If you’re not reading this series, you are missing a massive treat. Like others in the series, All That’s Dead can very well be read as a stand-alone, but the characters, their interplay and development, all make for a reading of this series from the beginning to enjoy watching them grow and to follow their progress. Because these are characters you are invested in; people you care about, from the annoying, irrepressible, on overdrive PC Quirrel, universally known as Tufty, to D.S. Roberta Steele, the permanently vaping, never quite finding a bra that fits, fabulously foul mouthed detective. In All That’s Dead, Logan McRae is back to Professional Standards after a 12 month absence on sick leave following a stabbing. Though he wasn’t expecting a party, McRae is disconcerted to find that they’ve given his desk away. His new boss, Superintendent Bevan, is all first names, team birthday cards and home baking – not at all what Logan is used to. Julie, as Bevan insists that McRae calls her, plans to ease him back in to work, assisting D.I. Frank King who is a struggling with a collapsing marriage and who is investigating the disappearance of an academic known for his staunch anti-independence stance. At once MacBride plunges us into the murky world of extreme Scottish politics; a world where there are no shades of grey and you are a traitor to one side of the debate, whichever side you are on. You would not necessarily think this is the best platform for snappy dialogue and wisecracking, but of course it is in adversity that Logan’s team come into their own, exchanging excruciating and sparkling observations, accompanied by a range of astonishingly queasy food options that add to more than one stomach churning moment in this book. As Logan begins his stint on the investigation into the abduction of Professor Nicholas Wilson, he soon realises that the team is up against a perpetrator who knows how to avoid leaving trace evidence and soon the team are facing a series of similar abductions and chasing their tails to find and catch the perpetrator, have to face the fact that they are getting nowhere as body parts start to arrive in the mail. To make matters worse, D.I. King is starting to disintegrate in front of his eyes. The media are in hot pursuit, eager to pin Police Scotland to the wall for any mistakes they may make, and one journalist in particular has King’s youthful indiscretions in his sights. As the investigation heats up, McRae has to contend with not only the mess that is a faltering King, but also Tufty in serious overdrive, the idiot that is DS Rennie and a host of superior officers whose only concern is that they are not held responsible for any fall out from a botched investigation. The joy of all of this is that not only do we get a fabulously plotted, gloriously characterised crime novel with a devious perpetrator and a gory campaign plan, but we get it in a smart talking, witty and clever wrapper that makes us laugh out loud and extends our liking for these characters a hundredfold. Verdict: I loved this book. All That’s Dead is a cracking story, brilliantly told. MacBride is on top form and this is a blistering must read.