Name: Silent Bones
Author: https://www.simonandschuster.net/authors/Val-McDermid/3158
ISBN: 9781668170786

About The Book

The new installment in the “relentlessly engrossing series” (The Wall Street Journal) finds Karen Pirie and her team investigating the murder of a journalist paved under a motorway—but was it his work or his private life that put him there?

Scotland, 2025. When torrential winter rain causes a landslide on a motorway, it dislodges more than mud and asphalt—it reveals a skeleton, concealed when the road was built eleven years prior.

Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who’d been poking his nose into the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum, had become the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his girlfriend when he vanished. Now he’s reappeared, buried under the motorway. It’s the perfect cold case for DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit. What was Nimmo investigating that was worth killing over? Or was it revenge for murdering his girlfriend? Meanwhile, an allegation of murder has surfaced over the supposedly accidental death of a hotel manager. It may have links to another accident on a remote Highland road. It’s a series of puzzles that tests Karen and her team to their limits. And possibly beyond...

A darkly propulsive thriller of secrets hidden at the core of a Scottish Highlands town, Silent Bones reaffirms Val McDermid as a crime writer of inimitable power.

About The Author

Val McDermid

Val McDermid’s bestselling novels have won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller, and the Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger and Cartier Diamond Award for outstanding achievement. The Karen Pirie novels have been adapted into an Edgar Award–nominated ITV/BritBox show. She is also a five-time finalist for the Edgar Award, including Fact Crime nominee Forensics and, most recently, the Sue Grafton Memorial Award nominee Past Lying. She lives in Scotland.

About The Reader

Cathleen McCarron

Product Details

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (December 2, 2025)
Runtime: 12 hours and 43 minutes
ISBN13: 9781668170786

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

"

Narrator Cathleen McCarron returns to deliver a totally engaging listening experience in McDermid’s eighth installment of the Karen Pirie series. McCarron’s command of Scottish accents, coupled with her ability to shift seamlessly between male and female characters, draws listeners in and keeps them glued to their earbuds. Pirie, chief of Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit, and her capable team investigate a body dislodged from a rain-damaged motorway while also focusing on a supposed accidental death case. Listeners will enjoy the interplay among Pirie and her colleagues as they take bold measures to bring justice to victims’ families. McCarron’s assured narration heightens the procedural tensions and the emotional stakes.

Skillfully woven backstory allows newcomers to jump right in here without missing a beat."

– —Kirkus

"

Narrator Cathleen McCarron returns to deliver a totally engaging listening experience in McDermid’s eighth installment of the Karen Pirie series. McCarron’s command of Scottish accents, coupled with her ability to shift seamlessly between male and female characters, draws listeners in and keeps them glued to their earbuds. Pirie, chief of Scotland’s Historic Cases Unit, and her capable team investigate a body dislodged from a rain-damaged motorway while also focusing on a supposed accidental death case. Listeners will enjoy the interplay among Pirie and her colleagues as they take bold measures to bring justice to victims’ families. McCarron’s assured narration heightens the procedural tensions and the emotional stakes.

Skillfully woven backstory allows newcomers to jump right in here without missing a beat."

– —Kirkus