Three generations of Skelf women take over the family undertakers and private investigation businesses, after the unexpected death of the family patriarch, Jim.
Although the Skelfs are a well-known and respected Edinburgh family, only the only Skelf woman who has been involved in the family funeral business to date, is Jim's wife, Dorothy - although she has never had anything to do with the PI side of things.
This is all new for Dorothy and Jim's ex-reporter daughter, Jenny and her own daughter, student Hannah, even though Jenny grew up in the funeral home.
All three women are struggling to come to terms with their own grief, while helping others find peace after their own losses - not to mention coping with the strain of looking into the most intimate details of the lives of others as part of the PI side of the operation. Their new lives are about to kick off an unexpected series of events - will they succeed in their new ventures...or end up digging their own graves?
Dorothy discovers that mysterious payments have been made to another woman for years, by her late husband, leading her to question her marriage to the man she thought she thought she knew so well.
Hannah's friend Mel has vanished giving her her first case to work on as a private investigator, with the help of Jenny, and she is not sure what to make of the disturbing things she is finding out about her friend.
Jenny has problems of her own, trying to find her place in the world as a divorced ex-reporter and dealing with a case of suspected adultery that is not as simple as it first appears.
As events threaten to overwhelm the Skelf women, secrets emerge which will change everything and put them all in terrible danger.
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A Dark Matter is the most wonderfully compelling and tense thriller that paints a darkly comic portrait of three generations of Skelf women trying to get along in the world, and with each other. This is the first part of a new family series by Doug Johnstone and is is an absolute corker. I could not put this book down once I started reading it and simply devoured it.
The lives of our Skelf protagonists have been turned upside-down by the events following Jim's death and trying to maintain a working relationship while dealing with their personal grief, suspicions and the strains of their new careers (and at the same time still be Grandmother/Mother/Granddaughter, with all that entails) is far from easy.
Dorothy is our unconventional matriarch - Californian born, with a gift for helping lost souls and a talented drum player to boot! The bottom has fallen out of her world with the loss of her husband and the discovery that he may not have been the man she thought he was. Dorothy may be old school in many ways, having lived on Scottish soil for most of her life, but her upbringing on the West Coast USA has given her a free-spirit at heart. She is complicated and acknowledges this, but she is also determined to see things through to the end.
Jenny, our daughter is also a complex character and having a hard time coming to terms with the loss of her father, Jim. She has been badly affected by her past experience and is feeling untethered and unsure of the role she needs to play. Can she be relied upon to help her mother now she needs her? Can she be a good mother to her own daughter, even though she does not seem to need her? The investigations into the missing Mel and the suspected adultery, lead her to ask some pretty deep questions about herself. Who is she? Does she even recognise the person she has become? She still has within her some of the rebel she was in her youth, and a feisty one at that, but what does she really want?
Hannah, the granddaughter, once so level-headed, so sure of herself and her relationship with her partner Indy. Looking into the disappearance of Mel and uncovering the dark side of her friend's life, has shaken her to the core. Can you ever truly count on someone or really know them? Hannah may have more of her mother in her that she thought and her determined side is about to show.
All three are asking some pretty big questions of themselves and those they hold dear and Doug Johnstone steers us skillfully through their trials and tribulations as secrets and lies are uncovered along the way. The pace of the story is just right and the tension builds beautifully as the threads of each separate story-line are brought to satisfying and, in some cases, totally shocking climaxes. Our wonderful Skelf women will be reeling by the end of the book, but at the same time, will have discovered a lot about themselves and found a way to work together.
Along-side great characters and a cracking story, I really enjoyed the way Edinburgh is portrayed in this book. Our three Skelf women are from different generations and the city they know and love is individual to each of them. The changes that have come over the city of Edinburgh are acknowledged by Doug Johnstone in the way each of the Skelf women describe and interact with their surroundings and this really brought the city alive for me. I was particularly struck by the way Jenny harkens back to the Edinburgh of her youth, as she is closest in age to me. Edinburgh becomes more than just a backdrop for the events that are taking place in these pages - it becomes a character itself, and adds a depth to the whole story that is tantalising.
Reader, you will be won over by the way that the Skelf women discover that they are stronger than they ever thought possible, as they cope with everything that A Dark Matter can throw at them, and I have totally fallen in love with them all. There is something here for everyone! I am very excited that Doug Johnstone is planning to write more about them and the hook at the end of the book that promises more has caught me completely. How long will I have to wait Mr Johnstone?
A Dark Matter is available to pre-order now.
Thank you to Anne Cater, Doug Johnstone and Orenda books for providing me with a copy of A Dark Matter for an honest review.
From the book cover:
After an unexpected death, three generations of women take
over the family funeral-home and PI businesses in the first
book of a brilliant, page-turning and darkly funny new series.
The Skelfs are a well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors
of a long-established funeral-home business, and private
investigators. When patriarch Jim dies, it ’s left to his wife
Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take
charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of
events.
Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another women,
suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was.
Hannah’s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the
simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something
stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined.
As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and
the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them,
secrets from the past emerge, which change everything… It ’s a
compelling and tense thriller and a darkly funny, warm portrait
of a family in turmoil.
About the author:
Doug Johnstone is the author of ten novels, most recently Breakers (2018),
which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime
Novel of the Year. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award
winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid,
Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer
in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home – and
has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and
musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for
the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also playermanager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
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