DCI Andy Gilchrist with DS Jessie Janes are called to the execution and murder of a body found in the hold of a boat. When he is taken off the case and Jessie’s brother wants to do a deal on information Andy knows this is not a straight forward murder. Drugs and police corruption will come to the front of the investigation and the fallout will lead Andy to even consider resigning. A well paced book that looks into modern police procedures and the pressures that can affect family life.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Definitely recommended to those who enjoy this genre. A good detective story showing real problems that could be experienced within the Police.

A mutilated body is found in the hold of a fishing boat which was been washed up onto a beach. But this boat and its owner have been missing for three years, and the corpse is another person entirely.

What happened to the boat's owner? What is the deal with the calling card in the mouth? And what is happening amongst the patriarchal criminal fraternity when know associates of a major player are found dead?

A solid police procedural that involves organized crime, corrupt police, drugs and horrific violence. A strong sense of personalties, but not as strong on sense of place. This is my first in the series and it works fine as a standalone. Definitely a “Scottish noir”.
Thanks to netgalley/publisher/author for the ARC.

TF Muir's DCI Andy Gilchrist Scottish crime series set in St Andrew's is one I have dipped in and out of through the years. This great addition is a particularly grisly and brutal one which begins with Gilchrist at Tentsmuir Beach where a grounded fishing boat yields a gruesome discovery, the body of a black male, viciously tortured and murdered. The forensic pathologist extracts a £5 pound note from his mouth, is it a calling card or a warning? DS Jessie Janes has a deaf son, Robert, that she loves to bits, her own family has now been reduced to just her, and her hard man, criminal brother, Tommy, wanted for murder by Police Scotland. So when a scared Tommy contacts Jessie, against good reason, he is her brother after all, she ends up collecting information from him for the police, which includes a list of six men, all allegedly on the payroll of a now dying Glasgow Scottish crime patriarch, Jock Shepherd.

Gilchrist's colleague at Strathclyde police is able to shine a light on the victim's identity and the fishing boat turns out to have belonged to the missing for three years, Joe Christie, assumed to have been murdered. Tommy claims to be innocent of any killings, but his list of names is a matter of concern as the men on it are turning up dead, killed in the most horrifying of ways. Gilchrist has an uneasy relationship with his children, Maureen and Jack, but he tries to do his best as Maureen finds herself in fraught personal circumstances. Jack has acquired an older artist girlfriend, Kris, about whom he waxes lyrical, head over heels in love for whom he has, surprisingly, given up the demon drink. Connections between the body in a boat and Tommy's list begin to emerge, but as Gilchrist and his team are ordered to hand over the investigation to Strathclyde Police, the case turns far more sinister, dangerous and far reaching in the corners it extends to.

Muir writes a rattling good yarn with a Gilchrist feeling his age, coming so close to considering the unthinkable, retirement, with a case where justice is far from straightforward with the involvement of the government, criminal gangs and the intelligence services. This is compulsive storytelling, in a story of the criminal underworld, police corruption and where little is as it seems. This will appeal to those who love their Scottish crime fiction and police procedurals. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

When a boat washes up on the shores of St Andrews rescuers are horrified to find a mutilated body in the hold. The mystery deepens when the boat is discovered to belong to Joe Christie, a fisherman who disappeared three years ago and the dead man to be an alleged associate of Scotland’s leading gangster, Jock Shepherd. DCI Andy Gilchrist and DS Jessie Janes have a feeling they’re not seeing the big picture.

I enjoyed Dead Catch which is a tightly plotted police procedural with a bigger picture and a hint of conspiracy about it. I like that it is narrated from the investigative point of view as this means that the reader can guess along with the characters and get deeply involved in the narrative. I also like that it is set in Scotland as it gives the novel the familiarity of home turf (not that I know the east coast well) with the main landmarks easily identifiable and imaginable.

The plot runs along familiar lines, maverick detective team determined to investigate despite opposition and orders from above find imaginative ways to do so and then find themselves in over their heads. It is well done with reveals, action and tense moments used strategically to keep the reader interested although the ending stretched my credulity and I think that the novel lacks a certain depth as all the developments seem too easily come by. Even the reasons behind the blocking of their investigation are easily deciphered by Gilchrist. This, however, is nitpicking as it held my attention throughout.

Gilchrist is a rather jaded figure in this novel. He’s grumpy, tired and unwilling to let anyone stand in his way, even considering retirement at one point. He’s a lonely man with no obvious friends, an uneasy relationship with his adult children and no discernible hobbies except drinking. So far, so clichéd but he is also a caring man who looks after his team’s wellbeing and does his diffident best with his children.

Dead Catch is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

The first book in this series I've read so it works as a stand alone novel.
Whilst it is a solid police procedural I don't feel it lives up to the hype.

Book 8 in the DCI Gilchrist series and it's still going strong. Gilchrist is investigating the case of a dead body in a boat washed up on the beach near St Andrew's. I love the character development, the mix of characters and the insight into his personal life. This book has a little bit of everything with corrupt police, multiple murders, Glasgow crime lord and drugs thrown in. One of my favourite series and an easy 5* from me. My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.