Quint Dalrymple Series by Paul Johnston

"Gorky Park" meets "Brave New World" in this award-winning debut novel of a serial killer lost in a supposedly perfect society overtaken by the Enlightenment.

The Bone Yard is a dystopian thriller set in Edinburgh during the harsh winter of 2021. Rogue detective Quintilian Dalrymple, a former bureaucrat who left his high-ranking job to work for the parks service and solve mysteries on the side, sets about catching a serial killer with a peculiar signature. The killer bites out the victim's throat, cuts out the tongue, removes the genitals, and leaves in the cavity a cassette of the electric blues of Clapton, Hendrix, and others... moreThe Bone Yard is a dystopian thriller set in Edinburgh during the harsh winter of 2021. Rogue detective Quintilian Dalrymple, a former bureaucrat who left his high-ranking job to work for the parks service and solve mysteries on the side, sets about catching a serial killer with a peculiar signature. The killer bites out the victim's throat, cuts out the tongue, removes the genitals, and leaves in the cavity a cassette of the electric blues of Clapton, Hendrix, and others. In the allegedly crime-free Edinburgh city-state (which is expressly modeled on Plato's Republic, but in practice resembles every cliché of pre-1990 Eastern Bloc regimes), blues music is contraband. So are casual sex, monogamy, fattening foods, all drugs, and more-than-weekly showers. So why does the killer leave cryptic messages via electric blues? Johnston won Britain's John Creasey Award for best first crime novel with 1999's Body Politic, and in The Bone Yard he possibly takes for granted that his readers already know and care about Dalrymple and his cohorts. Character development is scanty, so the playful rivalry between Dalrymple and sidekick Davie, for example, is mostly conveyed through edginess and four-letter words. Their terseness is juxtaposed against the obfuscatory language of the council, the "iron Boy Scouts" who gradually become implicated in the four grisly murders and a related scheme. The serial murderer's infelicitous musical clues lead Dalrymple to discover a dangerous drug remarkably like Viagra, which is being manufactured illegally within the Edinburgh city-state. Dalrymple travels to a zoo, a slaughterhouse, and a foul fishing boat to find the lab, which may be tied to the mysterious "Bone Yard" that the council shrouds in top-level security and secrecy. In addition, a nubile exotic dancer meets an untimely end, leading the two detectives and Dalrymple's tough ex-girlfriend Katharine to the Three Graces sex club, which caters to Edinburgh's rich and burgeoning tourist population. Readers trolling for mysteries set in exciting locales may thus be gratified by The Bone Yard, which is a blend of 1984 (though with inferior prose), The China Syndrome, and Showgirls. The plot moves briskly through dark terrain, both physically and philosophically. It's got a relentlessly downbeat tenor, but Johnston intricately ties together the threads of the four murder victims and their psychopathic killer, and the secret of the Bone Yard. --Kathi Inman Berens less

It is 2026, and Edinburgh is an independent state. A break-in at the former Scottish parliament archive is followed by two murders, the victims covered with blood-drenched branches. Before Quint Dalrymple can figure out what is going on, Edinburgh's brightest teenagers are spirited away to the feared city-state of Glasgow.

It’s the 2020s. Welcome to independent Edinburgh: an oppressive, almost crime–free, dystopian oasis—run by the Council of City Guardians and surrounded by anarchic city–states. Quintilian Dalrymple—renegade private investigator—is at the center of this ingenious futuristic crime series from Paul Johnston, winner of Britain’s prestigious John Creasey Memorial Dagger.

Maverick ex-cop Quint Dalrymple returns to investigate a series of gruesome murders in a near-future independent Edinburgh, in 2033. The Council of City Guardians has been forced to relax its grip on citizens and the borders are no longer secure. Then a human heart is found on a football pitch. Quint Dalrymple is called in, just as a citizen's headless body floats down a canal. He uncovers a link to the planned referendum over Edinburgh joining a reconstituted Scotland... moreMaverick ex-cop Quint Dalrymple returns to investigate a series of gruesome murders in a near-future independent Edinburgh, in 2033. The Council of City Guardians has been forced to relax its grip on citizens and the borders are no longer secure. Then a human heart is found on a football pitch. Quint Dalrymple is called in, just as a citizen's headless body floats down a canal. He uncovers a link to the planned referendum over Edinburgh joining a reconstituted Scotland. But who is behind the killings? Quint must dig deep to save the Council from collapse, and to retain both his head and heart... less

As the stakes rise, Johnston keeps the logical twists coming while making his dystopian future plausible Publishers Weekly Starred Review Ex-cop Quint Dalrymple discovers there is something very rotten in the independent city-state of Edinburgh in this near-future dystopian thriller. Edinburgh, spring 2034. The weather s balmy, there s a referendum on whether to join a reconstituted Scotland coming up and a tourist is found strangled... moreAs the stakes rise, Johnston keeps the logical twists coming while making his dystopian future plausible Publishers Weekly Starred Review Ex-cop Quint Dalrymple discovers there is something very rotten in the independent city-state of Edinburgh in this near-future dystopian thriller. Edinburgh, spring 2034. The weather s balmy, there s a referendum on whether to join a reconstituted Scotland coming up and a tourist is found strangled. As usual, maverick detective Quint Dalrymple is called in to do the Council of City Guardians dirty work. For the first time in his career, Quint is stumped by the complexity of the case. An explosion at the City Zoo is followed by the discovery of another body and the prime suspect is nowhere to be found. Can Quint and his sidekick, Guard commander Davie, put a stop to the killings before the city erupts into open violence? Are the leaders of other Scottish states planning to take over Edinburgh, or is the source of unrest much closer to home? Quint must race to pull the threads together before he becomes one of the numerous skeletons on display " less