When the Devil Drives (Jasmine Sharp and Catherine McLeod Series, 1) - Hardcover

Brookmyre, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080212089X ISBN 13: 9780802120892

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013

Synopsis

The second installment in Christopher Brookmyre’s new crime series, When the Devil Drives is an intensely gripping literary thriller that delves into the darkest reaches of the human psyche.

Actress turned private investigator Jasmine Sharp has become accustomed to clients looking for long-lost relatives, so when a woman hires her to find her younger sister Tessa Garrion, Jasmine presumes the case will be relatively straightforward. The assignment takes her back into the world of professional theater, where she is warned off more than once for probing too deeply into the past.

Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent and mother-of-two Catherine McLeod is called to the scene of a murder in the Highlands. Following a theatrical outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Cragruthes Castle, a prominent figure in the Scottish arts community is shot dead during a post-performance photo call. With her initial leads turning out to be red herrings, McLeod struggles to determine the killer’s motive.

Jasmine soon uncovers Tessa’s involvement in a drug-riddled Highlands estate retreat replete with occult rituals, which implicates more than a few people in the upper echelons of Scotland’s arts scene. Tessa’s disappearance in the summer of 1981 begins to look increasingly like murder, but the guilty will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden. As Jasmine’s and McLeod’s investigations intertwine, it becomes evident that both cases are far more convoluted and dangerous than anticipated.

About this title

About the Author

Since his award-winning debut novel Quite Ugly One Morning, Christopher Brookmyre has established himself as one of Britain's leading crime novelists. He has worked as a journalist for several British newspapers and is the author of twelve novels, including Where the Bodies Are Buried, One Fine Day in The Middle of the Night, and Not The End of The World.

Reviews

*Starred Review* Two female crime fighters muster all their moxie and mental acumen in international best-seller Brookmyre’s second in a stellar series set in Scotland. Aspiring actress turned private investigator Jasmine Sharp’s search for a woman’s long-lost sister brings her back into the world of professional theater. (It is a bittersweet reunion; Jasmine always wondered what her life would have been like had she continued to tread the boards.) This time, however, the drama is very real: a 30-year-old unsolved mystery that could shatter the reputations of a few much-touted theater icons. Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent Catherine McLeod contemplates clues in the murder of a theatergoer who stepped onstage for a photo shoot following a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (Talk about your reverie turned nightmare.) The lives of the two sleuths seemed destined to intersect, and consummate crime-fiction writer Brookmyre (Where the Bodies Are Buried, 2012) is a master at rendering ingenious, intertwining plots. Sharply drawn characters and an idyllic Scottish setting add further appeal to this engaging entry in which foul play’s the thing. --Allison Block

Edition details

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080212089X
• ISBN 13: 9780802120892
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288