The Death Sculptor by Chris Carter

I've got another slice of the dark for today's post because we're on the next instalment of the epic Chris Carter blogathon and today I'm presenting my review of the forth Robert Hunter book, The Death Sculptor. It's a scary book but it's good to have Hunter back! My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for inviting me on the tour. I read from my own e-copy.

The Blurb

'Good job you didn't turn on the lights . . .'

A student nurse has the shock of her life when she discovers her patient, prosecutor Derek Nicholson, brutally murdered in his bed. The act seems senseless - Nicholson was terminally ill with only weeks to live. But what most shocks Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Robbery Homicide Division is the calling card the killer left behind.

For Hunter, there is no doubt that the killer is trying to communicate with the police, but the method is unlike anything he's ever seen before. And what could the hidden message be?

Just as Hunter and his partner Garcia reckon they've found a lead, a new body is found - and a new calling card. But with no apparent link between the first and second victims, all the progress they've made so far goes out of the window.

Pushed into an uncomfortable alliance with confident investigator Alice Beaumont, Hunter must race to put together the pieces of the puzzle . . . before the Death Sculptor puts the final touches to his masterpiece.

My Review

So, we've made it to book four! And I think the crimes are getting more horrifying as we move through the series which fills me with a certain amount of fear as I move onto book five and beyond. But, for now, back to book four and The Death Sculptor. Hunter and Garcia are confronted with a whole new level of twisted and grotesque when they are called to a murder scene on what should've been their day off. The victim is riddled with cancer and probably only had a couple of weeks left to live. His murder seems pointless but the killer definitely has a point to make... Hunter and Garcia can find no obvious motive, even with the help of the DA's whizz investigator Alice, and it's not too long before another body is found, and another 'message' left for them to decode. 

It's great to see Robert Hunter back again, he's such a deep, interesting character. And whilst, of course, you could read this as a standalone, I love that through following the series I am learning more about the Hunter and the other characters. I am particularly enjoying seeing Garcia developing, as he learns from Hunter. I also like the police captain, Barbara Blake, a no-nonsense, straight up woman who completely supports her people. And it was nice being introduced to Alice in this book, I hope we might see her again in future stories.

The crimes, as I've come to expect from Carter's books, are gruesome and horrifying, but also very creative! The man has some imagination! I didn't find this as hard a read as the previous book, but the phrase at the top of the blurb 'Good job you didn't turn on the lights' and the meaning behind it haunted me for some time. 

I have found with these books that when it comes down to it, the reason behind the crimes, the reason and the way the perpetrator is carrying them out, is a sad one. Something that has become unbelievably twisted but is still sad, and that was the case here too. I loved how the connections were made to finally solve the crimes, leading to a super tense, but very satisfying, denouement. The Death Sculptor is another cracking entry in this series and I'm looking forward (a little trepidatiously, mind!) to book five. 

The Author

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour in the USA. As a member of the District Attorney's Criminal Psychology team, and working together with the Police Department in numerous cases, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London, UK.

The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli (translated by Joseph Farrell)

I'm delighted to help mark the publication of The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli,  translated from the Italian by Joseph Farrell, with my stop on the blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my invitation and to the publisher of my review copy. 

The Blurb

In November 1944, in the worst winter ever known in Bologna, in the depths of the war, the bomb-scarred streets are home to starving refugees who have fled the advancing Allies. The Fascist Black Brigades, the officers of the S.S. and the partisans of the Italian Resistance compete for control of the city streets in bloody skirmishes.

Comandante De Luca, who has proved himself "the most brilliant investigator" in Bologna, but who is now unwillingly working for the Political Police in a building that doubles as a torture facility, finds himself in trouble when three murders land on his desk: a professor shot through the eye, an engineer beaten to death, and a German corporal left to be gnawed on by rats in a flooded cellar.

De Luca must rapidly unravel all three cases with ten lives on the line: ten Italian hostages who will face a Nazi firing squad if the corporal's killing is not solved to the German command's satisfaction.

As he navigates a web of personal and political motivations – his life increasingly at risk – De Luca will not stop until he has uncovered the dangerous secrets concealed in the frozen heart of his city.

The Darkest Winter is published in the UK by Open Borders Press (an Orenda Books imprint) and released today.

My Review

Well, The Darkest Winter has it all going on! Set in 1944 Bologna, ex policeman De Luca, now a member of the Political Police, almost accidentally comes across three dead bodies in a small area of the city over a short period of time. He is then tasked to solve all three - one for his own people, one for the resistance and one for the Germans. And the fates of ten innocent Italians rest on the latter. Poor De Luca has a heavy weight on his shoulders, although for some of the enquiries he is helped, or maybe that should be hindered,  by policeman Petrarca. 

The setting of this book was so interesting to me, as I knew nothing about Italy, particularly Bologna, during the war, so it was great to learn about it. The author paints a very vivid picture for the reader. I could imagine the animals in the street, where refugees from the countryside have brought them to the designated safe area where they will hopefully be safe from bombs and danger. And the fear that De Luca and his colleagues have for the Germans is well described. 

This is a book you really need to focus on, as there are three different murders to solve, each involving different personnel with different titles. There is a very helpful glossary at the end of the book but I must confess I occasionally struggled to follow things, and sometimes got confused with dialogue as to which character was talking. But overall, I followed along fine and really enjoyed the three storylines. 

The characters are really well drawn. My favourite was Vilma, secretary to De Luca's boss - she was particularly colourful. De Luca came across as a fairly isolated man, but one who loved getting his teeth into crime solving, as he had done when he was a regular policeman. He's dogged and determined, doesn't give up, even in the face of opposition. I worried about all the sleep he was losing, though! 

Overall I really enjoyed The Darkest Winter, a crime novel containing three twisty storylines and a great protagonist in the centre of it all. The characterisation is brilliant but, I think, for me, the best part was getting a completely different view of life in wartime, and learning more about the situation in Italy at that time. Great. 

The Author

Carlo Lucarelli was born in Parma in 1960. While researching for his thesis on the history of Italian law enforcement, he became intrigued by the Italian police force’s role in the political upheavals of the 1940s during and after the Second World War. From this seed sprouted his De Luca trilogy, later to grow into an oeuvre of more than twenty crime novels focusing on various characters. Lucarelli hosted the popular late night Italian television programme Blu notte misteri d'Italia, on unsolved crimes and mysteries, and he is the founder of the Italian crime-writing collective Gruppo 13. He is also a journalist and has worked for multiple Italian newspapers.


The Translator

Joseph Farrell is Professor Emeritus of Italian in the University of Strathclyde. He has also been theatre reviewer, translator of film scripts, novels and plays, and author of several works including a travelogue on Sicily, a biography of Dario Fo and Franca Rame as well as the biographical study, Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa. His translations include works by Leonardo Sciascia, Vincenzo Consolo, Dario Fo and Valerio Varesi as well as Carlo Lucarelli.

The Night Stalker by Chris Carter #blogathon

On this bright sunny day, even here in Scotland, I've got a slice of the dark for today's post because we're on the next instalment of the epic Chris Carter blogathon and today I'm presenting my review of the third Robert Hunter book, The Night Stalker. And it's a tense, creepy one! My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for inviting me on the tour. I read from my own e-copy.

 

The Blurb

When an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher's shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bears no marks; except for the fact that her lips have been carefully stitched shut.

It is only when the full autopsy gets underway at the Los Angeles County morgue that the pathologist will reveal the true horror of the situation - a discovery so devastating that Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section has to be pulled off a different case to take over the investigation

But when his inquiry collides with a missing persons' case being investigated by the razor-sharp Whitney Meyers, Hunter suspects the killer might be keeping several women hostage. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a murderer with a warped obsession, a stalker for whom love has become hate.

My Review

So we've reached the third book in the epic Robert Hunter series, and this was the most difficult read for me so far. It reads well as standalone, with plenty of back story, so don't worry if you haven't read the first two books, but I always think it's a richer reading experience if you read a series in order from the beginning.

The book opens with a bang - literally! Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia find themselves investigating a murder knowing nothing about the murder or the identity of the victim. And that's just the beginning... They also cross paths with Whitney Myers, an ex cop turned PI, who is looking for a musician reported missing by her father. Hunter is impressed by Myers but he's also not a man who trusts easily. He is a fascinating character and we learn a wee bit more about him in this book - he can lip read, for example!

The storyline is tense throughout but especially so at the end which kept me right on edge. I'm not going to go into the story in any detail for fear of spoilers, but I found it a difficult read due to the nature of the crimes - there was a light on at night when I was alone in the house and reading this! . I think this might be a harder read for female readers, particularly. But all this series are on the darker side of dark crime, so as long as you're prepared for that going in, you'll be fine. And the plotline is satisfyingly twisty and complex with bits of science and psychology dropped in here and there. And the odd red herring. And plenty, plenty of threat and peril. 

From its explosive beginning to its nail biting end, The Night Stalker is a ride. Albeit a pitch black one. But it's a plot that won't let you go until it's wrung every emotion out of you, including sadness for the victims, but also the story behind it all, whilst horrifying and shocking, is sad as well. So, all in all, a satisfying read, but an uneasy one for me, that I've thought about a lot since I finished it. Strapping in now for part four!

The Author 

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour in the USA. As a member of the District Attorney's Criminal Psychology team, and working together with the Police Department in numerous cases, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London, UK.

Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez (translated by Sami Hêzil)

Something different on the blog today. Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez and translated from Kurdish into English by Sami Hêzil is my first read from Open Border Press, an imprint of Orenda Books. But thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me and to the for for my review copy. 

The Blurb

West Berlin, 1968. As a youth uprising sweeps over Europe in the shadow of the Cold War, two men face each other across an interrogation table. One, Ferdy Kaplan, has shot and killed a student. Kommissar Müller, the other is trying to find out why.

As his interrogation progresses, Kaplan’s background is revealed piece by piece, including the love story between him and his childhood friend Amalya, their shared passion for Kafka, and the radical youth movement they joined. When it transpires that Kaplan’s intended target was not the student but Max Brod, Franz Kafka’s close friend and the executor of his literary estate, the interrogation of a murderer slowly transforms into a dialogue between a passionate admirer of Kafka’s work, who is attempting to protect the author’s final wish to have his manuscripts burned, and a police commissioner who is learning more about literature than he ever thought possible from a prisoner in his custody.

In this gripping, thought-provoking tribute to Kafka, Burhan Sönmez vividly recreates a key period of history in the 1960s, when the Berlin Wall divided Europe. More than a typical mystery, Lovers of Franz K. is an exploration of the value of books, and the issues of anti-Semitism, immigration, and violence that recur in Kafka’s life and writings.

My Review

This was something very different for me. It's a rare move away from crime, although a crime has definitely taken place at the beginning of the book. A young man has been shot dead, another injured and Kommissar Müller is trying to establish the motivation behind Ferdy Kaplan's crime. This novella, just over 100 pages long, plays out in the interview room and during Kaplan's trial, with short excerpts giving details of key moments in Kaplan's life. These passages apart, the book is pretty much all told in dialogue, mostly conversations between Müller and Kaplan, with hardly any contextual details such as facial expressions. If made for a very interesting read. 

Ferdy Kaplan is a deep and thoughtful young man. He hasn't had an easy life, born in Germany to a German mother, who was a Nazi supporter and a Turkish father. They were both killed when Ferdy was young, and he was injured. He was sent to live in Istanbul, where he grew up, met Amalya, his first love, and developed an interest in politics. But he also developed a love of literature and shared that joy with Amalya. 

The timing and setting of this book are key. There is a youth uprising across Europe and the authorities fear this incidents could be the start of a wave of incidents, or be racially motivated. And whilst Kaplan is honest with them, he is also quite obtuse in his answers, frustrating both the police and the court. But eventually, Kaplan and Kommissar Müller reach a kind of understanding as the young man explains the reason behind his crime, and his passion for Franz Kafka and others. It's a fascinating discourse and one I'm sure I could read again and pick up yet more from. 

Can a man's spirit be murdered when he is already dead? I don't know. But Lovers of Franz K presents us with that question, among others. There is an admiration of Kafka's work clear throughout. I have only read one of his works but have others - maybe it's time to visit them. Kaplan displays a real passion for Kafka, a slightly idealised one perhaps, but I can't help but admire that. Every one should be passionate about something, and stand up for what they believe in, what they think is right. I don't know if that's what the author wanted to convey here, but that's the message I'm leaving with, amongst others. 

The Author

Burhan Sönmez, now President of PEN International, was born in Turkey in 1965. His mother tongue is Kurdish, which was stigmatised in Turkey during his youth. While practising law and campaigning for human rights in Istanbul, he was seriously injured during a murder attempt by the Turkish police in 1996 and left the country, receiving treatment in Britain and remaining in exile there for several years. Sönmez is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College and of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He was awarded the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation "Disturbing the Peace" award in 2017 and won the E.B.R.D. Literature Prize for Istanbul, Istanbul. Lovers of Franz K is Sönmez's sixth novel and the first written in his mother tongue.

 

The Executioner by Chris Carter #blogathon

It's time for the second book in our huge Chris Carter blogathon! Today we're focusing on The Executioner, which was just as dark as the first book! Many thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for the invitation. I read from my own bought ebook.

 

The Blurb

Inside a Los Angeles church, on the altar steps, lies the blood-soaked body of a priest. Later, the forensic team discover that, on the victim's chest, the figure 3 has been scrawled in blood.

At first, Detective Robert Hunter believes that this is a ritualistic killing. But as more bodies surface, he is forced to reassess. All the victims died in the way they feared the most. Their worst nightmares have literally come true. But how could the killer have known? And what links these apparently random victims?

Hunter finds himself on the trail of an elusive and sadistic killer, someone who apparently has the power to read his victims' minds. Someone who can sense what scares his victims the most. Someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his twisted aim.

My Review

Oh gosh! So, we're on the second book in the Robert Hunter series and if I thought the last book was dark, this one is possibly darker! I'm not sure how I'm going to manage 13 or 14 books - I'm already leaving my landing light on if I'm on my own at night and reading the books! 😂 All that said, they are terrifically exiting books, full of jeopardy and dread. 

The Executioner opens with the death of a priest. I can't tell you anything about his death without spoilers, but it's quite disturbing. And puzzling. Other deaths follow, in very different manners, victims unrelated as far as The police can tell. But they all have a number marked on them...

Robert Hunter is a great protagonist. Highly intelligent, with knowledge about pretty much everything - he reads a lot - driven and dedicated, he'll go the extra mile every time in order to solve the murder. He barely sleeps, and when he does he's often disturbed by nightmares about the investigations - he and partner Carlos only deal with most serious and disturbing cases. I love the relationship between the two men. Carlos was new in the first book and it's great to see their relationship developing, making them a good team. 

The deaths in this book are.... creative. And horrific. One has stuck in my mind since I read it. This series is not for the faint hearted, and won't appeal to everyone. But if you can deal with the darkness, you're rewarded with a cracking story. Essentially a police procedural, it's elevated by the creativity of the crimes and the complexity of the investigation. There are some brilliant peripheral characters and I love Hunter's new boss. Mollie tugged my heartstrings and she'll tug yours too. The conclusion of the book gives us jeopardy aplenty, and twice over. It's exciting and terrifying - I held my breath at least twice. 

My only slight criticism is the same as for the first book - when a new character is introduced, the author described them - looks, clothes, facial expression, or whatever, all in a sentence of two. I feel it could be more integrated into the text as, for me, these descriptions just feel like a list of adjectives. But this is just a wee niggle. 

The Executioner is an inventive, exciting and creative police procedural and thriller, with a fantastic, intriguing protagonist. Another great entry in the series and I'm looking forward to more of the books. With some trepidation though, I have to admit - I reckon they're only going to get scarier! 

The Author

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour in the USA. As a member of the District Attorney's Criminal Psychology team, and working together with the Police Department in numerous cases, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London, UK.

Son by Johana Gustawsson & Thomas Enger

I was so excited for this book coming out because it's written by two of my favourite people who have come together to write a new series, and this is the first book in that collection. And I wasn't disappointed. Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Son, the first Kari Voss mystery, by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger. Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my review copy. I will be buying my own hardback copy.

 

The Blurb

Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo BOOKS Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.

Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son.

When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…

With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari's own life, too…

My Review

When I saw the title I initially thought the book was going to be about a son. But whilst there are a few sons in the book, the title is actually the name of the Norwegian town where a brutal crime takes place. Two young girls are murdered in a horrible way. A young man is arrested for the crime and the case seems to be cut and dried. But Kari Voss, a psychologist who is often consulted by the police, is not convinced, and begins her own investigation. And she finds out more than she bargained for about the people she thought she knew...

I loved Kari. Still grieving her dead husband and carrying the pain of missing her son Vetle, who disappeared seven years ago, aged nine, she has picked up the pieces with the help of her father, the retired police chief, and has a successful career lecturing and consulting on memory and body language. She's warm and kind, but determined when she needs to be, as demonstrated here when she believes differently from the police about the way the case is going. In fact, she risks alienating people she cares about in order to convince people of the truth, at least as she sees it. But we also see her struggling with her decisions and choices, and her own mental health suffering as she looks into what happened. I liked her dad, and the close relationship they have and the support he gives her. We all need someone in our corner and he is definitely in Kari's. Finally, I should mention Ramona Norum, the police superintendent leading the murder investigation and Kari's friend of many years. At different stages in the book we see the two women in harmony and also at loggerheads, to a degree. I loved that the authors portrayed a very real friendship - like with any relationship, it can't be rainbows and sprinkles all the time.

The investigation is satisfyingly twisty and turny. We meet some of the young people in the neighbourhood and their parents too, and almost everyone is carrying a secret about something. I really enjoyed all the technical sciencey stuff about body language and memory - it was super interesting and presented in a very accessible way, slotting neatly into the story, and not once does it feel clunky or out of place. The denouement is tense and bloody, and ultimately very sad. But it all fits.

I'm always amazed when two different writers, with potentially different styles, collaborate. Here there is the added layer of two different nationalities and languages, Norwegian and French. And I don't see the name of a translator, which, I think, means the authors translated their own work, or wrote in English in the first place. Either way, I am in awe. I don't know what their writing process was but if there are joining seams, I can't find them - the whole book runs smoothly, and feels like it was one voice. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised - they are both brilliant authors in their own right, so why wouldn't they be brilliant together?

Son is a well written story of secrets and lies, and murder, with an engaging central character. I don't think I've read anything before featuring someone with the skills Kari has, so that was great. I know this is the first book in a planned series, which I was super thrilled about anyway because I'm keen to read more. But I really can't wait now, having read the last few lines of the book! Highly recommend.


The Authors

Known as the Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson is one of France's most highly regarded, award-winning crime writers, recipient of the prestigious Cultura Ligue de
l`Imaginaire Award for her gothic mystery Yule Island. Number-one bestselling books include Block 46, Keeper, Blood Song and her historical thriller, The Bleeding. Johana lives in Sweden with her family. A former journalist, Thomas Enger is the number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul series and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series, and one of the biggest proponents of the Nordic Noir genre. He lives in Oslo. Rights to Johana and Thomas’s books have been sold to a combined fifty countries and, for the first time, two crime writers, from two different countries, writing in two different languages, have joined forces to create an original series together.

The Weekenders by David F Ross

I've been unwell this week and had to miss a few things. Unfortunately, one of them was my blog tour stop in Tuesday for The Weekenders by David F Ross. Sincere apologies to David, Danielle and every one at Orenda for the delay, but I'm now recovering and pleased to share my review today. My thanks to Danielle Price for the invitation and to the publisher for my review copy. 

The Blurb

Glasgow, 1966: Stevie 'Minto' Milloy, former star footballer-turned-rookie reporter, finds himself trailing the story of a young Eastern European student whose body has been found on remote moorland outside the city. How did she get there from her hostel at the Sovereign Grace Mission, and why does Stevie find obstacles at every turn?

Italy, 1943: As the Allies fight Mussolini's troops, a group of young soldiers are separated from their platoon, and Glaswegian Jamesie Campbell, his newfound friend Michael McTavish at his side, finds himself free to make his own rules…

Glasgow, 1969: Courtroom sketch artist Donald 'Doodle' Malpas is shocked to discover that his new case involves the murder of a teenage Lithuanian girl he knows from the Sovereign Grace Mission. Why hasn't the girl's death been reported? And why is a young police constable suddenly so keen to join the mission?

No one seems willing to join the dots between the two cases, and how they link to Raskine House, the stately home in the Scottish countryside with a dark history and even darker present – the venue for the debauched parties held there by the rich and powerful of the city who call themselves 'The Weekenders'.

Painting a picture of a 1960s Glasgow in the throes of a permissive society, pulled apart by religion, corruption, and a murderous Bible John stalking the streets, The Weekenders is a snapshot of an era of turmoil – and a terrifying insight into the mind of a ruthless criminal…

My Review

The Weekenders is gritty, not afraid to get down and dirty. It centred on three men - ex footballer turned sports reporter Stevie, court sketch artist Doodle, and local businessman Jamesie Campbell. Stevie and Doodle are fully fleshed out characters,and we see them at their best and their worst : it's very real. We learn a lot about Jamesie's background, some of which is quite tough to read, but whilst we see him with his public facing face on, the rest of his current life is somewhat shrouded in mystery - deliberately. But we do know he married into money and is now the owner of Raskine House, home to the fabled Weekenders parties.

Stevie Millroy was a footballer on his way to stardom until his career was ended by a deliberate injury. He's just beginning a new job as a sports reporter for the Star, but is inexplicably paired up with veteran crime reporter Jock Meikle to learn how it's done. At his first press conference he learns about The murder of a young girl, and he just can't get the crime out of his head...

A few years later, Douglas 'Doodle' Malpas is illustrating a court case when he realises the victim is someone he knew at the Christian mission he attends, run by a local minister.

Featuring in both of these segments, and with some of his own back story in the middle, is local businessman Jamesie Campbell. In public, Jamesie is full of bonhommie, but we learn much more about what he's really like. It's fair, I think, to say he's not a very nice man. His back story is a hard read in places - the author has not shied away from giving raw, gritty details. And we get a real sense of the man.

The three segments all tie in together perfectly and it's well written - I had to consult a dictionary several times and learned loads of great new words! 😀 But, being serious, The Weekenders is about crime and corruption in Glasgow in the 1960s, and the links between criminals, businessmen, the church, sport and the police. It's a messy business and it's laid bare here. I look forward to reading the forthcoming books that will make up The trilogy, and learning more about the secrets of Raskine House.


The Author

David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and now lives in Kilmarnock. In 1992, he graduated from the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow and is now Design Director of one of Scotland's largest, oldest and most successful practices.

His critically acclaimed debut novel, The Last Days of Disco, was long-listed for the Best First Novel Award by the Author’s Club of London. National Theatre Scotland acquired dramatic rights for the book in 2015.

He completed a trilogy of Ayrshire-based books with The Rise & Fall of the Miraculous Vespas and The Man Who Loved Islands. All three novels have been translated into German, published by Heyne Hardcore (Random House). Welcome to The Heady Heights - his fourth for Orenda Books – was published in March 2019.

There's Only One Danny Garvey was shortlisted for Scottish Fiction Book of the Year 2021. It has been called 'a brilliant, bittersweet story that captures the rawness of strained relationships.'

David F. Ross is a regular contributor to Nutmeg and Razur Cuts magazines, and in December 2018 was chosen to contribute a poem commemorating the 16th anniversary of the death of Joe Strummer for the publication Ashes to Activists. In 2020 he wrote the screenplay for the film ‘Miraculous’, based on his own novel.

The Weekenders is David's seventh novel and the first in the Raskine House Trilogy.