Created by Doug Johnstone
Tere have been some strange families in the Shamus Game over the years, from the duplicitous, fractious Spellmans of San Francisco and the loud, unruly British-Italian Lunghis to the enternally bickering father-son combo of the Doyles of Newfoundland, but THE SKELFS of Edinburgh, Scotland are in a class by themselves.
When old Jim Skelf, the family patriarch, passes away, it’s up to the women of the family, his 70-year old widow DOROTHY SKELF, their daughter JENNY and twenty-ish granddaughter HANNAH, part-time university student, to keep the home fires burning and the family businesses–a long-established funeral-home business and a detective agency–afloat in this darkly humorous and slyly subversive series where death is the business–and often a punchline.
Dorothy, a drum-pounding eccentric with a weak spot for strays, is the one in charge now, but woe to anyone who underestimates her.
Her daughter, Jenny, is the sensible one, a middle-aged former journalist and single parent, whom Dorothy brought back into the fold (and into the family home, a big, sprawling Victorian that also houses the funeral parlour, the embalming area and the detective agency) following her recent divorce.
And just to shake things up a bit, her daughter Hannah, a lesbian with a girlfriend, Indy, who has “brown skin and blue bob,” who’s theoretically off at the University, but drops in regularly to pitch in.
The books skitter from viewpoint to viewpoint between the three, and it’s a hoot seeing the play-by-play of misconceptions, misunderstandings and very different world views as they crash and tumble towards some sort of conclusion.
Grab a shovel and dig in.
UNDER OATH
- “‘I was addicted from the first page; gripping, gritty and darkly funny as hell.”
— Erin Kelly - “Compelling, compassionate … just brilliant. This series gets better with every book. I cannot get enough of the Skelfs”
— Mark Billingham - “Emotionally complex, richly layered and darkly funny. An addictive blend of Case Histories and Six Feet Under”
— Chris Brookmyre
NOVELS
- A Dark Matter (2019) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Big Chill (2020) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Great Silence (2021) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Black Hearts (2023) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Opposite of Lonely (to come)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- It’s a Family Affair
Family-Owned Detective Agencies
THE DICK OF THE DAY
- June 14, 2023
The Bottom Line: Three generations of this hilariously raucous, unruly Scottish clan are uniquely qualified experts on the Big Sleep—they run a combo detective agency and funeral home. Can you dig it?
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
