Strains of Innocence

A twisted mind. A macabre game. A detective pushed to the brink.

DCI 'Mac' McNeill, haunted by unresolved trauma, faces his most devious adversary yet in a case that defies logic and threatens to unravel his world.

As leader of Edinburgh's Serious Crime Unit, Mac is thrust into the hunt for a cold-blooded killer who once wielded power from the peak of society. Now, orchestrating twisted games from the shadows, the killer weaves a complex web of deceit, challenging Mac's every instinct and escalating tension, distrust, and confusion both professionally and personally.

The stakes skyrocket when Dr. Clio Wray and her daughter become ensnared in the killer's intricate plot. As the true scale of the deception emerges and more lives hang in the balance, Mac races against time to save the next victim. With his detective constable by his side, he confronts the peril head-on, risking his sanity, his job, and his life to expose the truth.

In a deadly game of cat and mouse, can Mac unravel the killer's twisted agenda before it's too late, or will he become the next pawn in a master manipulator's grand design?

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Praise for the DCI McNeill series:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Action-packed Thriller That Grabbed My Attention from the Start.
5.0 out of 5 stars My goodness, what a ride. This book outstanding.
5.0 out of 5 stars Mac made a fascinating lead character and the way his team was put together is credit to a superb plot.
5.0 out of 5 stars What a fantastic read
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Edinburgh noir
5.0 out of 5 stars A great psychological thriller

I'm thrilled to introduce a brand new series character and genre to you: DCI McNeill head of the Edinburgh Serious Crimes Unit with Police Scotland. Having written twenty mysteries under a pen name, all with strong female leads, I wanted to write a book with a male at the helm. 'Mac, ' turned up almost fully formed during lockdown and with a name like McNeill he couldn't be anything other than Scottish. Therefore setting it in one of my favourite cities was an obvious choice. Over the following months I fleshed out his background and experiences along with a tragic backstory which will be explored more in subsequent books. Once all that was in place the rest of the team and the plot came together remarkably quickly. The end result is the first book in what I hope will be a long running series: 'Scars of the Past, ' which I enjoyed writing immensely. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much. Join the New Crime Club on my website and never miss a new release.

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