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Rebecca Connolly #6
Hollow Mountain
The Tunnel Tigers were an elite group of construction workers who specialised in a lucrative but hazardous profession – blasting tunnels through mountains and under rivers, in dangerous conditions few men could endure.
Alice Larkin, the headstrong daughter of a millionaire and former news reporter, claims her lover, a Tunnel Tiger, died in mysterious circumstances many years ago, and she wants journalist Rebecca Connolly to investigate.
Intrigued, Rebecca throws herself into investigating the story, but she soon comes face to face with an old adversary. Family legacies and influential reputations are at stake – and danger is shockingly close to home.
Alice Larkin, the headstrong daughter of a millionaire and former news reporter, claims her lover, a Tunnel Tiger, died in mysterious circumstances many years ago, and she wants journalist Rebecca Connolly to investigate.
Intrigued, Rebecca throws herself into investigating the story, but she soon comes face to face with an old adversary. Family legacies and influential reputations are at stake – and danger is shockingly close to home.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 2, 2024
10 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Douglas Skelton
41 books139 followersDouglas has been a shelf stacker, bank clerk, tax officer, factory worker, advertising salesperson, taxi driver (for two days), wine waiter (for two hours), journalist and criminal investigator. His early books were all in true crime or criminal history but now he writes fiction, beginning with the Davie McCall series. The final book in the series, OPEN WOUNDS, has been longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize 2016, alongside such authors as Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Lin Anderson, Doug Johnstone and James Oswald.
His next book is THE DEAD DON'T BOOGIE, which will kick off a new series.
His next book is THE DEAD DON'T BOOGIE, which will kick off a new series.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 3, 2025
This amazing crime novel is the 6th volume of the marvellous "Rebecca Connolly" series.
The author's storytelling is superb, all characters, good and bad, come vividly to life in this tale of murder and determination, while the atmosphere, past and present, of Glasgow and the rest of Scotland comes splendidly off the pages.
The book starts off with an excerpt from Alice Larkin, former journalist in the 60s and now an old lady with huge secrets, and that first excerpt will convince Ms Elspeth McTaggart and Rebecca Connolly to take on this case, and start investigating a murder in the sixties that was committed and who was responsible, and what was done to keep it all this time under wraps.
Each important part starts with a new excerpt from Alice Larkin's testimony, and it will draw Rebecca and Elspeth further into a web of danger and deceit, and into a criminal world where taking lives is common, a fact that Elspeth will encounter for herself when she's run down by a car.
Rebecca will receive more help during her investigations from friends, such as former DS Bill Sawyer, and from Alan and Chaz, until she will have to face an old adversary in the form of Finbar Dalgliesh, while also other figures like Danny McCall from the Davie McCall quartet of books is also making an appearance, and Dalgliesh himself in monitored by a certain Julian, until a final excerpt from Alice and last confrontation with Finbar Dalgliesh and Julian and his cronies will reveal certain murders and actions and the really dangerous criminals behind it all.
What is to follow is a tremendous and captivating crime novel, a novel with a great storyline combined with a superbly executed plot in the end, to make this book such a fantastic read.
Very much recommended, for this is the best addition, so far for me, of this terrific series, and that's why I like to call this latest episode: "An Engrossing Crime Story"!
The author's storytelling is superb, all characters, good and bad, come vividly to life in this tale of murder and determination, while the atmosphere, past and present, of Glasgow and the rest of Scotland comes splendidly off the pages.
The book starts off with an excerpt from Alice Larkin, former journalist in the 60s and now an old lady with huge secrets, and that first excerpt will convince Ms Elspeth McTaggart and Rebecca Connolly to take on this case, and start investigating a murder in the sixties that was committed and who was responsible, and what was done to keep it all this time under wraps.
Each important part starts with a new excerpt from Alice Larkin's testimony, and it will draw Rebecca and Elspeth further into a web of danger and deceit, and into a criminal world where taking lives is common, a fact that Elspeth will encounter for herself when she's run down by a car.
Rebecca will receive more help during her investigations from friends, such as former DS Bill Sawyer, and from Alan and Chaz, until she will have to face an old adversary in the form of Finbar Dalgliesh, while also other figures like Danny McCall from the Davie McCall quartet of books is also making an appearance, and Dalgliesh himself in monitored by a certain Julian, until a final excerpt from Alice and last confrontation with Finbar Dalgliesh and Julian and his cronies will reveal certain murders and actions and the really dangerous criminals behind it all.
What is to follow is a tremendous and captivating crime novel, a novel with a great storyline combined with a superbly executed plot in the end, to make this book such a fantastic read.
Very much recommended, for this is the best addition, so far for me, of this terrific series, and that's why I like to call this latest episode: "An Engrossing Crime Story"!
August 12, 2024
The Hollow Mountain by Douglas Skelton
Douglas Skelton’s The Hollow Mountain is a great blend of mystery, danger, and intrigue.
Imagine delving into the world of the Tunnel Tigers, a group of fearless construction workers who blast tunnels through mountains and rivers in conditions that would send most running. These men are tough, brave, and just a bit larger than life—so when one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, you know there’s more to the story. And of ourselves, who better than to cover this? Rebecca Connolly.
The story begins with Alice Larkin, a headstrong millionaire’s daughter with a past steeped in tragedy and a determination to uncover the truth and to tell the world what she knows. Years ago, Alice lost her lover, a Tunnel Tiger, in what she knows was no ordinary accident. Desperate for the truth to be shared to the world, she enlists the help of journalist Rebecca Connolly and her mentor Elspeth, who can’t resist the lure of a good story—even when it might drag them into dangerous waters.
Rebecca is a force to be reckoned with as she digs into the shadows of the past, uncovering secrets that powerful people would prefer stayed buried. With Elspeth life hanging on the line, time is precious and Rebecca will do just about anything to solve this mystery.
Skelton weaves together family legacies, dark reputations, politics, history and the eerie, almost claustrophobic world of tunnelling to create a story that’s both atmospheric and eye opening.
But it’s not just the mystery that will grab you. Rebecca’s confrontation with an old adversary adds an extra layer of tension to the narrative, making it clear that this investigation is personal—and the stakes are higher than ever.
The Hollow Mountain is perfect for readers who love their mysteries with a touch of grit and a lot of heart. Skelton’s sharp writing and well-drawn characters make this a must-read for anyone who enjoys a story where danger is never far from home, and the truth is as elusive as it is explosive.
Thank you to the Publisher Polygon for sending me a copy of this great book in exchange for an honest review.
Douglas Skelton’s The Hollow Mountain is a great blend of mystery, danger, and intrigue.
Imagine delving into the world of the Tunnel Tigers, a group of fearless construction workers who blast tunnels through mountains and rivers in conditions that would send most running. These men are tough, brave, and just a bit larger than life—so when one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, you know there’s more to the story. And of ourselves, who better than to cover this? Rebecca Connolly.
The story begins with Alice Larkin, a headstrong millionaire’s daughter with a past steeped in tragedy and a determination to uncover the truth and to tell the world what she knows. Years ago, Alice lost her lover, a Tunnel Tiger, in what she knows was no ordinary accident. Desperate for the truth to be shared to the world, she enlists the help of journalist Rebecca Connolly and her mentor Elspeth, who can’t resist the lure of a good story—even when it might drag them into dangerous waters.
Rebecca is a force to be reckoned with as she digs into the shadows of the past, uncovering secrets that powerful people would prefer stayed buried. With Elspeth life hanging on the line, time is precious and Rebecca will do just about anything to solve this mystery.
Skelton weaves together family legacies, dark reputations, politics, history and the eerie, almost claustrophobic world of tunnelling to create a story that’s both atmospheric and eye opening.
But it’s not just the mystery that will grab you. Rebecca’s confrontation with an old adversary adds an extra layer of tension to the narrative, making it clear that this investigation is personal—and the stakes are higher than ever.
The Hollow Mountain is perfect for readers who love their mysteries with a touch of grit and a lot of heart. Skelton’s sharp writing and well-drawn characters make this a must-read for anyone who enjoys a story where danger is never far from home, and the truth is as elusive as it is explosive.
Thank you to the Publisher Polygon for sending me a copy of this great book in exchange for an honest review.
April 29, 2024
Douglas Skelton is a skilled and accomplished writer. His Rebecca Connolly series has really well imagined characters with depth and integrity. I think that’s why, although the crimes in these books are important, the focus is usually on the characters rather than the actual deeds and it is always to the characters we return to find out if our empathy or our dislike is justified in terms of what the book reveals about motive and intent.
The Hollow Mountain has a dual timeline. In the present day, Rebecca and her boss, Elspeth are in Glasgow to be filmed for a documentary about one of their previous cases and Alan and Chas are joining them later.
While in Glasgow Elspeth and Rebecca meet up with an old friend and former boss of Elspeth’s, her former Editor, Forbes McKay. He has a story for then, or, to be precise, his cousin, ex TV news presenter Alice Larkin does.
Alice Larkin is bed-ridden and clearly not keeping too well. She yells the women that she has a story to tell, but that she wants them to investigate in order to make up their own minds about what went on. It is, she tells them, a story about an unreported and therefore unsolved murder. To help them, she has written out the story, but will parcel it out to the women in chapters, so that their own investigations are what cause them to reach their conclusions.
Thereafter the novel reaches back in time to Alice’s account of what happened near Pitlochry in late 1950’s and early 1960’s when the Ben Cruachan mountain was being excavated by the ‘Tunnel Tigers’ in preparation for making the hydro-electricity power station bringing power to the Highlands. This is interspersed with the present day and what Rebecca and Elspeth themselves discover.
I love what Skelton does with this book. The very real and authentic depiction of the ‘tunnel tigers’ an elite group of construction workers who specialised in a highly paid but dangerous profession: driving tunnels through mountains. In the 1950s they were involved in a score of huge hydroelectric tunnels in Pitlochry and the Highlands of Scotland. Many of them came from Donegal, and there were tensions created when men of various religious and ethnic groups shared the same dangerous space.
He takes this true scenario and marries it with Alice’s story. The story of a rich man’s daughter who falls for a tunnel tiger and whose actions displease a number of people, including Alice’s own father. Rebecca is intrigued and really gets caught up in investigating Alice’s story, but before long she realises that this case has modern day links to an old foe – one she hoped not to see again.
Skelton’s flair for characterisation has given Rebecca a depth of character that is totally three dimensional and her daily interactions with people allow you to understand just how driven she is but also how much she values her friendships.
Here Rebecca follows a paper trail without any of us understanding quite where it is going or how far reaching it will be. It even touches on her family history in a way that is deeply personal. Both the contemporary and the 50’s elements of this story become more closely knit as the full story gets closer to being revealed and some shocking and dramatic moments ensure that nothing will ever be quite the same again.
Verdict: Skelton has delivered a shocking, brutal and yet gloriously well-written book which speaks to human nature and the pursuit of justice in a flawed and dangerous world. I liked this book a lot and I found that I was left with an even greater understanding of what lies behind Rebecca’s personality more than ever. I don’t know what lies in store for her, but the events of this book must surely constitute a pivotal moment in her life.
The Hollow Mountain has a dual timeline. In the present day, Rebecca and her boss, Elspeth are in Glasgow to be filmed for a documentary about one of their previous cases and Alan and Chas are joining them later.
While in Glasgow Elspeth and Rebecca meet up with an old friend and former boss of Elspeth’s, her former Editor, Forbes McKay. He has a story for then, or, to be precise, his cousin, ex TV news presenter Alice Larkin does.
Alice Larkin is bed-ridden and clearly not keeping too well. She yells the women that she has a story to tell, but that she wants them to investigate in order to make up their own minds about what went on. It is, she tells them, a story about an unreported and therefore unsolved murder. To help them, she has written out the story, but will parcel it out to the women in chapters, so that their own investigations are what cause them to reach their conclusions.
Thereafter the novel reaches back in time to Alice’s account of what happened near Pitlochry in late 1950’s and early 1960’s when the Ben Cruachan mountain was being excavated by the ‘Tunnel Tigers’ in preparation for making the hydro-electricity power station bringing power to the Highlands. This is interspersed with the present day and what Rebecca and Elspeth themselves discover.
I love what Skelton does with this book. The very real and authentic depiction of the ‘tunnel tigers’ an elite group of construction workers who specialised in a highly paid but dangerous profession: driving tunnels through mountains. In the 1950s they were involved in a score of huge hydroelectric tunnels in Pitlochry and the Highlands of Scotland. Many of them came from Donegal, and there were tensions created when men of various religious and ethnic groups shared the same dangerous space.
He takes this true scenario and marries it with Alice’s story. The story of a rich man’s daughter who falls for a tunnel tiger and whose actions displease a number of people, including Alice’s own father. Rebecca is intrigued and really gets caught up in investigating Alice’s story, but before long she realises that this case has modern day links to an old foe – one she hoped not to see again.
Skelton’s flair for characterisation has given Rebecca a depth of character that is totally three dimensional and her daily interactions with people allow you to understand just how driven she is but also how much she values her friendships.
Here Rebecca follows a paper trail without any of us understanding quite where it is going or how far reaching it will be. It even touches on her family history in a way that is deeply personal. Both the contemporary and the 50’s elements of this story become more closely knit as the full story gets closer to being revealed and some shocking and dramatic moments ensure that nothing will ever be quite the same again.
Verdict: Skelton has delivered a shocking, brutal and yet gloriously well-written book which speaks to human nature and the pursuit of justice in a flawed and dangerous world. I liked this book a lot and I found that I was left with an even greater understanding of what lies behind Rebecca’s personality more than ever. I don’t know what lies in store for her, but the events of this book must surely constitute a pivotal moment in her life.
June 25, 2024
I have enjoyed the Rebecca Connolly series since the very beginning, Thunder Bay, so it's always a treat to dive into another instalment. Here, Rebecca and her news agency boss, Elspeth, are handed part of a personal testimony about the events of 1964 and the Cruachan project (the mountain Ben Cruachan, east of Oban, was hollowed out for a hydroelectric power station) by Alice Larkin, a legendary and trailblazing female reporter who is now a house-bound elderly woman seemingly seeking a vicarious final thrill of the chase after a story.
Alice, as a young reporter on a local paper, wanted a story to get her teeth into, and looked to the Cruachan project, where she met Gerry Rawlings and her life was turned upside down. But Alice now keeps Rebecca and Elspeth at arm's length, doling out her story in instalments despite her apparent desire to see "a murder that never was" investigated by the journalists. It's soon clear there are many revelations to come - including about Alice - amid a tangled web of threads that make for a highly satisfying plot. There is also one strand that tests emotions to the limit, of both characters and reader.
Skelton's love of film, especially classic noir and Westerns, is surely part of why he can't resist a good final showdown; here it is high on the hills, perfect for sweeping wide shots to capture the harsh beauty of the landscape and emphasise how insignificant and transient people really are. But is it Wild West justice being doled out? You'll have to read the novel to find out...
Alice, as a young reporter on a local paper, wanted a story to get her teeth into, and looked to the Cruachan project, where she met Gerry Rawlings and her life was turned upside down. But Alice now keeps Rebecca and Elspeth at arm's length, doling out her story in instalments despite her apparent desire to see "a murder that never was" investigated by the journalists. It's soon clear there are many revelations to come - including about Alice - amid a tangled web of threads that make for a highly satisfying plot. There is also one strand that tests emotions to the limit, of both characters and reader.
Skelton's love of film, especially classic noir and Westerns, is surely part of why he can't resist a good final showdown; here it is high on the hills, perfect for sweeping wide shots to capture the harsh beauty of the landscape and emphasise how insignificant and transient people really are. But is it Wild West justice being doled out? You'll have to read the novel to find out...
October 16, 2024
Alice Larkin calls on Elspeth and Rebecca to investigate, as journalists, a murder that happened decades ago that was never investigated. In fact, it wasn't reported as a murder at all. Rebecca is tenacious as a reporter. She is very focused, to the exclusion of just about everything else. Elspeth is her boss, and she is certainly one of a kind. I have loved all the books in this series and read that there is one more planned for next year. I look forward to it.
July 1, 2025
Not the first time i think i should take a break from contemporary thriller novels. The plot could be globally good, bit the characters are more and more stereotyped, bad guys are rich, powerful, white, alt-right of any kind. Understand the wish to fight monsters, would like my fiction be a tad more complex.
And the attraction to conspiracy theories a bit less obvious. Not saying this particular boot of Rebecca’s adventures are bad, just awfully « convenues »
And the attraction to conspiracy theories a bit less obvious. Not saying this particular boot of Rebecca’s adventures are bad, just awfully « convenues »
August 27, 2025
Alice Larkin, daughter of a millionaire has a a story to tell. Alice claims someone died in very mysterious circumstances while working at Cruachan many years ago.
What follows is a story with a dual timeline,set both in the early 1960s and the present day.
This is a really well written book. It got a little bit 'airy fairy' towards the end and I was not so keen on the 'conspiracy theory ' part of the story. I did enjoy the book though.
Book No.6 in the Rebecca Connolly series.
What follows is a story with a dual timeline,set both in the early 1960s and the present day.
This is a really well written book. It got a little bit 'airy fairy' towards the end and I was not so keen on the 'conspiracy theory ' part of the story. I did enjoy the book though.
Book No.6 in the Rebecca Connolly series.
August 8, 2024
Another belter from Douglas Skelton in the Rebecca Connolly series. Drops a star because of a particular thread which I find ‘a little difficult to stomach’, although handled very well. Particularly like the recurring characters, it adds to the Connolly Universe. The next one will be interesting and I’m looking forward to reading it.
June 4, 2024
Great love this series of books. Great author,
June 24, 2024
Good read, as always
Love the Rebecca series, excellent story telling from Mr Skelton. Believable characters, nice sense of place and a cracking story.
Love the Rebecca series, excellent story telling from Mr Skelton. Believable characters, nice sense of place and a cracking story.
September 17, 2024
Excellent entry for this series - the best yet.
January 26, 2025
A gift from my lovely son for Christmas 2024. I'll be reading more of hers.
February 11, 2025
Found this story really hard to get into but was good enough
July 29, 2025
The writing style was so passive and detached, why so many side remarks? Bit dry.
May 9, 2024
Brilliant…
This book was published as “The Hollow Mountain” - I have no idea why it has come up here as “Tigers in the Dark” - I assume it was previously titled such.
Funny, exciting, intriguing, thrilling, sad - this book has it all. Investigative reporter Rebecca Connelly finds herself up to her ears in another story that twists and turns towards a satisfactory conclusion. A once intrepid reporter & TV celebrity calls on Rebecca and her boss, Elspeth, to solve “the murder that never was” knowing it might put them in danger. What could possibly link Cruachan Hydro project, the Swinging Sixties, a hit & run decades apart and Rebecca’s dad, respected ex-Superintendent (now deceased) of the Glasgow polis? Full of intrigue and a few scares, this excellent book hits all the right buttons brilliantly put together by the author. One of my favourite bits is the nod to a fellow author of crime novels - no spoilers (IYKYK). Thoroughly recommended.
This book was published as “The Hollow Mountain” - I have no idea why it has come up here as “Tigers in the Dark” - I assume it was previously titled such.
Funny, exciting, intriguing, thrilling, sad - this book has it all. Investigative reporter Rebecca Connelly finds herself up to her ears in another story that twists and turns towards a satisfactory conclusion. A once intrepid reporter & TV celebrity calls on Rebecca and her boss, Elspeth, to solve “the murder that never was” knowing it might put them in danger. What could possibly link Cruachan Hydro project, the Swinging Sixties, a hit & run decades apart and Rebecca’s dad, respected ex-Superintendent (now deceased) of the Glasgow polis? Full of intrigue and a few scares, this excellent book hits all the right buttons brilliantly put together by the author. One of my favourite bits is the nod to a fellow author of crime novels - no spoilers (IYKYK). Thoroughly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews