''The Missing and the Dead'' is the ninth instalment in the bestselling Detective Sergeant McRae series of crime novels set in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

from Stuart MacBride.

Plot

Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae manages to catch Graham Stirling who has kidnapped Stephen Bisset and tortured him. Unfortunately the only way to get Stirling to talk is to break a few rules regarding procedure.... With Professional Standards breathing down his neck, Logan is sent on a "development opportunity" babysitting a rural patch of north-east Aberdeenshire as a police Sergeant. A child's body found in the

Tarlair Swimming Pool Tarlair Swimming Pool is a disused lido at the base of a sea cliff just outside Macduff in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. This outdoor swimming complex was built in an Art Deco style with a main building backing onto the cliffs and changing rooms t ...

, a hopeful mother of a dead girl and Detective Chief Inspector Steele messing things up really do not help Logan settle into his new job. The dead girl's mother (Helen) even moves into Logan's police house whilst he is supposed to be finding out who the dead girl is and who killed her. Added to this is the prospect of fighting off the son and daughter of Stephen Bisset who want answers from Logan, Graham Stirling being released and twisting the story of Stephen Bisset's death means that Samantha (Logan's girlfriend) is kidnapped while still comatose from the fire in Logan's flat in a previous story. The original cover features the open-air Tarlair Swimming Pool on the

Banffshire Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Moray ...

coast. MacBride said that he scouted the location and when he saw how dilapidated the swimming pool was, he declared that he "just had to find a body in there." MacBride also went on several drugs raids with Police Scotland and also spent some time with their traffic unit in the area.

Critical reception

Shirley Whiteside, writing in The Independent, was positive about the book and states that "MacBride has written another riveting page-turner. Although seamed with his usual pitch-black humour it is not as macabre as some of McRae's previous outings but is more emotional and affecting." Laura Wilson, writing in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, was impressed by the slower pace of the novel stating that Jane Jakeman, writing in

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, said "This is a big, fat book, with the story unrolling over nearly 600 pages, but the multiple plots move fast and MacBride convincingly conveys the dilapidated atmosphere of the police station – surely the most realistic in this fictional survey, with its peeling walls and ancient banter."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Missing and the Dead 2015 British novels Novels set in Aberdeenshire Novels set in Scotland Novels by Stuart MacBride HarperCollins books