The second in the McLean series and this, like the previous one, was well plotted and a development of the characters and their relationships which I thought worked well. Maybe it was just on Kindle, but the time or character-shift chapters were not always to detect and made the story harder to follow than ideal. Will read the third in the series.

Much like volume 1 this is a reasonable, if gruesome, tale of Edinburgh murders which would be greatly improved by the removal of the supernatural element. I will read no more of this series.

Meh, interesting ideas let down by supernatural guff

It's frustrating, Oswald is a decent writer, he creates good characters and plausible dialogue but puts them in a world where (spoilers) a book is the villain and there's a ghost. The suspension of disbelief needed for almost any fiction novel just shatters and you realise it's all a bit silly.

Keep inspector McLean, bin the ghosts and ghouls.

Scot-cop with a slightly horror/supernatural tinge.

It’s like it was written esp3cially for me.

I love it.

Although I guessed the culprit in this book beforehand (which never happens) I was still gripped and cried out in surprise or indignation (Dagwood

James Oswald has stepped up his game on the second book featuring Tony McLean. Did not see the villain coming this time.

This book delves into McLean's history and the circumstances surrounding the murder of his fiancee 10 years ago. I liked that in the telling of his history his obsession with his job wasn't due to Kirsty's death. He is and was that driven. This book takes us through the festive season and I found myself feeling both sorry and annoyed at him, sorry that he is alone and would rather work during Christmas and annoyed that he felt the need to drag him team in as well, although in saying that they didn't protest much. He has built a team that seems either driven, as alone as he is or extremely loyal to him.

There is still the supernatural aspect of the story and it would seem that it's going to be a different form of evil each book instead of an evil that has to regroup after each story. I also like that while McLean is still a bit dubious of the whole supernatural he doesn't judge those who consider it a part of their lives. McLean is still at the point where he thinks he can explain the mysterious goings on. I also liked that he couldn't seem to hold his temper in regards to Dagwood. (DCI Duguid)

These books are so quick to read and thoroughly entertaining.

I read the first one in the series - Natural Causes . a while ago and liked it enough to want to read the next one. I must say I found this one better. As a matter of fact it feels as though Natural Causes only is a prequel to The Boook of Souls. I think you must read Natural Causes to fully enjoy this one. It´s an atmospheric mystery story with a tiny tiny supernatural twist.

This is the first book by this author that I have read, I believe, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Inspector McLean is an enjoyable character who does not go out of his way to be likable but still manages to charm. I'm always a sucker for a good crime/detective story and this one was no exception.

Book two of the DI McLean stories. Again, supernatural elements that propelled the story, and this book, a bonus- a strong female detective is part of the team as well. The stories all come together and even though I guessed who the bad guy was, 3/4 through it was still interesting.
However
Again the bickering with his nemesis are annoying and add nothing good.
And last annoying element- I know it's Scotland and all, but why does everybody have to be named Mc this or that?????