Blood in the Water by Gillian Galbraith

Val Penny ♦ April 8, 2015 ♦ 1 Comment

This was the first book I had read by Gillian Galbraith. She is a Scottish crime writer who was a lawyer before she turned her hand to writing. Galbraith was born and brought up near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland.  She practiced until 1999 as an advocate (barrister) and specialised in cases involving medical negligence. For a while, Galbraith was the legal correspondent for The Scottish Farmer. She has also written on legal matters for The Times newspaper published in London, England. The author’s protagonist, DS Alice Rice, is based in Edinburgh.

Blood in the Water was the first crime novel by Gillian Galbraith and was published in 2007. It is the first of her Alice Rice Mysteries. The protagonist is smart and capable, but battling disillusionment and loneliness, we follow her as she races against time and an implacable killer to solve a series of grisly murders amongst Edinburgh’s professional elite in the smart New Town area of the city.

In this debút novel, Alice Rice is an interesting character being formed.  She is a little sketchy in some places in this book, but in compensation there is a tricky plot with members of the professional elite including barristers and doctors, being murdered. There is an clear killer connection, as similar styled notes are being left on the bodies, but the connection between all of the victims is not immediately obvious. A faceless killer is targeting the affluent people in Edinburgh and seem to be determined to make certain members of the professional classes pay dearly for what they have done.

Blood in the Water was very well written, and I really liked the character of DS Alice Rice. The plot was surprisingly refreshing and very Scottish. When I was younger, I lived for many years in Edinburgh and reading this book just brought back such good memories of my time there. I thoroughly enjoyed this Scottish. and give Blood in the Water by Gillian Galbraith a very high recommendation. I certainly will keep my eyes open for more books to read by this author.