Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

An atmospheric, dark and gripping crime thriller that kept on the edge till the end.
It's the first book I read in this series and bought the rest as I think it's very interesting.
It's a gothic novel with plenty of references to occult practices and great descriptions of the Orkneys.
The characters are interesting and fleshed, the mystery is solid and kept me guessing.
I found it compelling and entertaining.
Even if it's the third in a series it can be read as a stand-alone.
One note: there's plenty of references to the solution of previous cases and I think it would be better to read the books in order.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Interesting and intriguing thriller. Lots of layers and plenty of twists. Characters are all well portrayed and bring the story to life.

This is the first time I have read a book by Margaret Kirk but certainly won´t be the last.

This is the 3rd book in the series involving the main character Lukas Mahler, but you can easily read it as a standalone. The descriptions of Orkney drew me in, breathtaking in the vivid descriptions, as well as delving you into the dark side of witchcraft and folklore.

Very compelling reading.

My thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy honestly.

In a remote part of Orkney, a body is tied to a jetty. The corpse is not who he's purporting to be.

Lukas Mahler knows his - as his former boss from the Met.

What is he doing there under an assumed name?

The more Lukas digs, the worse it gets.....

”In The Blood” is a quiet start building up to a high-tension ending. The measured pace of the first few chapters allows the characterisation to develop as you read.. This is the first of Margaret Kirks stories I have read and the novel works as a stand alone, as well as part of a series.

She has created a compelling protagonist in Lukas, who leads a likeable team of police investigators, all of whom feel very real. There is a comedic touch with the Chief, Chae Hunt providing a foil for a little humour.

The Orkney Islands setting is absorbing and beautifully described- a land steeped in folk tales and local mythology, which provides an ideal location for the investigation.

At it’s heart, this is a true crime drama which I much enjoyed with a exciting climax and satisfying ending.

Note for publishers. There is a spelling/context mistake where a . character stirs ‘tablets’ into her expresso. This should be ‘tablet’ a Scottish type of fudge and a great new way at to get a sugar rush,

In The Blood is the third book. In the Lukas Mahler series by Margaret Kirk and this time he is investigating the murder of his ex boss.

The story is mainly set in Orkney and the author uses it as an extra character and to drive the narrative of the book.

Overall and whilst the main storyline was interesting the book felt a little disjointed with the flashbacks only feeling to confuse rather than add and the constant actions or more accurate lack of action by Mahler a further source of frustration for this reader.

A little disappointed based on the previous books in the series

I found this as something of a difficult book to get into and also hard to take to the actual main characters, thus taking away much of the enjoyment of reading it. Sadly, it would not be one I will eagerly recommend to friends.

4 - 5 rounded up.

Orkney: Sandisquoy House. ‘William Spencer’ is discovered tied to a jetty and most definitely dead by the unfortunate postie. The case is investigated by the local Orcadian force in Kirkwall and by Inverness MIT, in particular DCI Lukas Mahler. Is this Mahler’s former Met boss Alex Fleming? This is a desolate, isolated place and almost completely off the grid, so why has Fleming been living here under an assumed name? This is a very disturbing tale which has links to previous investigations and plenty more besides!

This is a really good, darkly clever and extremely atmospheric Tartan Noir Thriller. The plot is complex and riveting and is well paced, full of action, tension and shocking discoveries. The settings especially in Orkney adds a very particular atmosphere which is almost Gothic in tone and the autumnal weather adds an extra dimension. The characters are really good and I find Lukas particularly fascinating. He’s so intriguing, carrying a ton of unresolved baggage, he’s intelligent, intuitive in investigations, a bit clumsy in his dealings with people and can be closed off. I do so like a central character with complexity and he has that in abundance! There is a lot going on in this, we have the Fleming investigation and storyline which takes is into the territory of Orcadian legends such as Selkies and healers and especially fascinating is a Viking rune element. There’s a link to a past case in London which is a very disturbing unsolved one, there’s an Organised Crime operation as well as a court appeal for a killer from a previous case which is particularly close to Lukas. Trust me, it all works extremely well and keeps you on the edge of your seat as you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next but you want to race on to find out! There’s a lot to admire here but the unpredictability is extremely good and the end is brilliant and I can’t wait for the next instalment! I hope we don’t have to wait too long!

Overall, this is a cracking book, it’s a little belter as we say in these here parts!! If you like gritty crime drama with a densely rich, intelligent plot line then this is for you!

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Orion for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Sorry but the first word I think of here is average, maybe because I haven't read the previous books?
While there's nothing wrong with this title there's just nothing brilliant about it either, sorry! The author skims over a lot of vaguely mystical elements but didn't really commit to them.
I also found the partial flashbacks annoying; either tell the story or don't!

This is the third in Margaret Kirk's DCI Lukas Mahler series set in Inverness and the Orkney Islands, Ihave read the first, but somehow missed the second. Mahler is covering as DCI with his boss, DCI June Wallace on sick leave. Detective Superintendent Chae Hunt has used June's absence to move the Major Incident Team from their old station to Divisional HQ at Inshes, there are clear lines of tension between Hunt and Mahler, particularly as Mahler finds it hard to purely oversee cases, he just cannot help being hands on. Mahler moved from the London Met to Inverness when his mother's health started to deteriorate, and his history at the Met allows him to identify a dead man tied to the posts of a disused jetty outside his home, the desolate, dark, dilapidated and gothic Sandisquoy House.

The reclusive man had been going under the name of William Spencer, but Mahler knows him as his old boss at the Met, DI Alex Fleming, who had taken early retirement after the lack of success in solving the notorious Witchfinder case where 3 women were murdered with signs of occult practices left either on the body or nearby. Fleming's murder suggests a link with the old case, stones and bones in his pocket, and whilst nominally acting DI Iain 'Fergie' Ferguson is in charge, Mahler cannot leave it alone. Fleming had provided him with crucial support in his early career, a man he had respected and admired, but perhaps Mahler had been too close to Fleming to see the wood for the trees. There are multiple threads in the story, interspersed in the narrative is Fleming's life prior to his death, the court appeal from a killer that upsets both Anna and Mahler, the involvement of DCI Harkness from Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism from Gartcosh in the drugs trade, and so much more.

Kirk's crime novel is jam packed with so much going on, and in addition there is the inclusion of old Viking folklore, myths and legends, selkies, seal bones, runes, the use of a witches 'flying' ointment and a macabre find in the grounds of Sandisquoy House. Mahler makes a fascinating protagonist, with his childhood traumas, his inability to open up to Anna, their relationship a precarious affair, the work overload that means he is not there for his mother and missing key emails, and his inability to see his old boss, Fleming clearly, there are often good reasons to not get too involved in cases where you have a personal connection. This is a darkly intense, gritty, and atmospheric addition to what is a great tartan noir crime series. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.
1 like

I would like to thank Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy of In the Blood, the third novel to feature Acting DCI Lucas Mahler of the Inverness Police.

A body is found tied to a post in the North Sea in Orkney. He is identified as Billy Spencer but Lukas knows him as Alex Fleming, his old boss at The Met. What was he doing, living in a remote house on a remote island? The more Lukas and the team dig, the more they don’t understand, especially the references to the mystical past and one of Alex’s old cases.

I thoroughly enjoyed In the Blood, which is a gripping police procedural, full of location, atmosphere and history. I have not read the previous novels in the series, as they are buried somewhere in my over extensive TBR, but I didn’t really feel the loss. There are references in this one to previous events, but they are well enough explained that prior knowledge isn’t required.

The novel is mostly told from Lukas’s point of view with other characters broadening the perspective from time to time, notably the victim’s thoughts and actions in the run up to his murder, which add a certain frisson to proceedings. I found the plot engrossing, although, whether it was my mood or not, I thought it sagged a little in the middle, diverting to other cases and spending too much time on occult practices. Don’t get me wrong, this latter is interesting but it distracts from the investigation. The finale, however, is suitably exciting with action and bombshell revelations.

I like the sense of place the author offers about the Orkneys, rubbish weather (only to be expected in Scotland) giving a sense of brooding and desolation and a culture steeped in history and legend that appears fey, if not supernatural at times. I also liked the occasional humour and dark cynicism that seem to imbue the Scots.

Lukas Mahler is an interesting character. He is obviously smart, but carries a lot of emotional baggage that gets in the way of his interpersonal relationships, like dealing with his potential girlfriend and overly controlling his mother. He’s quite strange in this respect.

In the Blood is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I'd forgotten how much I like Lukas Mahler and the team in Inverness. He's far from perfect as a character - haunted by his past and prone to feelings of guilt - but he is very likeable and I find myself easily rooting for him and hoping that he is able to get to the bottom of whatever complex case Margaret Kirk has thrown his way. And believe me, when it comes to complex, this one is a doozy. Not only that but it has. very personal connections for Mahler, ones which may yet prove to be his undoing.

Now when it comes to unusual deaths, the murder that opens up this book is both simple and yet strangely stomach churning at the same time. It's a relatively straightforward case of drowning - after a fashion - but it is in a far from straightforward location, and with the victim residing in a place which is isolated, unwelcoming and the subject of real local legend, the case is anything but plain sailing for Mahler and the police team on Orkney where the victim, Alex Fleming, resides. When you add in the fact that Mahler knows and has worked with the victim and that last case they worked on was complex and unresolved, the list of suspects is both wide open and also very hard to pin down, especially when you add it he fact that no-one even knew. that he was living there.

This is part urban legend, part murder mystery and the way in which Margaret Kirk has combined a kind of gothic style setting and a supernatural undertone really drew me into the story. This is exactly the kind of mash-up of stories and genres that I love, never quite knowing if there is something slightly less corporeal behind the dastardly deeds that are being done. Everything, from the creepy old house that Fleming hid himself away in, to the macabre discoveries that they make in the wake of the investigation, adds that special layer of suspense and mystery to the story, and the atmospheric setting of a remote part of Orkney in the midst of some very changeable weather fronts adds to the tension that builds throughout the book.

There are several threads to the story, adn certainly exploring some of the case which Fleming and Mahler worked on in London helps readers to discover more about Mahler's past, as well as leading to some very chilling aspects in the current case. alongside this, Mahler's on-off relationship with Anna is sorely tested as they await the outcome of an appeal by a former foe. Whilst this won't necessarily be resolved to everyone's satisfaction in this book, it certainly sets up the promise of something very dark and menacing to come.

I tore through this book in pretty much one sitting, loving both the back and forth between the characters and the suspense filled storyline. The book sees Mahler in a temporary promotion, and that in itself is a source of some conflict as he cannot quite bring himself to step away from the investigation, much to the chagrin of his boss, Chae Hunt. There are other elements of conflict which are dotted throughout the book, covert operations into local drugs cartels, and the threat really does come from some very surprising places, keeping readers fully on their toes. I certainly didn't see what was coming until it hit me, and slightly more literally Mahler, square in the face. But I definitely loved it and cannot wait to see what the author serves up next.

Most definitely recommended, although if you've not read at least book one, I suggest you take a quick trip back to the start, one because you are missing a treat if you don't, but there are key scenes from this book that link back to Mahler's first case so you won't want to miss it. I am now off to make plans to travel to Orkney whenever covid and travel restrictions allow. Margaret Kirk has whetted my appetite for a visit.

Seriously noir noir. There’s more than a tinge of the gothic to this compelling police procedural that encompasses witchcraft, organised crime, corruption and a complicated murder investigation. The vivid depiction of location - Inverness and the Orkneys - is a vital component of this satisfying read that leaves you looking forward to future stories of Lukas Mahler.