The Big Chill (The Skelfs Book 2) by Doug Johnstone

I am really delighted to be sharing my review of The Big Chill by Doug Johnstone. This is the second novel featuring the Skelf women after we were introduced to them in A Dark Matter, a book I loved. Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me onto the tour for this one and to the publisher, Orenda Books, for my review copy.

The Blurb:

Haunted by their past, the Skelf women are hoping for a quieter life. But running both a funeral directors’ and a private investigation business means trouble is never far away, and when a car crashes into the open grave at a funeral that matriarch Dorothy is conducting, she can’t help looking into the dead driver’s shadowy life.

While Dorothy uncovers a dark truth at the heart of Edinburgh society, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah have their own struggles. Jenny’s ex-husband Craig is making plans that could shatter the Skelf women’s lives, and the increasingly obsessive Hannah has formed a friendship with an elderly professor that is fast turning deadly.

But something even more sinister emerges when a drumming student of Dorothy’s disappears and suspicion falls on her parents. The Skelf women find themselves sucked into an unbearable darkness – but could the real threat be to themselves?

Following three women as they deal with the dead, help the living and find out who they are in the process, The Big Chill follows A Dark Matter, book one in the Skelfs series, which reboots the classic PI novel while asking the big existential questions, all with a big dose of pitch-black humour.

The Big Chill was published by Orenda Books as an eBook on 20th June 2020 and it will be released in paperback on 20th August 2020. It is available for purchase/pre-order (depending on format) from the publisher, Hive (supporting independent bookshops), Waterstones, Amazon and all good booksellers.

My Review:

I was so excited to read A Big Chill as the previous book, A Dark Matter, was one of my favourite reads of last year (you can read my review here). And I wasn't disappointed.

The Big Chill takes place shortly after the events which in A Dark Matter and the Skelf women - matriarch and grandmother Dorothy, her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah - are still reeling from what happened then. They're each hurting in their own way. If you haven't read A Dark Matter you can still enjoy this - there is a storyline arc continuing from that book but this is outlined here so it works great as a standalone. But I feel you would have a richer experience if you read A Dark Matter first.

Following the death of Dorothy's husband Jim, the three women have taken over the running of not only his undertaking firm but also his private investigation business. From their kitchen table. They are assisted by employees Archie and Indy, who also happens to be Hannah's girlfriend. The cases in the book cover both business areas but none are exactly 'official' - they are people and stories that the women find themselves drawn to. And all feature the themes of family, acceptance and belonging, as does the main overarching storyline about the women themselves.

Dorothy is a fabulous character. An American in her 70s, she is spirited, spritely and active, although this book finds her a little more tired and jaded than in the last one. She has an unusual hobby for a woman her age - a nod to the author's love of music - which gives her an added dimension. She is calm, kind, understanding and accepting - the most level headed of the three. Science student Hannah is trying to deal with events in the previous book but struggling and taking it out on girlfriend Indy. And she is questioning what she thought she knew about physics, questioning her own place in the universe. Jenny is the woman I connect with the least but, gosh, I felt for her in this book - Johnstone certainly puts her through the wringer! All three women are beautifully crafted and there are so many moments when I just thought 'Oh, this is perfect.' Hannah's guilt at hurting Indy, Jenny wanting to be a better daughter and mother,  Dorothy's observations, her realisation that words are inadequate.

There is a lot of death in this book, it is a funeral parlour after all. And each death tells a story, often heartbreaking. But there is beauty here too - in fact some of the most beautifully written passages take place in the embalming room, where both Archie and author Johnstone treat the dead with care and respect.

The cases the women get involved with are all different, but all heartbreaking in their own way. I had tears in my eyes more than once. All the stories have family and belonging at their core. And all the while the women are working on them, events in their own lives threaten to overwhelm them.

I love that in this series all the central characters are female. Strong women. Damaged, yes, but still strong and resilient. Even if they don't always realise it. Men play more peripheral roles with maybe one exception. I love to loathe a character, and Craig was that man for me. That I feel so strongly about him is entirely down to Johnstone's skill as a writer, his ability to make me care even about the nastier characters.

I have maybe made this book sound morbid and bleak. In fact, it is just the opposite. It's warm, touching and beautiful, and exquisitely written.  Johnstone is a lean writer, there is not a single wasted word here. I love how he sums up the purpose of a funeral in a single sentence, that he talks about quantum physics and I could follow at least some of it and his, probably sadly accurate, take on Scottish men's mental health. I want to share so many moments from this fabulous book, but I've limited myself to just this one little gem:
'Hannah had never felt more out of step with the universe than right now, talking with an existential widow and drinking probably poisoned tea in a dead man's parlour.'

The Big Chill is an intimate portrait of life and death told with a very human touch and a splash of humour. It's dark in places, sad in others, beautiful throughout. And I can't think of another crime novel which could feature My Chemical Romance, quantum physics, drumming, the Bangkok Lady Boys and Inuit throat singers! Do yourself a favour and get this (and A Dark Matter) - I promise you won't be disappointed!


The Author:

Doug Johnstone is a writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. His tenth novel, Breakers, was published by Orenda Books in May 2019, and was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. His previous books include The Jump, shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, Gone Again, an Amazon bestseller, and Hit & Run, which was an Amazon #1 as well as being selected as a prestigious Fiction Uncovered winner. His work has received praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, William McIlvanney, Megan Abbott and Christopher Brookmyre.

Doug has been Writer in Residence with William Purves Funeral Directors. He is also a Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow, and was RLF Fellow at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh 2014-2016. Doug was also Writer in Residence at the University of Strathclyde 2010-2012 and before that worked as a lecturer in creative writing there. He's had short stories appear in various publications and anthologies, and since 1999 he has worked as a freelance arts journalist, primarily covering music and literature. He is also a manuscript assessor for The Literary Consultancy and Emergents in the Scottish Highlands. He has taught creative writing at festivals and conferences and regularly at Moniack Mhor, and he has mentored aspiring writers for New Writing North and Scottish Book Trust.

Doug is one of the co-founders of the Scotland Writers Football Club, for whom he also puts in a shift in midfield as player-manager. He is also a singer, musician and songwriter in several bands, including Northern Alliance, who have released four albums to critical acclaim, as well as recording an album as a fictional band called The Ossians. Doug has also released three solo EPs. He plays drums for the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a crime writing supergroup featuring Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste.

Doug has a degree in physics, a PhD in nuclear physics and a diploma in journalism, and worked for four years designing radars. He grew up in Arbroath and lives in Portobello, Edinburgh with his wife and two children.