Stuart MacBride, Blind Eye

Although Aberdeen, Scotland Detective Sergeant. Logan McRae is still healing from the brutal Flesh House case he investigates nasty hate crime assaults on Polish immigrants; even the cops are horrified with what has happened to the eyes of the victims. DCI Finnie believes the prime suspect Gilchrist is a malcontent who loathes the influx of foreigners from East Europe for taking the jobs away from locals.

However, Logan wonders if something else is the motive beyond the attacks when even a crime boss is beaten. Instead Logan considers a mob war between Scottish mobsters and Polish gangsters while Finnie tells him to stop thinking as that is not standard operating procedure for a DS. Meanwhile, McRae feels a double whammy when Finnie punishes him by sticking him with loud mouth Detective Inspector Roberta Steele to keep witness Rory Simpson, a pedophile, safe from an angry female stalker.

This is a strong Scottish police procedural that is owned by Logan but contains a deep support ensemble especially the cops. The investigation is cleverly devised so that Logan is once again an outsider in trouble with his superiors especially pompous Finnie. Fans will enjoy his latest case as he works around the bureaucrats to solve the hate crimes. His back case load is also worth reading (see BLOODSHOT, DYING LIGHT and COLD GRANITE).

Harriet Klausner