I originally came across <i>Natural Causes</i>, the first Inspector McLean novel, by sheer chance. I often check out the top 100 free kindle books to see what I can read for minimum cost. The majority of these titles are self published but every so often a traditionally published author will offer the first book in the series for free in order to increase exposure of their series,
Now, I downloaded this book a few months before I actually read it, I believe I downloaded it whilst it was still self-published but I can’t be certain. The series has since been picked up by publisher Penguin and the series is going from strength to strength. The first two books were shortlisted for the Crime Debut Dagger Award and have received many complimentary reviews on Amazon.
The third book The Hangman is due out February 2014 and Oswald has confirmed a further three books to be published by Penguin over the following eighteen months after that. I am debating preordering The Hangman book as I will be paying full price at £7.99*, something I haven’t done since I discovered amazon.co.uk with the exception of the final installment of Harry Potter although I think Waterstones or Asda discounted the RRP. Because I read so much I find it difficult to justify spending £8 on a book, £4 however is perfectly acceptable but I would prefer them to be free kindle downloads. Writers have bills to pay too I guess.
So with that out of the way, I should really tell you what the books are about.
The Inspector McLean series is an easy to read crime series set in Edinburgh. The protagonist is a single man who does what he thinks is right, regardless of if he incurs the wrath of his superiors. As with most series, he has his own problems which seep into his every day life of solving crimes. You get to piece together his history and demons throughout the first book but it is the second book where you get to find out the details.
Both books have a twist of the supernatural behind them lending a fresh perspective on the crime genre. It does not stick to the generic whodunnit formula either. As a reader you aren’t constantly trying to figure out who the bad guy is. The main focus is on the characters within the plot and not the plot itself. The only guessing the reader needs to worry about is if there will be a supernatural or natural explanation to the crimes committed.
This series comes highly recommended for people who enjoy crime fiction and I would suggest people who don’t to give it a try as it is does a bad job of sticking to the rules of its genre.
*Price correct at time of publication