'Fierce, unflinching ! crime fiction of the highest order' Mark Billingham

'Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order by a writer whose dark star is most definitely on the rise' Mark Billingham 'If you're looking for taut narrative, gut-churning incident, strong characterisation, all shot through with savagely dark humour, then look no further' Reginald Hill 'The novel rattles along like a bolting horse and the dialogue crackles like a firework display ! DI Steel should be declared a national treasure' Andrew Taylor, Spectator 'Compelling reading' Telegraph 'Grim, gritty and great fun' Daily Sport 'This is Ian Rankin on Speed ! the humour is black, the violence is apalling, the language is, well, realistic, the entertainment is unflagging. I hunger for the earlier novels ' Adelaide Review 'A gritty, roller-coaster, in-your-face thriller' Aberdeen Press and Journal Praise for Cold Granite: 'Ferocious and funny, this is Tartan Noir at its best ' Val McDermid 'A riveting and gruesome debut' Telegraph 'Stuart MacBride goes straight for the jugular with a tight, thrilling novel' Glasgow Herald 'Gripping' Daily Mirror 'An impressive debut ! an edge-of-your-seat page-turner' Publishers Weekly 'A cracking new writer on the crime scene who hooks you from the first page and never lets you go. The action is ferocious and the pace unrelenting' Northern Echo

Stuart MacBride has gone from asking people if they 'want fries with that' to project-managing vast IT projects for the oil industry. Somewhere in the middle he managed to make money out of dressing up as a woman. His first book, 'Cold Granite' was shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers' best debut novel and won the Barry Award for best first novel. The follow-up, 'Dying Light', became an instant top-ten bestseller. Both books feature DS Logan McRae. Stuart MacBride won the 2007 Dagger in the Library, awarded for a body of work. Stuart lives in north-east Scotland with his wife Fiona, cat Grendel, and a vegetable plot full of weeds.