22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories (Logan McRae #9.5).

Logan McRae #8.5-9.5

by Stuart MacBride

From the No. 1 bestselling author of THE MISSING AND THE DEAD comes the short novel: 22 DEAD LITTLE BODIES, plus two short stories: STRAMASH and DI STEEL'S BAD HEIR DAY, and a novella: THE 45% HANGOVER, all featuring his most popular characters – DS Logan McRae and DCI Roberta Steel.



They say ‘small is beautiful’, but as Stuart MacBride demonstrates in these four tales, it can also be dark, violent, disturbing, and sometimes really quite rude.


So pour yourself a wee dram, curl up on the sofa and enjoy DS Logan McRae and his sometime boss, friend, mother substitute, and nemesis, DCI Steel at their best.


Here you’ll find Logan’s week from hell; Steel’s own personal nightmare before Christmas; an explosive shootout on a remote Scottish island; and the ultimate test of their relationship…

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Aka Stuart B. MacBride

The life and times of a bearded write-ist.

Stuart MacBride (that's me) was born in Dumbarton -- which is Glasgow as far as I'm concerned -- moving up to Aberdeen at the tender age of two, when fashions were questionable. Nothing much happened for years and years and years: learned to play the recorder, then forgot how when they changed from little coloured dots to proper musical notes (why the hell couldn't they have taught us the notes in the first bloody place? I could have been performing my earth-shattering rendition of 'Three Blind Mice' at the Albert Hall by now!); appeared in some bizarre World War Two musical production; did my best to avoid eating haggis and generally ran about the place a lot.

Next up was an elongated spell in Westhill -- a small suburb seven miles west of Aberdeen -- where I embarked upon a mediocre academic career, hindered by a complete inability to spell and an attention span the length of a gnat's doodad.

And so to UNIVERSITY, far too young, naive and stupid to be away from the family home, sharing a subterranean flat in one of the seedier bits of Edinburgh with a mad Irishman, and four other bizarre individuals. The highlight of walking to the art school in the mornings (yes: we were students, but we still did mornings) was trying not to tread in the fresh bloodstains outside our front door, and dodging the undercover CID officers trying to buy drugs. Lovely place.

But university and I did not see eye to eye, so off I went to work offshore. Like many all-male environments, working offshore was the intellectual equivalent of Animal House, only without the clever bits. Swearing, smoking, eating, more swearing, pornography, swearing, drinking endless plastic cups of tea... and did I mention the swearing? But it was more money than I'd seen in my life! There's something about being handed a wadge of cash as you clamber off the minibus from the heliport, having spent the last two weeks offshore and the last two hours in an orange, rubber romper suit / body bag, then blowing most of it in the pubs and clubs of Aberdeen. And being young enough to get away without a hangover.

Then came a spell of working for myself as a graphic designer, which went the way of all flesh and into the heady world of studio management for a nation-wide marketing company. Then some more freelance design work, a handful of voiceovers for local radio and video production companies and a bash at being an actor (with a small 'a'), giving it up when it became clear there was no way I was ever going to be good enough to earn a decent living.

It was about this time I fell into bad company -- a blonde from Fife who conned me into marrying her -- and started producing websites for a friend's fledgling Internet company. From there it was a roller coaster ride (in that it made a lot of people feel decidedly unwell) from web designer to web manager, lead programmer, team lead and other assorted technical bollocks with three different companies, eventually ending up as a project manager for a global IT company.

But there was always the writing (well, that's not true, the writing only started two chapters above this one). I fell victim to that most dreadful of things: peer pressure. Two friends were writing novels and I thought, 'why not? I could do that'.

Took a few years though...

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this volume, which contains a short novel, a novella and two short stories featuring Acting DI Logan McRae and DI Roberta Steel.
The title story, "22 Dead Little Bodies", is very much in the same vein as the full-length McRae and Steel novels, with a couple of distinct investigations going on. Steel is getting on McRae's nerves as usual, swooping in with her MIT team on any interesting cases, leaving his team to sort out anything else. A feud between neighbours escalates bizarrely, and McRae witnesses a jumping suicide, but the team are unable to locate the deceased's wife and two children. Meanwhile, McRae is trying to sell his flat in order to pay for his injured partner's medical care while simultaneously trying to deflect offers of assistance from an underworld figure.
I'd read the novella "The 45% Hangover" a couple of times before, but it remains entertaining and must be the least overtly violent McRae and Steel story out there. On the night of the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014, McRae is pursuing leads on a missing "No" campaigner, while Steel inflicts her obsession with the result on everybody within shouting distance.
The first short story, "Stramash" has Steel urgently summoning McRae to the Isle of Jura, where Steel's wife is at "some sort of team-building thing". It has become apparent to her that all the local drug syndicates are converging on the island - something is definitely up!
The second short story, "DI Steel's Bad Heir Day" is a Christmas time story, in which a missing person's case, an unwanted legacy and PC Guthrie combine to thwart Steel's plans of wrapping her gifts before getting blootered and taking her daughter to the Panto.
As usual, I found all the stories entertaining, and the repartée between Steel and Logan is as hilarious as ever. Aberdeen remains a hotbed of criminal activity, some expectedly gruesome, some laughingly hopeless. Recommended for series fans.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart MacBride is one of my favourite crime authors, and I’m more than willing to dive into each Logan McRae story he releases. Even though I’m not a big fan of short stories – I prefer to devour a lengthy novel – I was more than willing to dive into Stuart MacBride’s short stories. With 22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories, we were given four short stories that add to the Logan McRae series. Reading them is not a necessity to understand the overall series, but they do add a little something that is enjoyable for fans of the series.

As a whole, I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Made up of 22 Dead Little Bodies, Stramash, DI Steel’s Bad Heir Day, and The 45% Hangover, we’re given some nice little extras to the series. 22 Dead Little Bodies was a three-star rating, whereas the other three stories – Stramash, DI Steel’s Bad Heir Day, and The 45% Hangover – were all four-star ratings. Hence my rounded-up rating of four-stars.

Without a doubt, these are enjoyable stories for anyone who loves a good Stuart MacBride read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories featuring the characters in Stuart Macbride's Logan Macrae ongoing series. It includes 2 short stories, a novella and a "short novel" of which I really don't see a difference but that's how they're described. In the introduction there is also a very helpful continuity guide to show what order they should be read and what full length novels they preceded or proceed.

Of the short stories I enjoyed DI Steel's Bad Heir Day (didn't even notice the pun until now) as you saw how Steel copes when Logan isn't around and that she's a big a pain in the arse to someone else.

The other short story, Stramash didn't do anything for me. Can't put my finger on why as it has the series' main characters being themselves when they're around each other but I got very little out of it. Shame.

The 45% Hangover was brilliant!! A Novella set around the conclusion to Scotland's vote for independence it, again, mainly features Logan and Steel but this time it's pure comedy gold. The banter is perfect, the way they interact and react to the situation they find themselves, it's perfect. There was even a brief, very brief, tender moment which was nice to see.

The book's title story is a reworked disregarded part of the next (chronological) full length novel, The Missing and the Dead. I've not read that yet but it's a big book so it's understandable why things needed chopping.

Basically it's Macbride piling on as much shit as he can to Logan's life whether it be personal or professional. There's crimes to solve, credit to be fought for and the after - effects of Shatter the Bones (book 7) still going on. It was a really good segue between books 8 and 9 so I'm glad it wasn't disregarded. It's also the point that I finished reading and thought it had gone too dark (which is saying a lot considering how dark and gritty the books have been). Believable and, given the nature of the series, not out of place, but I still came away feeling it was too dark.

[ReadsSometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just pure classic DS Logan McRae and DCI Steel.

22 Dead Little bodies - the first story. A rift between two neighbours becomes a lot more than just a riff. Brilliant writing as usual with the same grit and humour which accompanies all the books I have read in this series.

The other three are just funny. Playing more on the humour side, but with such intelligent writing. As I was reading it, I thought - Carry On films! If you have read his books you will know what I mean.

A splendid little book. Recommended!

[Kenneth Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book Steel's sarcasm drips from the page. There are so many funny lines. Gripping stuff too.

[Nick Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella, a shorter novella, and a couple of short stories.. this was entertaining, dark and witty in the main. Many of the aspects I recall enjoying in earlier MacBride novels, nice to return to some familiar characters. However, it was in places a little cartoonish and too silly, plus the same tired similes for DCI Steel are getting a touch tedious. For the 20p I paid in a library sale however, you can't complain.

[DrAhmed Elsherbini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories, the longest and main one being 22 Dead Little Bodies and all of them feature DS Logan and DCI Steel. My personal favourite was The 45% Hangover. I did enjoy the book although at times I found the banter and comical conversations a little OTT but was overall a good read and I would recommend.

[Bachyboy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shall I just give up reading? story began with an awful suicide then progressed to a case of a man hanging bags of dog poo in a lady's cherry tree. What a load of horrible rubbish.

[Alona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.
I already miss Logan ☹️

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of three shorter stories/novellas from Stuart MacBride, each of which came with something different to offer.

22 Dead Little Bodies hinges around some issues in suburbia, with a conflict with a nag of a neighbor escalating further and further. Stramash is a vacation-in-Hell story, with Steel calling Logan out to Jura to help her react to a meeting of the British Isles' rogues gallery regarding a sudden appearance of a sunken treasure of drugs. The 45% Hangover revolves around Scotland's independence referendum, with Steel and Logan having to negotiate the nightmare scenario of waking up next to each other, handcuffed together and naked.

I appreciate the combination of grisly and humorous that populates all MacBride stories. Typically, the more violent the crime, the more humor included to offset it. Usually, this is to the extent that, if you find yourself really laughing early on in the story, you know there's something heavy lurking ahead in the narrative.

The combination of Steel and Logan is wonderful as always. The earlier novels had Logan partnered up with D.I. Insch and, while there was nothing wrong with Insch, the series really hits its stride when Steel emerges on the scene as one of the more endearing work-evading, credit-stealing monsters in recent memory.

You don't necessarily need to read this in the proper order. However, I do feel like you need to read this after Logan has started working for Steel. You get some exposure to her in the 2nd book, Dying Light, but the longer to read in the series, the more you're going to understand the nuances of their admittedly weird working relationship.

It's something that you see much more of when Logan makes his detour into community policing in Banff and Fraserburgh later in the series, but you also get a good idea through this series of how being a detective or a police officer is keeping multiple plates spinning at once. Logan usually has multiple cases going at once, and rarely in a "seemingly disconnected, but actually linked" way, they seem disconnected and are. It adds to this pervading sense of Logan and other police officers struggling to keep their heads above water at all times, so most of their humor is gallows humor from the unremitting stress of the job.

Great addition to the series.

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 3 out of 5]

**Should Read as 3.5 STARS!**

This enjoyable novel is a collection of stories, consisting of a short novel, a novella and two short stories.

The short novel "22 Dead Little Bodies" is superb, the novella "The 45% Hangover" is very good, but the two short stories "DI Steel's Bad heir Day" and "Stramash" are very mediocre and predictable, proving that short stories are an art in themselves, and in my honest opinion the author is not very good at those.

Storytelling is very good, the characters in the two main stories very believable and lifelike, but in the short stories very much less so, while Aberdeen and its background are beautifully pictured and described by the author.

Like I said about the first story, the short novel is absolutely top-notch from start to finish with Ds Logan McRae in top form involving the cases in "22 Dead Little Bodies".

The two short stories are predictable in their outcome, while the banter between Ds Logan McRae and D(C)I Roberta Steel is at times really funny, but too much of it can become nagging, and that happens in the end too much in my view.

The novella "The 45% Hangover" is about Scotland's Referendum for Independence and escape from the rules and ridicules from its southern neighbour, and that Referendum result will turn into a total hangover for DCI Steel and DS McRae by both ending up into all sort of troubles, just like Scotland after the Referendum, but in the end they will escape to live again towards a renewed life in a Scotland build for the future.

Very much recommended for fans, like myself, of Stuart MacBride and his creation of DS Logan McRae, but what this latest offering is concerned I like to call it: "A Decent Collection Of Stories"!

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

22 Dead Little Bodies and Other Stories contains a short novel (22 Dead Little Bodies) a novella (The 45° Hangover), and 2 short stories featuring Logan and Steele, brought together in a single volume.
In 22 Dead Little Bodies, Logan McRae has a lot on his plate. He's dealing with a dispute between neighbours which turns ugly very quickly. There's also the case of two missing children whose father murdered their mother and then committed suicide. It's a race against the clock to find the children. As if that wasn't enough, he also has DCI Steele to contend with.
The short stories and novella, which I have previously read and reviewed, are typical Logan and Steele offerings packed with dark humour and the brilliant rapport between the main protagonists.
22 Dead Little Bodies is a gripping read, with MacBride's trademark gallows humour and dark themes.

[E Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

logan walks out onto a ledge to try to talk down a suicide jumper. He takes with him a bag of shopping! really!!!
The guy has a huge knife and is covered with blood he jumps. Where is his wife? nobody knows why she has disappeared. Sherlock Holmes would have struggled to work this out!
The missing kids were last seen being picked up in a car, very shortly after the car is then abandoned. The kids have not been seen since. It didn't occur to anyone that the kids could still be in the car?
Not like Stuart Macbride very poor.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stuart MacBride is one of my favourite authors and this book consisting of four short stories featuring the popular, Acting D I Logan McRae, was a treat. Despite the title, this novel was a real page turner and so very funny in places although I think some people may struggle a wee bit with the Scottish humour.
I like this innovative way of writing short stories in one novel, featuring a well loved main character and would recommend this.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎧 great narrator.
this was just awesome. 4 stories in 1 book.
Steele never disappoints, she is always written so funny and I laugh out loud with nearly all the Logan Mcrae and Steele books, this one has me laughing more than most

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to find out more of Logan's life around the flat where Samantha had her accident.
It puts some of the events which occur in later books into context.

[Stein Roar · Rating 3 out of 5]

"22 Dead little bodies" er en kortroman av Stuart MacBride. En krangel mellom en tilsynelatende hysterisk, gammel dame og hennes rolige nabo er opptakten til nok en sak for McRae og Steel.

[Zala · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, these shortstories were fun to read, 3 stars for the most part, but The 45% Hangover was a solid 5!

[Christopher Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just love these characters hope Stuart continues with the series cos I miss them

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to read them as a bridge between Close to the Bone and The Missing and the Dead.
22 Dead Little Bodies
DI Steel's Bad Hair Day
Stamash
The 45% Hangover

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Roberta Steel is a class act and a true one liner queen. The dynamic between Roberta and Logan is brilliant.

[Lou Canning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! As usual!

[Alex Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A set of 4 tales from the Logan McRae universe that fill in little gaps here and there for fans. Packed full of Roberta Steel at her very worst, these are as usual laugh out loud funny, yet also with sone very awful crimes. Stuart MacBride has very little in the way of boundaries.

All the stories are great reads, 22 Dead Bodies is about half the 320 pages, Steels bad hair day is hilarious, and Stramash , probably my least favourite
of the 4 is still great.

The 45 % hangover is a bit of genius for all McRae fans. It’s almost perfect.

Great little filler, I enjoyed this and am reinvigorated for more of the team

[Kevin Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I now remember why I dislike short stories

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

What a wonderful stopgap to have available until the next Logan McRae book is out!!

22 Dead Little Bodies

We have warring neighbors – one of whom is absolutely bonkers - a combative drunk, a suicide by jumping and missing children. Logan finally sells his apartment so Samantha can go to a private facility, and Rueben is baaaaack. And…the mysterious deaths of twenty – um, well – just read the book and you’ll find out! This is just the first story!

DI Steel’s Bad Heir Day

It Christmas and we have a missing husband, a wife having a little on the side and DI Steel inherits a pile of money, but only if she will…But, will she do it or not?

Stramash

DI Steel demands that Logan get his behind up to a small island off the coast of Scotland. She doesn’t say why, of course. When he finally gets there, there seems to be a meeting of major drug lords at the inn. One of them is even supposed to be dead. They find some drugs on the beach, so they come up with a plan to nab the bad guys – one by one. She’s supposed to be there on holiday with Susan but…

The 45% Hangover

It’s Referendum Day in Scotland and Steel forgot to vote, oh my! Meanwhile, a man is missing and Logan is searching for him. With Steel crabbing at the television over the election results, Logan is out searching the docks and bars for the missing man. He gets some leads and then decides to wait for their suspect. But, of course, it all goes wrong and we end up with a hilarious bit and Steel and Logan are well…read the novella and see.

I simply adore Stuart MacBride’s writing and wit. The Steel and McRae book are among the very best that I’ve read. Can’t wait for the next one!!

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a conflicted view of this novella and the other short stories. DCI Steel has to be one of the most annoying, dysfunctional, ineffective and weird characters I have encountered recently. It stretches the imagination to believe anyone remotely like her could actually hold down a position of responsibility. The mysteries were gritty and dark; the detectives were rough around the edges. So don't expect any sweetness here. Although there were some humorous scenes, they mostly ended in mayhem and death, so yeah...not so much comic relief there.

And now I'm wondering why I even gave this 3-stars. There must have been some reason...

[Simone Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a big Stuart MacBride fan and love the Logan McRae series.

I hadn’t read any of his books for a while and this collection of short stories was next on my list.

The stories mainly feature Logan and his unintentionally hilarious superior, DCI Steel.

As always, the descriptions are brilliant and you can really picture the scene!

Logan and Steel get up to some antics and I found myself laughing out loud more than once.

A great collection of short stories which I really enjoyed.

[J.J. Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection, two novellas: the title story and The 45% Hangover, plus two short stories. Personally I wish I'd simply bought the two novellas separately. The short stories are woeful, maybe put in for padding? Next time maybe bubble wrap would be better (at least that can be an enjoyable way to pass the time). So really it's four stars each for the novellas and a bare two stars for the short stories.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quirky characters, although one of the main characters goes beyond obnoxious. It gets to be a little much at times. I think this was a collection of short stories that came out of or filled in gaps between other books. Maybe because of that it felt choppy and like it skipped around without having a nice even flow, and I don’t just mean from one major section to the other. Clearly they were separate stories. It was more like they hadn’t been edited properly for continuity etc.