The Missing and the Dead

Book nine in the Logan McRae series and the first book I have read (but not the last).

There were moments in this book when I felt that I didn't read one book; I was reading at least 2-3 books just made into one. It wasn't just the thickness of the book; it was the fact that there was so much going on that it almost left me feeling exhausted just reading it. There is so much going one beside the case of the little girl that is washed up outside the town Banff; the hunt for drug dealers, shoplifters, the trial of a killer and what felt like thousands of other things that the police in rural Aberdeenshire had to deal with.

But it worked; it worked really well, even though I felt a bit lost in the beginning trying to get to grip with the show more book's story and its characters. I mean this is book nine, and there is a lot of history I missed since I haven't read the first eight books. But still I got some information now and then that made me slowly get to grip with Logan and also with Roberta Steel. I love her; seriously, she is like a female version of Dalziel (Daziel and Pasco by Reginald Hill). Yes, she is blunt and pigheaded, but she is also funny and quite formidable. Also, there is Logan's cat Cthulhu. Best name ever?

The book is great. Yes, I felt overwhelmed by the story sometimes, but Stuart Macbride really manages to make all the different parts in this book come together in the end. Usually, I'm used to the police be able to just focus on a case or two, but here, there are always things going on. I mean they have to move cows from roads, get lost old people home safe, stakeouts etc. all the while trying to find a child killer.

The biggest problem for me with the book was that I had some hard time getting into the book in the beginning. I felt a bit lost when it came to the story and the characters and it took me a while to really feel that I got the rhythm of the book. Also, I hate it when children are the victim and no matter how well written a book is it's a subject I have the most problems reading about.

But still, despite that I liked the book very much and even though the book was very dark sometimes was there also many humorous moments (I bookmarked many pages when I read my pdf copy) and I have borrowed from the library the first four books in the series and I will read them this summer! show less

The Missing and The Dead by Stuart MacBride is the ninth entry in his Logan McRae series. In this outing Logan has been given a “development opportunity” and posted to rural Aberdeenshire. As duty officer he is overseeing an under-manned police force that covers a huge area, including a number of small towns and villages. When the body of a little girl is found, he thinks he is about to head up a murder investigation, but no, the officials instead dispatch his old boss DI Roberta Steel and her crew to handle the case. Then when he arrests a couple of locals for dealing drugs, another crew from the city are sent to take over the case. He is expected to take care of the local shop lifting, removing cattle from the roads, and look into show more a spate of burglaries.

It’s been awhile since I read about Logan McRae and it was fun reconnecting with him and his cronies. DI Roberta Steel is her usual obnoxious, annoying and highly humorous self. Logan can’t seem to catch a break and has the top brass breathing down his neck for most of the book. Of course, he is his own worst enemy as he can’t seem to help but tread on his superiors’ toes. He is also caring for his girlfriend who is in a coma.

I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the actual police procedures and how the rural police force operate. MacBride is an excellent writer and keeps his reader fully engrossed in the story with strong well defined characters, exciting plot lines, plenty of dark humor and a hero with heart. show less

To find Detective Inspector Logan McRae in uniform doing divisional policing in the wilds of rural Aberdeenshire rather than in his native Aberdeen is quite a change.
On the upside, he has escaped from DCI Roberta Steel, his potty-mouthed impossible boss, but Logan is used to big city crime so village vandals, traffic offenders, shoplifters and missing animals fail to thrill.
All that changes when the body of a young girl is found and he is back doing what he does best, investigating murder – hindered more than helped by the Major Investigation Team from Aberdeen, headed by the brilliant but invariably infuriating Inspector Steel.
Exciting, often hilarious and occasionally romantic, The Missing and the Dead is another first class show more thriller from the talented Stuart MacBride. show less

The usual great fun, multi layered, gritty Scottish detective story. Sergeant Logan McRae as always ever troubled and hindered by the sarcastic often witty comments from the politically incorrect DI Roberta Steel.The body of a little girl washes up on a sleepy coastal town and it is this case that forms the central story in The Missing and the Dead. As well as unravelling the mystery of the child Sgt McRae still needs to deal with a multitude of incidents and petty crime that form the day to day case load of Police Scotland.

Stuart MacBride is unique in crime fiction. He has the ability to hold his readers attention by layering his narrative with colourful incidents and shady characters that are the backbone of everyday modern police show more work.There is great humour and warmth in MacBride's writing and yet he manages to deal eloquently and sympathetically with the search for the killer of a precious young girl resulting in a surprising and yet equally sad conclusion. Long may Stuart MacBride reign as the king of Scottish noir. show less

Sure Logan McRae's now an Acting Detective Inspector, in uniform. In the backend of nowhere, with a good team working with him, especially when you realise the number of cows they have to chase off roads. His girlfriend has improved a little, she's now in a care home, still uncommunicative, her nursing being paid for by McRae which is creating certain "problems" in his personal lifestyle. To make matters worse, his role in a high profile arrest causes a court case to collapse which brings the higher-ups down on his head and everything he does, says or has is questioned. Except for the inconvenient bits - like the pints of Lentil Soup he's living on just to keep the budget balanced.

Meanwhile in this sleepy little community, the discovery show more of a young girl's body brings an MIT to town, and with it DI Steel, because after all, where there's McRae, there will be a stumping, whinging, scratching, bitching and complaining Steel. Needless to say the murder will be (mis)handled by the MIT, McRae's team will balance all sorts of day to day policing with a bit of door kicking on the murder as well, they'll get out there after some local drug dealers, and generally deal with the idiots, the missing paedophiles, the weather, the bosses, the mud and the cows in a timely if not slightly grumpy manner.

It's the humour of these books that does it for me. That and the poignancy lurking round corners, ready to mug you when you least expect it. It's the lunacy of so many that McRae deals with, and even in his own head on occasions that works. It's the humanity of his concern for the mother of a missing little girl. It's like a night at the pub with your mad mates that you swear you're going to stop hanging around with because they always get you into shtoom. But then they get you out of it again. They are the team that you know is going to show up when the proverbial hits the oscillating device and the only defences available are tennis racquets and determination.

At the heart of all books in this series, there's always a busy, multi-actioned plot - just like you'd expect in any police station on any particular day. There's the high-profile case, the MIT and higher-ups strutting their stuff, and there's the day to day - the drug dealers, the addicts getting the shit kicked out of them, the people that McRae and his team just wish would get their act together. There's also a strong sense of camaraderie and co-operation in this team, as there is in most teams that McRae works with - with the token dopey bugger that everyone does the heavy-lifting for.

Relocating McRae to small-town Scotland gives this outing a slightly different feel, as does the idea that he's back in uniform, running a shift. Taking Steel with him is a classic example of a fish out of water scenario, but then just about everywhere Steel goes she "stands out". His ongoing, low-key care and love for his girlfriend remains such a highlight, as does his relationship with his biological child, Steel and her wife Susan's daughter. There's loyalty, care, concern and relationships between workmates, friends and colleagues, and that sense of responsibility to the victims that stands out in each book in this series. Alongside, sometimes, a bit of graphic violence and nastiness. Bit like life really.

There's so much in this series that, for this reader, is a highlight, and THE MISSING AND THE DEAD is right up there with the best of the lot of them.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-missing-and-dead-stuart-macbride show less

My favourite series of books just keeps on giving. The black humour is a relief from the truly horrific crimes and Logan almost constant state of exasperation is brilliant. However it is DI Steele who is the true work of genius for me. The most disgusting and annoying human being ever invented in fiction and I can't get enough of her.
My only negative is that there was less humour in this book than some of the others but it's a minor gripe. Roll on book 10.

3.5 stars

Stuart MacBride is one of my favorite authors. The characters he has created in this series are simply fantastic: from long-suffering Acting DI Logan McRae, who somehow always ends up on top, to the crusty and disgusting DCI Roberta Steel, along with all of the supporting cast of characters, each with their own personalities and quirkiness. His ability to weave complex stories and plots, complete with local lingo and the banter between the characters is exceptional.

I’m not sure what to say about this one. There were some significant changes to the characters here, from location and position, and I’m not sure it worked all that well. There was a real lack of tension that was standard in the other books, and this one really show more meandered for about three-quarters of the book. There was simply too much going on, from the incessant calls from control to check out something suspicious, to the side-story of the ATM smash-and-grabs that really did nothing for the overall story.

The tension finally arrived in the final quarter of the book, and it felt like the old Logan McRae. If the author could have cut out the extra stuff and further developed the central storyline, it would fit right in with the rest of the series instead of feeling like something cobbled together over a few weekends. show less