The Distant Echo

This is technically the first in the Karen Pirie series, but Pirie is only a minor character in the story. A cold case review brings back bad memories for four men who were students at St. Andrews 25 years ago, when they had the misfortune to stumble onto the not-quite-dead body of Rosie, a local barmaid of their acquaintance, while returning to their digs from a typical student bash. We are taken back to the investigation of Rosie's rape and murder; the suspicion that fell on the boys in the absence of any other likely perp; and then forward again to the new efforts to solve the case with modern forensic techniques. The pace is galloping, the psychological elements very well played, and the suspense nicely managed, although as I was show more reading I thought the author went one step too far. In the end I saw it was necessary for her resolution, and it isn't her fault she employed a plot element I absolutely HATE. I was fairly sure of the villain about 2/3 through, but McDermid kept me just enough off balance that I still entertained a couple other possibilities, and she did throw in a wee surprise before it was all sorted. Not often these days do I get so stuck into a book that I can read for hours at a stretch; this one did it for me. show less

On a cold winter’s night in St. Andrews in 1978, four university students stumble upon the body of a young woman in the snow. Rosemary Duff is a barmaid at one of the local pubs and she’s been murdered. The four young men—Alex, Ziggy, Weird, and Mondo—are the only suspects in her murder, but the evidence is circumstantial and they are never convicted.

Flash forward 25 years, and Fife Police are doing a review of their cold cases, including the Rosemary Duff murder. This brings back all sorts of memories and feelings to the surface—with fatal results.

This was a great story. I loved the setting, both geographically and temporally. The four friends are big music fans, and the references to the Clash and the Jam pleased this music show more fan in particular. The story as a whole is very well constructed and holds up well on a re-read. And for those who know Val McDermid primarily as the author of the Hill and Jordan series, they can be assured that this book is not nearly as grim and gruesome as those books can get. I’d definitely recommend this book for anyone looking to try out some Tartan Noir. show less

It is safe to say that this is definitely among the very best crime novels that I have read so far. It is written so, so well. I just entered the lives of the main characters and I suffered with them, felt with them, hoped and feared with them.
In the centre of the novel there is a group of four male high school friends who study in St Andrews. One snowy night after a party, they find the body of a young girl who was raped and murdered. From now on, they are crucial witnesses - and even suspects.
The novel is not only about finding out who the killer is, but just as much about what the events do to these four young men and to their friendship. Trust, loyalty, truth - what binds us together, and what is the core of a human being when show more decade after decade goes by and circumstances change so much?
After a leap of twenty-five years, when strange things start happening that seem connected to the murder, which still has not been solved and is under review as a cold case, these questions become even more important. show less

Protagonist: Alex Gilbey
Setting: St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland in 1978 and the present day
Standalone

First Line: "He always liked the cemetery at dawn."

In 1978, young Rosie Duff's body was found in a remote corner of a cemetery in St. Andrews, Scotland by four drunken college students. Although the police were convinced that one of those students had to be Rosie's killer, no concrete evidence was ever found and no one was charged. In 2003 with the advances in DNA technology, the newly formed cold case unit reopens the Rosie Duff case, and those four former students begin to die one by one.

Val McDermid is now one of my favorite authors, and she did it to me again in this book. The only quibble with The Distant Echo is that I knew show more who the killer was way too soon, which caused me to verbally castigate some of the characters! I have several other McDermid novels on the TBR shelves, and it's going to be difficult for me to stay away from them. She knows how to spin a yarn! show less

In einem Interview bemerkte die schottische Bestsellerautorin Val McDermid unlängst, dass es angesichts neuer kriminalistischer Methoden wie denen der forensischen Medizin immer schwieriger werde, einen logisch und schlüssig aufgebauten Kriminalroman zu schreiben. Irgendwie mag man ihr das nach der Lektüre von Echo einer Winternacht nicht glauben: Dafür ist er einfach zu spannend und stringent erzählt.

Val McDermid gelingt diese Spannung in ihrem neuen Roman paradoxerweise ganz einfach ausgerechnet dadurch, dass sie die neuen Methoden der Kriminalistik in ihre Handlung mit einbezieht. Durch die neuen Möglichkeiten etwa der DNA-Analyse ermuntert, rollt die Polizei des verschlafenen Universitätsstädtchens St. Andrews alte Fälle show more wieder auf, darunter auch den von Rosemary Duff, die in einer Winternacht vor 25 Jahren, am 16. Dezember 1978, von vier betrunkenen Studenten sterbend und blutüberströmt im Schneetreiben aufgefunden wurde. Damals ermittelte die Polizei gegen die Gruppe, allerdings ohne Erfolg. Allerdings hatte sich das Leben der Kommilitonen danach dennoch drastisch verändert. Denn in St. Andrews waren die vier Freunde auch ohne Beweise als Täter abgestempelt und von den Bewohnern des Ortes gemieden worden.

Nach einem Vierteljahrhundert haben es die einstmaligen Jugendfreunde geschafft, sich ein halbwegs normales Leben aufzubauen. Aber jetzt zieht ein neuer Mörder umher, der in einer Form von Selbstjustiz den Ex-Studenten nach dem Leben trachtet. In welchem Verhältnis steht der rätselhafte Unbekannte zu den Ereignissen damals? Dieser Frage geht McDermids Echo einer Winternacht in einem grandios entwickelten Spannungsbogen nach. Fesselnder geht es nicht. --Stefan Kellerer show less

This was an absorbing start to the Karen Pirie Scottish thriller series. The author has crafted such a strong sense of place in this town on the coast of the North Sea, and the split time setting felt quite different from many of the thrillers I read. This is a cold case, with about the first half of the book delving into the first attempts to solve the crime in 1978, a murder/sexual assault. The audio narrator's voice and brogue were mesmerizing, adding richness to the experience of this story. This is also a long one, 500+ pages, and the author earned the length, with the intricacies of the initial investigation layering so much meaning into the discoveries 25 years later. High stakes. I will definitely be continuing this series!

Four drunken students find the body of a young woman in a snowy wood at four in the morning. Nobody is charged with the murder but for twenty-five years a cloud of suspicion hangs over the young men. Then the case is reopened, and somebody starts picking them off one by one.

A tense and compelling thriller which had me wanting more at 3 am. I did guess whodunnit quite early on, but that may have been more luck than judgement as the plot twists. But it's the portrayal of the four central characters, how they hold together and pull apart and cope with the shadow each in his own way that makes this book.