Evidence of Death by Peter Ritchie – Blog Tour Review.

About the Book

Scarred by the Troubles in Belfast, Billy Nelson returns to his loyalist roots following his discharge from army service. But Belfast and the people he knew have changed, and after his gang are responsible for a series of violent attacks on innocent victims, he is forced out of the city and moves in on the drugs business in Edinburgh.Taking on the family who have been the main players in the city for years, a battle for control amongst the criminal underworld of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast ensues, and the balance of power is upset…Grace Macallan, recently promoted to Superintendent in the Specialist Crime and Counter Terrorism Directorate, has her hands full as a series of incidents leaves a trail of victims. As the old demons of the Troubles come back to haunt her again, can Grace keep the streets of Scotland safe, as well as balancing the conflicting interests of the police in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Security Services, who all have an interest in Nelson and his paramilitary contacts in Belfast…

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
I hadn’t read the first book in the series but could follow this easily enough, there are no spoilers despite a few characters reappearing and it could easily be read as a standalone novel.
When Billy is forced to leave Belfast to set up in Edinburgh he takes along some equally violent and unbalanced friends. But they are not all as loyal and respectful towards him as he expects them to be. As you can work out from the synopsis the crimes committed are drug and gang related. There are drug dealers, drug users, plenty of murders, corrupt police officers and there is some brilliant Irish and Scottish humour. There is something about this type of humour in novels that delivers a low punch that has you gasping and then laughing with delight.
It has multiple threads, there is a lot more happening than I initially thought. At times I was back tracking, thinking that I had missed something, but I hadn’t. I was just cleverly played.
I hope that this will develop into a long running series, I know there is at least three books. It was refreshing, slightly intimidating and worryingly believable.

You can purchase the book here