Cops and Robbers(2014)

Ed James

Acting Detective Sergeant Scott Cullen almost has the stable relationship and promotion he’s long coveted. But the uncertainty surrounding the imminent Police Scotland restructure and his crippling caseload both take their toll. Now living with his girlfriend, her own burning ambition puts a strain on their relationship and her health.

When a body is discovered in the abandoned streets underneath Edinburgh’s Old Town, Cullen struggles to identify the victim before trawling the depths of the Scottish music scene, digging up old scores in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Now, as he returns to the Angus home town he’s long since left, Cullen finds himself spread thin, hunting across Scotland for a killer who leaves no trace. As Scotland’s police forces are centralised into Police Scotland, Cullen is dragged into the murky world of internal politics, blocking progress in the case and jeopardising his own career.

BOTTLENECK is a tense police procedural novel about greed and ambition that will suck you in from the start.

Intended as a series jumping-on point, BOTTLENECK is Book 5 in the Edinburgh-based police procedurals starring DC Scott Cullen which have been compared favourably with Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Christopher Brookmyre, Ed McBain, Elmore Leonard and Stuart MacBride.