The Coffinmaker's Garden by Stuart MacBride is a masterfully crafted thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

This latest addition to the Logan McRae series is a gripping tale of murder, mystery, and mayhem that will leave readers breathless. MacBride's writing style is sharp, clever, and full of dark humor that adds a unique twist to the story. The characters are well-developed and each one adds depth and complexity to the plot. The protagonist, Logan McRae, is a flawed but relatable character whose struggles and determination make him a compelling lead.

The plot is intricately woven with multiple twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very end. MacBride's attention to detail and vivid descriptions immerse the reader in the gritty world of Aberdeen, Scotland, adding an extra layer of authenticity to the story. Overall, The Coffinmaker's Garden is a must-read for fans of crime fiction and will surely leave them eagerly anticipating the next installment in the series.

This is the third book in the series. It is very gripping and dark. It is very violent in places. The storylines are gritty and so descriptive. A good Scottish crime book

Oh, buckle up, folks, 'cause Ash Henderson is back in action, and it's a wild ride from start to finish! Alongside Dr. Alice McDonald and the LIRU crew, they're on the hunt for a serial killer with a sickening MO - kidnapping and torturing young boys. Talk about a race against time to save those kiddos!

But hold on tight, 'cause that's not all - we've got a house teetering on the brink of oblivion, thanks to a violent storm and coastal erosion. And guess what? Human remains pop up like they're saying, "Surprise!" The owner, Gordon Smith, vanished into thin air, and now Ash is on the case, risking life and limb to uncover the truth.

And let me tell you, this is classic Stuart MacBride - a place so real you could almost smell it, with a dash of extreme violence that'll make your head spin. Poor Ash, he takes such a pounding that he's like a cat with nine lives. How he's still standing at the end, I'll never know!

But hey, the characters are spot-on - they're so well-defined that you'll know 'em when you see 'em. And Ash's exchanges with Sabir, the computer whiz, are pure gold! Gallows humor becomes their trusty sidekick, keeping them afloat amidst all the grimness.

I've devoured all of MacBride's books, and this one doesn't disappoint. You could read it on its own, but trust me, starting from the beginning will give you a richer experience. There are inside jokes for crime fiction fans, like that book group dissing Logan McRae - oh, the little nuggets that keep us smiling!

So, here's to hoping for more Ash Henderson in the future, and let's pray we won't have to wait seven years for it. Four stars, baby - four stars for a thrilling, gruesome, and oh-so-enjoyable ride with the one and only Ash Henderson!

For some reason, although I thought I have already written a review, this copy has reappeared in my listing for writing a review. Given I read this over a year ago, I can only say that of what I can remember, I thought it was a very clever, dark and on occasion, had very dark humor. A good read.

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Thank you for providing me with an advance review copy of this book. Enjoyed reading, would recommend....

This was the first book I have read by this author and won’t be the lasting enjoyed it so much The writing style is compelling and the plot is full of intrigue. I flew through this and didn’t want to put it down! It hooked me I recommend to you all so good a good book

Having heard so many good things about this author and having read some of his other stuff I was thrilled to be accepted for this book. Unfortunately it is one of the few books I've given up on. This is part of a series following the main characters and their investigative work and perhaps if I had read some of the earlier ones I would have been able to get into the book. Many of you will think I've missed a treat but this one wasn't for me

This was the first book I have read by this author and won’t be the last. The writing style is compelling and the plot is full of intrigue. I flew through this and didn’t want to put it down!

Ash Henderson returns in the 3rd book of the series, a little while after the first 2.

A dark brooding storm opens up this story and sets the scene for the tale ahead of us…

MacBride has his own very unique style of crime writing and that’s very evident here. Violence and no boundary safe is the name of the game with MacBride whilst his stories are littered with extreme humour and whip smart dialogue.

The plotting and pacing by MacBride are simply top notch, it’s one of the finest parts of his writing even if I I do tend find many of the stories just a bit beyond belief and a bit silly but then that’s probably part of the charm and why I continue to come back every time he releases a book.

Excellent

Great plot to get yourself lost in. This book has everything. A real fast paced thriller. Will get your heart racing on more than one occasion. Very well written. Highly recommend this book

This is another book in a series that I walked into blind. I really ought to remember to read things in order. However, this honestly didn't detract from my enjoyment of the novel at all. I suspect there are definitely benefits to reading the previous books; deeper characterisations and back-story. But it wasn't actually necessary.

The novel starts with the discovery of some human remains. To make things more complex, they are found on the edge of a corroding cliff in the middle of a giant storm. Ash Henderson and his partner Alice McDonald are called in to assist the police with their investigation. As a former DI, there isn't much that Ash hasn't seen and his dark gallows humour is littered through the book. Alice is a highly strung, extremely chatty forensic psychologist with a drinking problem. Yet this isn't the only case they are helping to solve. They have been pulled off the investigation into missing and murdered children.

With two investigations ongoing, MacBride writes a twisty and unexpectedly entertaining thriller here. In between the dead bodies and gruesome murders, there's a wry and dark humour that bleeds through nearly every page. It's well written, full of eccentric characters and unexpected diversions. MacBride rachets up the suspense through the child killing narrative, as the police know it's only a matter of time before another child goes missing and the killer is ramping up his timelines.

All in all, this is gruesome at points but very well written and kept my attention throughout. The characters are well done, eccentric enough to stand out yet believably real. This is dark, twisty yet manages to succeed in making you laugh through the dark humour. This is my first MacBride novel. I don't think it will be the last.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free copy of this title.

I gave up on this, the police were juvenile, the dialogue childish. I simply couldn't finish the book. Characters awful. 1* rating.

The Coffin Maker’s Garden promised a dark crime thriller filled with twists and turns. A storm batters the Scottish coast, destroying swathes of a cliffside village with it. As the cliff crumbles, one property exposes a grim secret. The ruined garden appears to be filled with bones. The bones of humans. The police must preserve the evidence in a race against time and the elements. Ex-Detective Ash Henderson finds himself dragged into the investigation as it overlaps his own investigation into cold case missing persons.

The two cases intertwine as they both point towards the mysterious Gordon Smith. The connections lead to dark twists and unexpected turns as Ash closes in on his quarry. And all the while, the raging storm and criminals from the past seek to hamper him at every turn. The line between victim and suspect blurs as Henderson and his coworkers find themselves dragged into a dark and dangerous game in pursuit of the serial killer.

This book delivered what I had hoped for. A dark, gritty thriller featuring a grizzled and jaded ex-detective and his upbeat sidekick/best friend, a twisted killer, and a series of twists and turns to keep things interesting. The premise is an interesting one - that the crimes of Smith only come to light due to an unprecedented storm eroding the headland. Had that storm been much tamer, he might have gone undiscovered indefinitely. I thoroughly enjoyed the pace and the nature of the twists that made for a pulsating book. Though the main suspect was known for much of the book, the twists and turns kept things exciting and kept me turning page after page until the end.

The story was off the scale in relation to violence. Lots of twists and turns during the investigation of two murders. . A bit too much violence to say I enjoyed but it was interesting.

The Coffinmakers Garden is a Crime Thriller mixed with Police Procedural and is the third book in the Ash Henderson Series. 
 
This book isn’t particularly fast paced, it just goes with the flow of how the investigation and murders take place.  However you are thrown in (not to the North Sea thankfully) very quickly when the remains are found within the first few chapters
 
I am not usually a big dialogue fan, but the dark humour and noticeable Scottish dialect was really enjoyable.
 
The story is gruesome and gory and nothing is left to the imagination.  Alongside the Coffinmaker Murders, there is another disturbing Murderer on the loose and between the two of them it is a tense and dark read!
 
I am terrible for reading books part from a series and this time I have been caught out as I really would never liked to have known what happened in the first two books!

For a reason i can't recall I took a break in the middle of reading this book (nothing to do with the story which was going as usual by this author) and it was some time before I recommenced. I was able to pick back up where I'd left off immediately as the previous pages came flooding back. Characters previously met in the first books in the series are now well established, although not to say you couldn't read this without having read the earlier books as you easily could.
There is more than one storyline running through this and it certainly keeps you intrigued to the final pages. Definitely would recommend this to anyone who likes the police procedural/thriller type of story.

This is actually the 3rd in a series - I 'm glad I didnt know this before I started as I may not have gone ahead from assuming I had missed too much. However, this is a great standalone book in its own right. In fact as soon as I had finished I downloaded the first in the series!

The plot follows a main storyline of a search for a serial killer with a smaller plot of the search for a child killer.

The book is well paced with fantastic, well developed characters. There are so many 'flawed' characters in fiction today who are given so many issues that it renders them one dimensional and unlikeable. However, despite their flaws, the characters here are engaging, likeable and realistic.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review :-)

Firstly, I’d like to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

This is the first book in the Ash Henderson series that I’ve read. I hadn’t realised that there a couple of books prior to this. It was fine as a stand alone story though, but it would have been helpful, I think, to have read the previous books so as to establish how the relationship between Ash and Alice developed.

It was a dark, brutal, violent story. The characters are well portrayed, and the dialogue amusing in parts. I really enjoyed it.

Disappointed with this book. Have enjoyed some of Stuart MacBride’s earlier books, but read them all. His attempts at humour somewhat missed the mark for me.

The Coffin maker’s Garden by Stuart Macbride

Ash Henderson is perhaps the most forceful character that I’ve come across in a crime fiction book for a long time. He’s not always particularly likeable, but somehow, I ended up liking him a lot.
However, with this being the third book in Stuart Macbride’s ‘Ash Henderson’ series, and the first I’ve read, it was probably a bit of a rude awakening to come into the series a couple of books in!
The over-powering nature of the protagonist and the gunfire staccato writing style were both a bit jolting for a newbie to Macbride such as myself. And I found myself feeling uncertain about this book for the first quarter as a result.
But the Coffin Maker’s Garden’s premise (a storm which obliterates a cliff top house, revealing several human remains and evidence of a ‘kill room’); the array of personality-heavy characters, the relationship between Ash and Alice as working partners, and the unravelling of crimes where the evidence has literally been washed away - all this makes for a bit of an exhilarating read!
This is a hugely violent book (most of which is perpetrated by ex-DI Henderson himself) but it’s spliced with so many wry and humorous observations that the violence quota is, thankfully, levelled out a bit. Otherwise, I think I’d find it all a bit too much.
Also, I have to mention that the BEST EVER description of the sound when walking in wellies, described as ‘week-wonk’ also appears in this book. That description alone, is definitely worth five stars!
And also, who’s up for a night out at Bang-dot-Bang-dot-Cheese and the House of Ultimate Ding??

* Thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC.