Showing results by author "Quintin Jardine" in All Categories

Oz Blackstone, enormously wealthy screen hero and sleuth, dies of a ruptured aorta. Her mind still filled with thoughts of her dead ex-husband, Primavera Blackstone is in Spain with their son Tom when their peace is breached again with the arrival of her formidable aunt, Adrienne McGowan, whose son, Frank, has disappeared.

Still reeling from the tragic death of their much-loved colleague, Skinner's men are about to discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at large and very close to home. DCC Bob Skinner and his men get a call informing them that the body of a young woman has been found on a golf course. The way she has been laid out is uncannily familiar; the body has been "composed", just like the bodies of three other young women in a previous case. Could it be the work of a copycat killer?

When Oz Blackstone is offered a major role in a cop movie shooting in Edinburgh, he cannot resist. The self-professed "luckiest man on the planet" sees himself heading for stardom and wealth, but his marriage to Primavera is on the rocks. On the other hand, a brief encounter with the beautiful, self-possessed Susie Gantry is turning into something more long term. Life looks like a bowl of cherries until ex-lover Alison Goodchild turns up asking for a favor.

Quintin Jardine's 26th Bob Skinner mystery sees the Edinburgh sleuth plunged into a gruelling new case in which no score will go unsettled. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner has uncovered his fair share of crime scenes over his 30-year career. But few have affected him quite as much as the horrifying sight he finds stowed in the back of a stolen car that collides with his own on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

It's the Fiesta de San Juan in Spain, the national celebration of the Summer Solstice, and there's much excitement about a huge firework display in the village of St Marti. But Primavera Blackstone is more inflamed by the appearance of a mysterious writer, Duncan Culshaw, who is determined to rake through the ashes of her past. And when extortion and blackmail are mentioned, Primavera realises the heat is on.

Oz Blackstone is enjoying the success of his latest smash-hit movie. He's moving into a big country house near Loch Lomond with his gorgeous wife Suzie Gantry, who has twice been named Scottish Businesswoman of the Year. They have the lifestyle of everyone's dreams. But when blackmailers threaten Oz's father with a particularly sleazy scam, the dream begins to turn into a nightmare. Oz gets paint thrown at him during the premiere of his movie and then an incendiary bomb is sent to his wife's offices.

Primavera Blackstone has found contentment in a small Spanish village by the sea. A fiercely protective single mother, she doesn’t appreciate an offer of marriage. Nor does she welcome the arrival of a blast from her past, retired cop Ricky Ross, now a private detective and working for Jack Weighley, millionaire owner of a budget airline. Primavera teams up with Ricky to investigate a series of mystery assaults on Jack’s aircraft. Are they mere acts of vandalism, or the sinister work of Catalan extremists?

A tranquil Spanish village by the sea is the perfect place for Primavera Blackstone to raise her ten-year-old, Tom, son of the late lamented Oz, especially once they are joined by Oz's nephew, pro golfer Jonny Sinclair. But when her best friend, Shirley, introduces her new man, Patterson Cowling, he seems to be a magnet for trouble. A casual thief tries to pick his pocket and is found a few days later with his face blown off. A bloody coincidence? Or does Patterson Cowling have a past to protect?

Primavera is enjoying the quiet life in an idyllic village on the Catalan coast of Spain. The attractive single mother and eight-year-old Tom, son of the late and still lamented Oz Blackstone, are popular figures in the tiny community. But her close friendship with the parish priest has eyebrows rising and tongues wagging. Then a dispute explodes with a powerful councillor who refuses to allow the village wine fair to go ahead. When his body is found, head caved in, some ominous questions are asked.

Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner is long out of the police force, but trouble has a habit of following him around. So it is that he finds himself in the Palace of Westminster as a shocking act befalls the nation. Hours before the Prime Minster is due to make a controversial statement, she is discovered in her office with a letter opener driven through her skull. Is the act political? Personal? Or even one of terror? Skinner is swiftly enlisted by the Security Service to lead the investigation.

After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Philips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St. Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava.

Born to Be Wild began with the death of Oz Blackstone, movie hero and idol of millions, and tells how it might not have happened. The Last Chickenpig carries on the yarn as 17-year-old Tom, Oz's son with his soul-mate Primavera Phillips, goes in search of the father he has mourned since his early childhood.

Ten years ago Oz Blackstone, movie icon, died tragically while filming in remote Guatemala; mourned by millions, his story came to an end, and his secrets died with him. His soul mate, Primavera Phillips, took their young son, Tom, back to the Spanish village where he was conceived and built a new life for them both in Oz's honour. For sure Oz was an idol, and as is the way with ill-fated legends, there are those who have never accepted his death, who have kept the faith ever since.

Once upon a time in what was then reasonably Great Britain, there was a world in which the not too serious business of politics was practised without those people known today, nonsensically, as spin doctors, and without whispers against those who were supposed to be friends, but who were in fact blockages on the ladder of ambition. This audiobook is a wistful recollection of those days. None of it actually happened. But it would be nice to think that it might have.

1818, Carluke, Lanarkshire. Mathew Fleming returns home to Scotland following heroic service at the Battle of Waterloo. After seven years away, he is a ghostly presence to those he left behind. But Mathew is ambitious and soon becomes a man of influence in his country and beyond. Yet through all his success, he still hides the loss of his one true love. When a terrible act of murder occurs, Mathew must choose between the rule of blood and the rule of law.

Brought up by his hard-nosed father and ferocious Spanish grandmother, Xavier Aislado is a gentle giant. And though Xavi’s bond with his grandmother grows, he is abandoned when his family return to Spain, leaving him in Edinburgh to complete his education. Years later, when his promising sporting career is cut short, Xavi pursues his true passion: journalism. And when his first assignment ends in violent death, he is drawn into a dark new world.