Thomas Hutton Series by Douglas Lindsay

A killer selects his victims. A city lives in fear. The police fall into chaos. A woman is savagely murdered, her body stabbed over a hundred times, and the police recognise that the perpetrator will likely strike again. DCI Bloonsbury, the once-feted detective, is put in charge of the investigation, but when an officer is slain, and an old police conspiracy begins to unravel, Bloonsbury slides further into morose, intoxicated depression... moreA killer selects his victims. A city lives in fear. The police fall into chaos. A woman is savagely murdered, her body stabbed over a hundred times, and the police recognise that the perpetrator will likely strike again. DCI Bloonsbury, the once-feted detective, is put in charge of the investigation, but when an officer is slain, and an old police conspiracy begins to unravel, Bloonsbury slides further into morose, intoxicated depression. And here, somewhere in the midst of the horror, is Detective Sergeant Thomas Hutton, lost in a sea of love, lust, deception, alcohol, and murdered colleagues. But the dead will not rest, the past will not be buried, and DS Hutton must find his way, as the killer kills, and kills again… less

Detective Sergeant Thomas Hutton returns in a stark and brutal portrayal of a police officer on the edge, and a killer in control. Three people are dead. Murdered. Each one bound and gagged in a forest, the top of the skull removed, their exposed brain picked at by crows. If they were lucky, they died quickly. DS Hutton has been on sick leave for several months, living on the side of a Scottish mountain, only coming up to town for weekly psychiatric sessions... moreDetective Sergeant Thomas Hutton returns in a stark and brutal portrayal of a police officer on the edge, and a killer in control. Three people are dead. Murdered. Each one bound and gagged in a forest, the top of the skull removed, their exposed brain picked at by crows. If they were lucky, they died quickly. DS Hutton has been on sick leave for several months, living on the side of a Scottish mountain, only coming up to town for weekly psychiatric sessions. However, the Plague of Crows has arrived, all hands are on deck, and Hutton is summoned back to duty. As the months pass and the police remain clueless in the face of the horrors perpetrated by the most inhuman serial killer of his time, Hutton finds himself haunted by his past and plummeting further and further into a desperate world of sex, alcohol and guilt. And while he has no idea where to look for the Plague of Crows, the killer knows exactly where to find him… less

A haunting Scottish crime thriller, from the creator of Barney Thomson and DI Westphall. A young girl stands silently at a window in the dead of night. A stained-glass Jesus in blue looks down upon a lost church. A woman hangs by the neck from a bridge, the wings of an angel on her back. A teenage boy lies in a bath, the water turned blood red… Four congregations have been told to unite, with unholy consequences... moreA haunting Scottish crime thriller, from the creator of Barney Thomson and DI Westphall. A young girl stands silently at a window in the dead of night. A stained-glass Jesus in blue looks down upon a lost church. A woman hangs by the neck from a bridge, the wings of an angel on her back. A teenage boy lies in a bath, the water turned blood red… Four congregations have been told to unite, with unholy consequences. One by one the victims fall, as DS Hutton and DCI Taylor are drawn into the troubled and duplicitous world of the church, its numbers crumbling, those left behind fighting over the scraps of diminishing power. A biblical prophecy will play out, the blood of zealots will run… * * * “Douglas Lindsay is someone deserving to be spoken of as a master.” SHOTS MAGAZINE “Lindsay is an underrated writer with an eccentric, blisteringly satirical voice.” SUNDAY EXPRESS “A master of comic crime.” SCOTTISH FIELD “One of the rising stars of tartan noir.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY less