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Connor Fraser #6
Exit Wounds: A breathtakingly unputdownable crime thriller
Can a killer ever be on the side of justice? In 1983, Professor Robert Balfour was found floating in Airthrey Loch at the heart of Stirling University's campus. His death was deemed a tragic accident but there were other, darker rumours. The death of a politics professor allegedly linked to the armed wing of the Scottish Liberation Brigade was always going to attract conspiracy theories. But that's all they were. Theories. Until now. To mark the 40th anniversary of his father's death, Jonathan Rodriguez has travelled back to Stirling - and he's brought a camera crew with him. Rodriguez is convinced his father's death was no accident - and that at least one of the killers wore a uniform. Desperate to make the problem go away, DCI Malcolm Ford turns to Connor Fraser for help. And then another body is found at nearby Bannockburn.
On the trail of a double killer, Connor is forced to confront dark truths about the meaning of justice. And those truths may just break his heart - or stop it, for good.
On the trail of a double killer, Connor is forced to confront dark truths about the meaning of justice. And those truths may just break his heart - or stop it, for good.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published September 9, 2025
7 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Neil Broadfoot
23 books47 followersNeil Broadfoot worked as a journalist for fifteen years at both national and local newspapers, covering some of the biggest stories of the day. A poacher turned gamekeeper, he has since moved into communications: providing media relations advice for a variety of organisations, from Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Service to high profile sporting clubs in Scotland. He’s now working as a communications officer for the Scottish Government.
Neil is married to Fiona and a father to two girls, meaning he’s completely outnumbered in his own home. He lives in Dunfermline, the setting for his first job as a local reporter.
Neil is married to Fiona and a father to two girls, meaning he’s completely outnumbered in his own home. He lives in Dunfermline, the setting for his first job as a local reporter.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 25, 2025
Only one Scots speaker, out of about fifteen speaking characters.
November 16, 2023
Unmarked Graves is the sixth Stirling-set Connor novel, opening with a scene of blood and violence and peril that grabs you by the throat. Then things ratchet down slightly with a demonstration of Connor's everyday skills in Edinburgh, before we meet the next person to ruin his day: Jonathan Rodrigues has returned home from California to Stirling, entourage in tow, to make a documentary about his father's death on the 40th anniversary. Connor's Police Scotland contact, DCI Ford, is enlisting his help in checking out the rumours surrounding the original case.
History professor Robert Balfour was found dead in the Airthrey Loch at the centre of Stirling University's campus in 1983. Officially declared a tragic accident, there were and continue to be rumours that it was anything but - and that there is a shady political/intelligence services connection too, as the professor was a staunch supporter of independence for Scotland.
All this comes as Connor and girlfriend Jen are packing up their flats to move in to a new home together. So once again, work and personal life are pulling Connor in two directions, which never turns out well (though colleague Simon's personal life is seemingly going a little more smoothly, phew).
As the past rushes forwards while Connor and Ford get to grips with the case, history is put to one side as once again a body in found in the loch. So, there's now a cold case and a red-hot one. And of course Sky News reporter Donna Blake is first on the scene, despite being rattled by the fact she and Rodriguez are both being drawn more closely into proceedings by strange messages. When the body in the loch is identified, this also pulls Connor firmly into the centre of things.
There are clandestine depths to people and plots. There are links to Connor and Simon's time in Belfast. There are long-held loyalties which are stretched to the limit. There is vengeance - and at what cost?
There's always plenty of violence in a Connor Fraser novel, so if you're squeamish this may not be the book (or the series) for you. But if you like your vengeance on the bone-crunching, blood-and-guts side, you will be satisfied with Connor's approach to those who mess with him and his.
And once everything is untangled with the two cases - well, some other things appear to need untangled. Is Connor up to this new challenge? I bloody well hope so. Bring on the next instalment!
History professor Robert Balfour was found dead in the Airthrey Loch at the centre of Stirling University's campus in 1983. Officially declared a tragic accident, there were and continue to be rumours that it was anything but - and that there is a shady political/intelligence services connection too, as the professor was a staunch supporter of independence for Scotland.
All this comes as Connor and girlfriend Jen are packing up their flats to move in to a new home together. So once again, work and personal life are pulling Connor in two directions, which never turns out well (though colleague Simon's personal life is seemingly going a little more smoothly, phew).
As the past rushes forwards while Connor and Ford get to grips with the case, history is put to one side as once again a body in found in the loch. So, there's now a cold case and a red-hot one. And of course Sky News reporter Donna Blake is first on the scene, despite being rattled by the fact she and Rodriguez are both being drawn more closely into proceedings by strange messages. When the body in the loch is identified, this also pulls Connor firmly into the centre of things.
There are clandestine depths to people and plots. There are links to Connor and Simon's time in Belfast. There are long-held loyalties which are stretched to the limit. There is vengeance - and at what cost?
There's always plenty of violence in a Connor Fraser novel, so if you're squeamish this may not be the book (or the series) for you. But if you like your vengeance on the bone-crunching, blood-and-guts side, you will be satisfied with Connor's approach to those who mess with him and his.
And once everything is untangled with the two cases - well, some other things appear to need untangled. Is Connor up to this new challenge? I bloody well hope so. Bring on the next instalment!
November 16, 2023
Unmarked Graves is the sixth Stirling-set Connor novel, opening with a scene of blood and violence and peril that grabs you by the throat. Then things ratchet down slightly with a demonstration of Connor's everyday skills in Edinburgh, before we meet the next person to ruin his day: Jonathan Rodrigues has returned home from California to Stirling, entourage in tow, to make a documentary about his father's death on the 40th anniversary. Connor's Police Scotland contact, DCI Ford, is enlisting his help in checking out the rumours surrounding the original case.
History professor Robert Balfour was found dead in the Airthrey Loch at the centre of Stirling University's campus in 1983. Officially declared a tragic accident, there were and continue to be rumours that it was anything but - and that there is a shady political/intelligence services connection too, as the professor was a staunch supporter of independence for Scotland.
All this comes as Connor and girlfriend Jen are packing up their flats to move in to a new home together. So once again, work and personal life are pulling Connor in two directions, which never turns out well (though colleague Simon's personal life is seemingly going a little more smoothly, phew).
As the past rushes forwards while Connor and Ford get to grips with the case, history is put to one side as once again a body in found in the loch. So, there's now a cold case and a red-hot one. And of course Sky News reporter Donna Blake is first on the scene, despite being rattled by the fact she and Rodriguez are both being drawn more closely into proceedings by strange messages. When the body in the loch is identified, this also pulls Connor firmly into the centre of things.
There are clandestine depths to people and plots. There are links to Connor and Simon's time in Belfast. There are long-held loyalties which are stretched to the limit. There is vengeance - and at what cost?
There's always plenty of violence in a Connor Fraser novel, so if you're squeamish this may not be the book (or the series) for you. But if you like your vengeance on the bone-crunching, blood-and-guts side, you will be satisfied with Connor's approach to those who mess with him and his.
And once everything is untangled with the two cases - well, some other things appear to need untangled. Is Connor up to this new challenge? I bloody well hope so. Bring on the next instalment!
History professor Robert Balfour was found dead in the Airthrey Loch at the centre of Stirling University's campus in 1983. Officially declared a tragic accident, there were and continue to be rumours that it was anything but - and that there is a shady political/intelligence services connection too, as the professor was a staunch supporter of independence for Scotland.
All this comes as Connor and girlfriend Jen are packing up their flats to move in to a new home together. So once again, work and personal life are pulling Connor in two directions, which never turns out well (though colleague Simon's personal life is seemingly going a little more smoothly, phew).
As the past rushes forwards while Connor and Ford get to grips with the case, history is put to one side as once again a body in found in the loch. So, there's now a cold case and a red-hot one. And of course Sky News reporter Donna Blake is first on the scene, despite being rattled by the fact she and Rodriguez are both being drawn more closely into proceedings by strange messages. When the body in the loch is identified, this also pulls Connor firmly into the centre of things.
There are clandestine depths to people and plots. There are links to Connor and Simon's time in Belfast. There are long-held loyalties which are stretched to the limit. There is vengeance - and at what cost?
There's always plenty of violence in a Connor Fraser novel, so if you're squeamish this may not be the book (or the series) for you. But if you like your vengeance on the bone-crunching, blood-and-guts side, you will be satisfied with Connor's approach to those who mess with him and his.
And once everything is untangled with the two cases - well, some other things appear to need untangled. Is Connor up to this new challenge? I bloody well hope so. Bring on the next instalment!
May 29, 2025
regrettably rubbish. An elephants graveyard where conspiracy theories go to die and be laughed at. A dead body in 1984, an ardent Scottish Nationalist you say....did someone say Willie Macrae? No definitely not and the existence of a Robert McRae as an ardent independence MSP in the book is of course pure coincidence and nothing to do with the depressed, suicidal Willie who topped himself on a highland moor in 1985 and whose death people with an agenda will forever try to portray as MI5 high jinks by ignoring the clear and obvious evidence and clinging to any self publicist who seeks to gain fleeting fame by claiming special knowledge about the death. A police chief constable, a Lord Advocate, a leading lawyer, a gangster but businessman all meet a death that perpetuates the myth. A serial killer who leaves messages more convoluted and laughably ridiculous than the outcomes in Ted Rogers preposterous Saturday night show in the 80's 3-2-1. Of course the hard man hero, with a soft edge, understands them in a way that would draw respect from Inspector Morse. The culprits shift from being suspected ultra Nationalist students in the 80s, who turn out to be masquerading ultra unionists,to a police chief's uncle,to gangster rivals of the businessman,to a blackmailing American TV reporter,who it turns out is not actually blackmailing anyone,to MI5 and to eventually Irish terrorist scum. And wouldn't you know it the hard man hero (who as the rules of formulaic crime writing dictate must be an EX-policeman and his best mate have a link to Northern Ireland. Anyway, suspicion shifts onto so many people and with such speed that it appears the book started as a single line then spun out with no real end in sight, like the hydrocarbon experiments we had to do at school taking a small manufactured blob of plasticky stuff on a glass rod,round and round the school grounds getting ever thinner until several hundred metres later it stretched too far and broke.
November 27, 2023
Fabulous! Again!
So, Neil Broadfoot has this wonderful skill of weaving intricate details around the central characters, taking the story in quick pace along with the new thrills and mysteries, and, being a Stirling girl, I love when they're travelling around trying to stamp on the fires!!
I'm actually really sad to have finished this latest, I know I've got another year to wait for more!
Thoroughly recommend this (and all the previous if you haven't read them already).
So, Neil Broadfoot has this wonderful skill of weaving intricate details around the central characters, taking the story in quick pace along with the new thrills and mysteries, and, being a Stirling girl, I love when they're travelling around trying to stamp on the fires!!
I'm actually really sad to have finished this latest, I know I've got another year to wait for more!
Thoroughly recommend this (and all the previous if you haven't read them already).
March 30, 2025
This is the sixth book in a series (seven books so far) and the third book which I have read featuring Connor Fraser, an ex-policeman now working in close protection based in Stirling. Although this is an exciting read I found the plot to be convoluted and unbelievable and I am not sure that it even made sense. A journalist from the USA has come to Stirling to investigate the death of his father forty years ago. Several people die and bombs explode.
July 19, 2025
Another complicated ( and violent) story with all our favourite characters.
Well worth the read.
I'm sorry now that I think I've donated the next one ( a proof copy of which started me on the series) to the railway station bookshelf - would be good to read again with the history behind it.
Well worth the read.
I'm sorry now that I think I've donated the next one ( a proof copy of which started me on the series) to the railway station bookshelf - would be good to read again with the history behind it.
December 8, 2024
Another thrilling read, now to see what’s in store for Connor & Co
December 28, 2025
3-1/2 stars
January 1, 2026
Great
Got a little dizzy with all the twists and turns, but that kept my attention, and the need to read on ,such a convoluted story and expertly put on paper.
Got a little dizzy with all the twists and turns, but that kept my attention, and the need to read on ,such a convoluted story and expertly put on paper.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews