen years later, their mid-thirties are bearing down fast, and just like everybody else, they're having to accept the less glamorous hands reality has dealt them. Nervous new father Ray takes refuge from his responsibilities by living a virtual existence in online games. People say he needs to grow up, but everybody has to find their own way of coping. For some it's affairs, for others it's the bottle, and for Simon it's serial murder, mass slaughter and professional assassination.

Like a highball mix of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Brookmyre is back with his most lethal book yet. Gavin Hutchinson had it all planned out--a unique "floating holiday experience" on a converted oil rig, but his wife leaving him and a crashing gang of mercenaries change the party plans.

When a conservative tabloid media mogul is killed, investigative journalist Jack Parlabane becomes suspicious when he realizes that the evidence is not pointing to the four men who have been arrested for the crime. By the author of Boiling a Frog. Original.

In perfect Brookmyre tradition the third thriller featuring Jack Parlabane contains a lot of body fluids, the Establishment at its most corrupt, relatively few dead bodies and a formidable display of black humour.