THE AUTHOR: Quintin Jardine took to crime writing both naturally and with relieft. Both series of books by Quintin Jardine are available from Headline: the Bob Skinner novels, and the equally praised but very different, Oz Blackstone series. Quintin Jardine is married with an extended family of four adult kids, and two Tonkinese cats. AFTERSHOCK is his new novel, out now.

The thrilling sequel to DEATH'S DOOR by Scotland's Crime Master

Still reeling from the tragic death of their much-loved colleague, Skinner's men are about to discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at large and very close to home.

It’s the second week of July Trades Holiday in Edinburgh and things seem very quiet. Until, that is, DCC Bob Skinner and his men get a call informing them that the body of a young woman has been found on a golf course. It’s been there for ten days so she’s not a pretty sight. But the way she has been laid out is uncannily familiar. The body has been ‘composed’, just like the bodies of three other young women in a previous case. Could it be the work of a copycat killer? The murder victim is an art teacher who was having a relationship with the son of a Tory MP. Her ex-boyfriend is a policeman with a reputation as a serious womaniser. It seems the murder trail is getting much too close for comfort…

DEATH'S DOOR is out now in paperback:

The nation's sharpest cop, DCC Bob Skinner, desperately wants to stop a serial killer...

When two young female artists are murdered in what looks like ritualistic killings, the pressure is on to find a highly professional murderer. What is the link with the art world? Is the killer a disgruntled art critic? A twice-jilted lover? The arrival of the father of one of the victims, millionaire businessman Davor Boras, brings in the big guns of the Home Office, MI5 and the CIA. It's not long before Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner gets called back to the frontline. With an estranged son, a dubious assistant and connections in very high places, what is more important to Boras: business or family? There’s too much at stake - there’s going to be bloodshed - and Skinner's men are at risk of getting caught in the crossfire...