This is the final book in Alan Stewart’s trilogy of the exploits of Detective Sergeant Bob McKay – see reviews of Calls from the Wild and Cruel Intentions. The author wrote several non-fiction books (eg Killing by Proxy) about wildlife crime before turning to the freedom that fiction gives an author to fill in the gaps from imagination that weren’t part of the evidence put before the courts.
It’s worth remembering that Alan Stewart is a former Wildlife Crime Officer, and a distinguished one at that, so he knows the subject about which he writes but this is fiction. However, it is fiction based on a deep knowledge of what actually happens in the remote parts of the Scottish countryside and hills. There is much truth in this fiction. But even if this were all made up nonsense (it isn’t) Stewart writes so well that the reader is taken along gladly through the twists and turns of the story.
This book has gained plaudits from wildlife crime investigators in the police and the NGOs – I wonder how many gamekeepers, dodgy falconers and egg collectors will have it on their Christmas reading list?
The cover? I think it’s very classy. I’ll give it 9/10. And I notice that I gave 7/10 and 8/10 to the previous two books in this trilogy. Looking back I’m not sure why I have ranked them thus – maybe the style has grown on me over time but I really like this one.
The Peregrine Thief by Alan Stewart is published by Thirsty Books.
[registration_form]