iScot Book Review

Alex J. Craig reviews The Dead of Jura and Death in Tallinn by Allan Martin

Allan Martin

I was relieved last year to find that I was bowled over by iScot shortstory- writer Allan Martin’s debut novel, The Peat Dead, justly shortlisted for the McIlvanney Debut Prize. For the last few months The Peat Dead eBook has consistently been in the top 50 of Amazon’s Scottish Crime list. I also enjoyed, with other iScot subscribers, Allan’s COVID-set novella A Fatal Contagion.

And last month this prolific author launched not one but two new novels. This wasn’t an administrative error, just two different publishers who both wanted to get his new work onto the market. Reading the two together, or at least one after the other, was an interesting experience. But I’ll come to that later.

The Dead of Jura is the second fulllength novel in the Inspector Angus Blue series, which opened with The Peat Dead. It begins with the shooting of a cabinet minister on his estate on Jura, and DI Blue is sent to investigate.