I am absolutely beside myself with joy to bring you the cover for Doug Johnstone’s next #Skelfs book, Black Hearts.
If, like me, you have become a #Skelfaholic, you will know what a rare treat this is. So many of us have come to love and respect these women and the themes of life, love, death and the cosmos that they wrestle with every day.
So what’s it about, I hear you ask? Here’s the book information:
Death is just the beginning…
The Skelf women live in the shadow of death every day, running the family funeral
directors and private investigator business in Edinburgh. But now their own grief
interwines with that of their clients, as they are left reeling by shocking past
events.
A fist-fight by an open grave leads Dorothy to investigate the possibility of a
faked death, while a young woman’s obsession with Hannah threatens her
relationship with Indy and puts them both in mortal danger.
An elderly man claims he’s being abused by the ghost of his late wife, while ghosts of another kind come back to haunt Jenny from the grave … pushing her to breaking point.
As the Skelfs struggle with increasingly unnerving cases and chilling danger lurks
close to home, it becomes clear that grief, in all its forms, can be deadly…
That sounds so wonderful, I can’t wait to delve back into the world of the Skelf women. And the very best thing is that all 300 pages of Black Hearts will be available in e-book and print from 29 September 2022 and in audio book from 1st September 2022.
You’ll want to pre-order soon as I know there’s going to be a very, very long queue for copies and I am so in there!
Orenda Books
Portobello Bookshop
Waterstones
Doug Johnstone is the author of twelve previous novels, most recently The Big Chill (2020). Several of his books have been bestsellers and three, A Dark Matter (2020), Breakers (2019) and The Jump (2015), were shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. A Dark Matter, the first in Doug’s first-ever series, was also shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions over the last decade – including at a funeral parlour ahead of writing A Dark Matter – and has been an arts journalist for over twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three solo EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh. Follow Doug on Twitter @doug_johnstone and visit his website: dougjohnstone.com.
Live and Deadly 
I adore this series and I’m an unashamed #Skelfaholic I love this cover too!
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