Silent Bones: The powerful new Karen Pirie thriller from the no.1 bestselling author

· Hachette UK
37 reviews
Ebook
448
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

THE POWERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES
'Beautifully structured, witty and twisty' ANN CLEEVES
'A perfect crime novel' KATE MOSSE
'Powerful, moving and wise' HARLAN COBEN
'Full of humour, heart and trademark twists' CHRIS WHITAKER
'A corkscrew twist at every turn' DAILY MAIL

The truth is buried just beneath the surface . . .

When torrential rain causes a landslide on a motorway in Scotland, it reveals a crime scene: someone hid a body in the tarmac eleven years before. Journalist Sam Nimmo had been the prime suspect in the murder of his fiancée when he disappeared, and now DCI Karen Pirie and her Historic Cases Unit must find out who buried him, and why.

Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, new evidence reopens a closed case and the accidental death of a hotel manager starts to look like murder. But what did Tom Jamieson's book club have to do with his demise - and what will they do to keep their secrets?

Karen and her team begin to untangle a web of lies, one that connects their murder cases with Scotland's rich and powerful. They will be tested to their limits - and possibly beyond . . .

'Blends procedural tension with eerie rural isolation' I PAPER
'Showcases the agile plotting that makes this among the best crime fiction series today' IRISH TIMES
'Fiendishly elaborate plotting [and] it's fun to read too' SCOTSMAN

THE POWERFUL NEW THRILLER IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES 'Beautifully structured, witty and twisty' ANN CLEEVES 'A perfect crime novel' KATE MOSSE 'Powerful, moving and wise' HARLAN COBEN 'Full of humour, heart and trademark twists' CHRIS WHITAKER 'A corkscrew twist at every tur...

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Ratings and reviews

37 reviews
Duchess Sarah Ferguson
January 24, 2026
Silent Bones is a well paced, compelling read, featuring short punchy chapters as DCI Pirie, DS Murray and DS Mortimer juggle the demands of two cases. The plot is liberally sprinkled with insightful contemporary realism and Scottish vernacular, together with Val McDermid's signature dry wit coming to the fore in the dialogue between the central characters. Karen Pirie is a compelling and complex heroine, whose professional success seems destined not to be mirrored in her personal life.
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Breimama Mousey
April 6, 2026
i enjoyed itdo need to stay with the different cases
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Jane Mcewan
January 25, 2026
fantastic book could not put it down
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About the author

Val McDermid is an international number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than forty languages. Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for TV and radio, most notably the Wire in the Blood series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan. The Karen Pirie novels have now been adapted for a major ITV series.

Val has been chair of the judges for the Wellcome Book Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize, and has served as a judge for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker Prize and the Royal Society Book Prize. She is the recipient of eight honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is a visiting professor in the Centre of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Among her many awards are the CWA Diamond Dagger recognising lifetime achievement and the Theakston's Old Peculier award for Outstanding Contribution to Crime Writing. Val is also an experienced broadcaster and much-sought-after columnist and commentator across print media.

www.valmcdermid.com
Instagram @quineofcrime

Val McDermid is an international number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than forty languages. Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for TV and radio, most notably the Wire in the Blood series featuring clinical psychologist Dr Ton...

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