#SkelfSummer Black Hearts by Doug Johnstone

 Death is just the beginning…

The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past events.

A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger. An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave … pushing her to breaking point.

As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly…

I'm delighted to re-share my review of Black Hearts for the #SkelfSummer celebrations of this brilliant series by Doug Johnstone. The sixth book, Living is a Problem will be published in September, so if you haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting the fabulous Skelf women, I hope this look back at their previous trials and tribulations will tempts you to check out what, for me, is an unmissable series. Many thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part and to Danielle at Orenda Books for organising the Skelf summer celebration. 

Black Hearts is the fourth book in Doug Johnstone's superlative Skelfs series and it's such a joy to spend time with these wonderful, multi-layered characters again. The overarching storyline that started in the first book in the series, A Dark Matter continues here and I would recommend reading the previous novels first, if possible. 

Over a year has passed since the devastating events in The Great Silence but although life has moved on, the Skelf women are clearly still affected by the past. Dorothy is in a happy relationship with Thomas but increasingly aware of her own mortality, particularly when many of the people they arrange funerals for are younger than she is. Her care for others shines through but like everybody else, she has her share of regrets and guilt. Hannah and Indy are now married but their happiness is threatened by a young woman who appears to be dangerously obsessed with Hannah, while Jenny has understandably hit the self-destruct button. Jenny is arguably the most complex of the Skelf women; as both daughter and mother, she has been the nurtured and the nurturer but now she is in a mess and lurches from one drunken encounter to another.

As well as dealing with their own problems, the women have funerals to arrange and cases to investigate. One often leads to another; from a graveside fight over a missing father to an elderly Japanese man who believes his wife's spirit is unhappy, their apparently disparate two businesses – a family-run funeral directors and a private investigation firm – are actually frequently intertwined. They inevitably encounter some terrible tragedies but as well as the major, shocking incidents, there are the quieter examples too; grief and loss, of course, but perhaps even worse than losing a loved one, there's the aching loneliness of dying alone. It's a painful, melancholic read at times and Black Hearts is the perfect title; there is deep sadness here but there are also damaged, dangerous people whose unpredictable actions bring increasing tension and a terrible sense of foreboding to proceedings. 

As with real life, there is dark humour to be found during these moments too. There are some dramatic, even outrageous scenes but Doug Johnstone also reflects real life with such empathy and compassion. The joy and pain of our complicated, connected, chaotic lives is explored throughout Black Hearts and it's impossible not to be moved and charmed as well as gripped by the compulsive, exciting plot.

The sense of place is impeccable throughout, of course and just as the people living in Edinburgh are brilliant and despicable, kind and cruel, connected and lonely, and everything in between, the best and worst of the city is depicted too. Hannah's PhD work in the exoplanet research group also irresistibly tempts us to consider what lies far away from Edinburgh and indeed, the Earth and I loved discovering some incredible facts – from a hot Jupiter in the constellation of Vulpecula, approximately 64.5 million light years away where it possibly rains glass to a super-Earth which is probably mostly made of diamond. 

The famous line from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself is quoted and while it's definitely true for all of Doug Johnstone's beautifully rendered characters, it also perfectly describes the book itself; Black Hearts contains multitudes. This series keeps getting better and this is a very special read indeed. 

Black Hearts is published by Orenda Books. It can be ordered directly from their website, further publishing links can be found here.

Look out for the #SkelfSummer hashtag throughout August and into September. 

About the Author

 Doug Johnstone is the author of seventeen novels, many of which have been bestsellers. The Space Between Us was chosen for BBC Two’s Between the Covers, while Black Hearts was shortlisted for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, The Big Chill longlisted for the same prize. Three of his books – A Dark Matter, Breakers and The Jump – have been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Doug has taught creative writing or been writer in residence at universities, schools, writing retreats, festivals, prisons and a funeral directors. He’s also been an arts journalist for twenty-five years. He is a songwriter and musician with six albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also co-founder of the Scotland Writers Football Club.

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