Cold Granite Paperback – December 26, 2012

4.5 stars (rounded to 5 stars)Hot Dog! I have myself another fabulous series to dig into. I love discovering these older series as there will be books waiting for me whenever I get the urge to revisit the characters. In addition, there is something about some of these more “vintage” novels that you do not see in books published today. Some sort of “IT” factor that is difficult to explain.Cold Granite is the debut novel and a great start to Mr. McBride’s Logan McRae collection. The setting is Aberdeen, Scotland. What a totally miserable place. It’s like chapter 20 and STILL raining. At least it finally stops. When we reach December. Then it doesn’t stop snowing. I’ll say one thing though--Mr. McBride is such a creative guy that I could not help marveling at how many ways he is able to mesmerizingly describe the never-changing weather. He makes sure we never forget where we are and how wretched an environment it is. Made me feel cozy in my nice warm house with a steaming cup of coffeeDS McRae is coming off sick leave after being seriously wounded during his previous case. He’s supposed to be easing back in. Right. For the next 2 weeks, he does not get any time off as he chases down the suspects of multiple abductions and murders. Do we have a serial killer? Or are these crimes even related? The plot is fast moving and complex. It seemed like every time I thought I was starting to figure things out, yet another “event” would occur, messing up my thinking. This book totally engaged me with all that was going on.The characters are very well written. Even all the potential baddies are well drawn, despite the reader not actually getting into their heads. Roadkill was my fave, along with Desperate Doug (what a loser). I loved the cops. McRae had my sympathy almost right off the bat. His two DI’s are a treat. DI Insch, who I wasn’t sure about at first, eventually won my affection. He’s a gruff guy, but has a good heart. His penchant for eating sugar-laden treats is very entertaining, especially to a sugar fan such as myself. I learned a lot about English confectionaries, many I would love to try myself; I feel bad they are not available to me here across the pond. Then there is DI Steel. Oh my. She doesn’t have a huge part in this story, but enough to intrigue me. I hope to see more of her tough stuff in future books. WPC Watson, assigned to drive McRae around, is a gem. Her nickname is Ball Breaker. Enough said. Oh, and Colin Miller, the hated (by his colleagues) crime investigator from the local newspaper--I loved seeing the evolution of his relationship with McRae.The writing is top notch. Period.I am thrilled to have finally discovered Stuart McBride. I was totally captivated by Cold Granite and look forward to reading more of this series. I rate this book 4.5 stars. I cannot help but round up to 5 stars despite the fact that gives me minimal room to award future books a higher rating. Oh well, it gets what it deserves. Needless to say, I highly recommend Cold Granite to all crime fiction/thriller fans.

Cold Granite takes place in Aberdeen Scotland (called Granite City) and is a police procedural. It was a very good read. If you like atmospheric crime novels with developed characters, you should like this series. It has been on my TBR list for awhile and decided to read some of the gems on that list. I was not disappointed as the writing, the plotting, the location and the characters held my interest. The weather seemed dreadful as there was always a cold torrential rain or a blizzard. It was winter time. The police seemed always very uncomfortable due to the weather they were working in.I am not going into the plot as many other reviews did that. I have already downloaded the next book Dying Light to read. I enjoyed this read very much. It was a dark read but there was humor. The characters made it enjoyable especially Logan McRae and his sweet eating boss DI Insch.

I found this book through one of the Kindle e-mail deals and checked out the sample. Downloaded the book. Then decided I had to have it in the paper and ink format. Left it at my doctor's office and had to order another one, but oh my God, it's worth it! Anything I can do to keep this author writing more books. I've already ordered and received the second and third in the series, and am having to hold myself back from diving right in because I don't want to run out of Stuart MacBride books.It can be pretty dark stuff, but the story is narrated with great style and the right amount of humor. I'm thrilled to have found a new author who is young enough to have plenty of stories left to tell. I'm a huge fan of Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Tana French and Robert Crais. Here is another author who has a gift for storytelling, for creating colorful and complex characters (I even liked the ones I didn't like!), and a suspenseful and gripping storyline. He paints a vivid picture of his settings - I could almost feel the cold winter and relentless rain in Aberdeen, Scotland as I read.His main character has a pretty interesting back story that he fills in along the way - I almost felt like there was a first novel in the series that I had missed, but the pieces keep dropping into place as you read, and I found myself becoming more and more invested into him and with all the players. I'm looking forward to plenty more quality reading time with Mr. MacBride.

This was ok as far as a mystery goes, but not anything that I would rave about. I kept feeling like the author was really close to getting me involved and caring about the characters, but didn't quite go far enough. Same thing was true about the setting. I get that it is cold and rainy in Aberdeen. A lot. But not much else. Good for a quick read, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

this is really an excellent read. the characters are well developed, and interesting. I guessed a few of the solutions, but not all, and that was satisfying. what I didn't like was the interaction of the characters and the horrible weather. if they hate the dreadful weather so much- and I sure don't blame them- why do they live there? it's not as though they can tolerate it at all. it affects their every movement. they talk about it constantly, and it annoyed me. otherwise, I would have given the book 5 stars. I did download the next book in the series. I hope there isn't the same problem.