“The Devil Stone” is the first in a new Scottish crime series featuring DCI Christine Caplan, who we see recently demoted to DI. This book is typical of my type of read, with the brutal and quite macabre murder of an entire family which could have ties to the supernatural and demonic forces. To be faced with the challenge of finding the culprit/s of such a heinous crime is no mean feat and it takes all of Caplan’s prowess to start piecing together what everyone else is failing to see. Following a fall from grace with the powers that be and having incidents occur that she can’t explain tarnishing her name, she finds herself demoted to the backwaters of the Highlands of Scotland and working with colleagues full of mistrust towards her. As she struggles to prove her worth and integrity, she also fears for her safety and this makes for an interesting and tense read as she starts making enquiries too close to home. I did feel like I needed during the whole of the story to pay attention to the characters involved and I would recommend reading this book in as a few a sittings as possible for the continuity but the denouement is explained in full, which helped clarify a few things for me. All in all, an excellent first book in a new series, from an author who is obviously imaginative and talented in her writing and I will definitely seek out book two when it’s published. #TheDevilStone - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Blog Tour Book Review The writing was fairly descriptive with lots of things happening all the time. The only thing I would say is that at times I did get a bit confused as to what was happening, but when I took a step back I got the general jist of what was going on. There was a summary at the end which helped. The chapters were very long and individually split up. To indicate a split in the chapter the first few words of a new paragraph were in bold capitals. The paragraph was also a few lines down to separate it. The story had a good flow to it with lots of different things happening to different people all the time. The characters were excellent. You couldn't trust any of them. The one downside was that there was an awful lot of characters to keep up with. I would have liked a character list. Despite the amount of characters I did enjoy the overall story. Lastly the settings. I enjoyed being on the Scottish Islands. I don't read many books based there. The settings were lightly described and complimented the story well. They definitely added to the suspense and the mystery! Overall an enjoyable story full of suspense and mystery.

* 4.5 stars* Although I’d heard of author Caro Ramsay, I’d never read any of her books, but this being the first of a new series made it the perfect time to get acquainted with her. The massacre of a wealthy family in the Scottish Highlands appears to have a satanic connection to it, and it brings DCI Christine Caplan to the small village of Cronchie from her usual patch of Glasgow. She’s hoping that this case will restore her reputation, which appears to be in tatters right now. Added to that her family is in a complete mess too. The wealthy McGregor family are found dead at their home, having been posed alongside each other with a Polaroid photo stuffed down their throats. Only one member of the family is missing, the youngest member Adam, although he no longer lived at home. Could Adam have murdered his whole family in order to inherit the vast wealth they’d accumulated, after all, he is the black sheep of the family, and hated everything they stood for? Or is that too simple an explanation, has it been staged to make him look guilty! Two local teenagers (known satanists) found the bodies whilst breaking and entering, but the only thing that appears to be missing is The Devil Stone. The murder scene has been arranged to appear as if satanists were responsible, but is that exactly what it is, just staging, expert use of smoke and mirrors? Caplan finds herself working with an odd cast of characters, local detectives who resent outsiders coming in thinking that they know better, and it appears to be their job to present obstacles at every turn. Caplan isn’t that easily dissuaded though, but she has no idea what she’s up against - with various threads to this case, she will face some very dangerous characters whilst trying to get to the truth. An excellent start to this new series, with some interesting ( though not always likeable) characters. There is a gathering of momentum as the tale progresses making the reader turn the pages at an increasing (and impatient) rate. With the addition of a terrific protagonist in Caplan, who had me rooting for her from the outset, this is a terrific read!

This is the first of Caro Ramsay's books that I have read, and I am looking forward to reading more. I liked her writing style and Christine Caplan is an interesting character and I'm sure there is a lot more for the reader to learn about her backstory. "The devil stone" was a tense thriller with a good plot line and sense of place, my only negative comment would be that there were so many characters that I found it difficult to remember them all and their relationships. Hopefully, with the police personnel this will become easier with future books! Thank you to netgalley and Canongate for an advance copy of this book

DCI Caplan's career is in trouble, demoted to DI after a minor infringement of the rules, she's sent off to the highlands to investigate the murder of five members of the same wealthy family. She hopes a quick resolution will help her get her rank back but the local DCI goes missing, she's not sure who on the team she can trust, and the ACC is on her case. The further she gets into it the more she realises that a huge amount of money is involved and whoever is behind the murder will do anything to get it. Fast and furious, violent at times, its a cracking thriller.