I had a wonderful chat with old friend and all-round legend Val McDermid for the Royal Literary Fund’s Collected podcast. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts, or check out here for loads more fantastic episodes.
If you want a laugh, check out me trying to answer questions about my Skelfs series and getting some wrong. Any superfans out there think you can get them all right?
The absolute legend Anne Cater has organised this terrific blog tour for Ghost Notes. We’re a few days in and the book is going down a storm, which is lovely. Check out the dates below.
There’s a lot of music in the Skelfs’ lives, what with the funerals and Dorothy’s band. You can listen here. WARNING: CONTAINS JAZZ. (Only joking, it’s a beautiful piece of Bill Evans piano genius.)
Ghost Notes is out today, published by Orenda Books! It’s the seventh book in my Skelfs series, and my twentieth novel in twenty years – I know, I don’t look old enough, etc. It’s already received lovely reviews in The Times and The Herald, if that floats your boat.
HUGE thanks to everyone at Orenda Books for their support, especially Karen Sullivan.
You can order the paperback here, ebook here, or you can get signed copies from my lovely local Portobello Bookshop here.
What is Ghost Notes about?
A heart attack at a funeral, blackmail, murder, grief bots, affairs, the power of music and ghosts of every kind, who threaten the Skelfs’ very existence. The Skelfs are back in another gripping, heartfelt and irresistible mystery.
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The Skelf women have been keeping their heads down, running the family’s funeral directors and private investigation businesses. But when a woman collapses at her husband’s funeral and is saved by Dorothy, she finds herself drawn into the murky world of ‘grief tech’ – a booming new industry that creates digital avatars of the dead.
Jenny’s latest case – a simple blackmail job for an old school friend – quickly spirals into chaos as the woman’s tangled love life pulls Jenny towards dangerous old habits.
Meanwhile, Hannah and her wife, Indy, are confronted by the unexpected arrival of Indy’s ex-boyfriend, claiming to be dying and eager for the Skelfs to arrange his funeral. But his arrival uncovers more ghosts from the past, and threatens to upend everything they’ve built.
As their cases collide and their personal lives spiral, the Skelfs face danger from all sides. How far will they go to protect one another, and what will it cost to finally silence the ghosts?
Warm, tense and full of heart, Ghost Notes is another masterful instalment in Doug Johnstone’s award-winning, addictive Skelfs series, and the stakes are higher than ever…
Doug Johnstone 