Monday, July 5, 2021

Review of "The Missing and the Dead: A Detective Logan McRae Thriller" by Stuart MacBride


In this 9th book in the Logan McRae series the Scottish detective investigates several serious crimes, and (as usual) gets in trouble for not following the rules. The criminal wrongdoing is grievous, but a mainstay of the Logan McRae books are the entertaining characters and the pervasive humor, which provide much-needed light moments.

The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae has a lot on his mind.



He was reassigned from Aberdeen CID to a community policing position in the Scottish burbs of Aberdeenshire; his important cases are immediately taken over by a Major Incident Team (MIT); his house near the police station is moldy and dilapidated; his injured girlfriend Samantha hasn't moved or spoken in four years, and the fee for her care home uses up most of his paycheck; he was the sperm donor for a lesbian couple - the cantankerous Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel and her wife - so he has a daughter; and more.

The book is a police procedural, and we follow Logan over a period of days as he catches various cases and works them with his colleagues.

As the story opens Logan is chasing down sociopath Graham Stirling.



Stirling is suspected of abducting and torturing a man called Stephen Bisset, who advertised for kinky sex online. To learn Bisset's s location, and hopefully save his life, Logan cuts corners. This comes back to bite Logan on the butt, and turns out to be a kind of pattern for the detective, whose best intentions have a way of going wrong.

Logan's other cases include:

⦿ A cow in the road, stopping traffic.



⦿ An elderly woman who's not answering her phone or door.



⦿ A rash of missing pedophiles.



⦿ A gang that's stealing ATM machines.



⦿ A sullen bedraggled drug addict who shoplifts perfume and makeup for money.



The addicted girl makes a deal by outing her suppliers......



.....and a raid on the pushers' house uncovers an £80,000 stash of dope. MIT takes over, but Logan (not so secretly) keeps investigating.



⦿ A little girl's body is found in a seedy outdoor pool.



An appeal to the public for the girl's ID results in a call from a woman who thinks the child may be her abducted daughter.



Once again, MIT takes over. However Logan's tender instincts are aroused, and he's desperate to identify the child and discover who killed her.



The main plotlines converge toward the end of the book, leading to a dramatic climax.

On the lighter side: Logan saves money by giving himself a terrible haircut and subsisting on cans of cheap lentil soup; one cop on a team is designated the 'piddler' who - pretending to use the bathroom - secretly searches a suspect's home while the rest of the squad asks questions; DC
I Roberta Steele- who has stick up hair and awful clothes - looks like Detective Colombo if he was run over by a lawn mower; a grimy, dirty, brown-toothed drug addict designates himself Logan's confidential informer, causing trouble with Logan's superiors; and more.

Among the best elements of the novel are the diverse array of cops, whose personalities and foibles are entertaining and fun.



This is a good addition to the Logan McRae series, recommended to fans of droll police procedurals.

Rating: 4 stars

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