The Great Silence (3)

The Skelfs #3

by Doug Johnstone

The discovery of a human foot in an Edinburgh park, the inexplicable circumstances of a dying woman, and the missing daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-husband present the Skelf women with their most challenging – and deadly – cases yet…

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Keeping on top of the family funeral directors’ and private-investigation businesses is no easy task for the Skelf women, and when matriarch Dorothy discovers a human foot while walking the dog, a perplexing case presents itself … with potentially deadly results.

Daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah have their hands full The mysterious circumstances of a dying woman lead them into an unexpected family drama, Hannah's new astrophysicist colleague claims he's receiving messages from outer space, and the Skelfs' teenaged lodger has yet another devastating experience.

Nothing is clear as the women are immersed ever deeper in their most challenging cases yet. But when the daughter of Jenny’s violent and fugitive ex-husband goes missing without trace and a wild animal is spotted roaming Edinburgh's parks, real danger presents itself, and all three Skelfs are in peril.

Taut, dark, warmly funny and unafraid to ask big questions – of us all –  The Great Silence  is the much-anticipated third instalment in the addictive, unforgettable Skelfs series, and the stakes are higher than ever.

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Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Scotland, Contemporary, Death

300 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2021

About the author

Doug Johnstone is a writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. His fourth novel, Hit & Run, was published by Faber and Faber in 2012. His previous novel, Smokeheads, was published in March 2011, also by Faber. Before that he published two novels with Penguin, Tombstoning (2006) and The Ossians (2008), which received praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Christopher Brookmyre. Doug is currently writer in residence at the University of Strathclyde. He has had short stories appear in various publications, and since 1999 he has worked as a freelance arts journalist, primarily covering music and literature. He grew up in Arbroath and lives in Portobello, Edinburgh with his wife and two children. He loves drinking malt whisky and playing football, not necessarily at the same time.

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. I felt like I read twenty books in one sitting, lots of plots all emotional, thrilling and exciting. We have the jaguar, the foot, Vanessa, Liam returns, Craig is back, a proposal, an animal attack, many deaths of course, another (not the Skelfs) examination of the lives of three generations of women, a suicide, a killing, cadavers in the most unforeseen places, communication from galaxies, one of a kind dog and a celebration of life and death to name only a few.

This series is so good, I cannot recommend it enough! The fact that this exploration into the lives of three generation of women is performed by a man still baffles me. In his books Johnstone not only scrutinizes the life, needs, hopes, regrets, love and fears of a recently widowed California woman of seventy years of age, a late forty years old woman that is divorced and still finding herself and a lesbian woman of twenty something who found her soulmate but the depth of his characters is astounding and the plots are interesting because the characters are solid. Keep them coming, the Skelfs are the best addition to my reading routine.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this series last year after reading an excellent review of book one, A Dark Matter, and soon devoured book two, The Big Chill. I was thrilled to see the third installment was just released and already available on hoopla!

The three Skelf women are back and busier than ever between the family funeral and private investigation businesses. Matriarch Dorothy is stunned to find a human foot while walking her dog, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah are investigating the circumstances surrounding a dying woman, Hannah’s colleague believes someone is playing a prank on him, and their lodger Abi (the teen from book two) learns the devastating secret her mother has been hiding.
Meanwhile, the threat of Jenny’s fugitive ex-husband looms large, especially when his daughter from his second marriage goes missing.

Many subplots keep this story flowing and I was invested in all of them. Along the way, there are several personal changes for all the Skelf women and I loved seeing their growth. I truly hope this series continues because I’m a huge fan of the Skelfs!
I recommend this series to readers who enjoy family drama, dark humor, and mystery. This series should be read in order as each novel builds on the previous.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GREAT SILENCE (The Skelfs Book 3) by author Doug Johnstone is a dark classic crime mystery featuring the female Skelf family and their funeral and private investigation business. Although this is the third book in the Skelfs series this will read well as a standalone, but I recommend starting with book one for clarity and content.

The books in the series include:

A Dark Matter (The Skelfs #1)
The Big Chill (The Skelfs #2)
The Great Silence (The Skelfs #3)

This novel follows three women as they deal with the dead, help the living and find out who they are in the process, with a good dose of black humor.

This Scottish family business is run by seventy-year- old Dorothy, after the death of her husband. Dorothy is assisted by her daughter, Jenny and her granddaughter, Hannah who has just graduated from university and is now studying for her PhD in astrophysics after joining an exoplanet research group.

Three strong women running both a funeral home business and also a private investigator business, which means trouble is never far away. With multiple plot lines running, the Skelf women take on perplexing, chilling cases in this dark and funny addictive new series.

When Dorothy is out early walking in Edinburgh Park, her dog, a collie named Einstein, discovers a human foot and drops it at her feet. She brings the foot home for Archie, her right-hand man in the funeral business to examine.

It has been 1 year since Jenny’s ex-husband, Craig had escaped from prison on the way to court, and had abducted her and her then boyfriend, Liam, then Jenny herself. Her daughter, Hannah had saved their lives. Craig has been missing since and Jenny and her step-sister, Fiona are determined to find him.

Hannah announces to the family that she is engaged to the love of her life, Indy.

Daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah have their hands full too: The mysterious circumstances of a dying woman lead them into an unexpected family drama, Hannah's new astrophysicist colleague, Jose claims he's receiving messages from outer space, and the Skelfs' teenaged lodger, Abi has yet another disturbing experience.

The women face their most challenging cases yet. But when the daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-husband goes missing without trace and a wild animal is spotted roaming Edinburgh's parks, all three Skelfs are in danger.

The Great Silence is an addictive, third instalment in the Skelfs series, a dark classic crime mystery, with the right mix of drama, humor and memorable characters to satisfy all.

Many thanks to the author and The Book Club Reviewer Request Group (FB) for my digital copy.

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having previously reviewed both A Dark Matter and The Big Chill, there was a heady excitement in the Raven’s nest to read The Great Silence, and catch up with the trouble plagued Skelf clan again. It’s always tricky reviewing another book in a series, when you have seriously waxed lyrical about the previous two, and all the elements that you waxed lyrical about totally define the next book too. Also with the news that Johnstone has now committed to two more books in the series, this reviewing lark isn’t going to get any easier. So the burning question is, was I intrigued, dazzled and moved by this one? Read on…

What I love about each book in this series is how each of the Skelf women, grandmother Dorothy, mother Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah emerge from the metaphorical bat cave of a funeral home to confront evil and seek justice, in the form of more sensibly dressed superheroes. Seriously though, as each woman takes on the angst and potential danger of their individual investigations, some on behalf of others and some on an infinitely more personal level, we are once again struck by the fraternity of these women, and the unstinting loyalty to each other, their friends and those they seek to help. Not in that whole chocolate box schmaltzy nonsense, but with a toughness and gruffness that has been shaped by their lives and relationships up to this point, and with close attention to their own particular definitions of loyalty and morality and how this defines their behaviour and actions.

Although linked by blood, Johnstone is careful to keep each of them distinct in their own identities, and as much as they themselves seek to navigate their own path, these are three women cut very much from the same cloth despite appearances. There is frailty and insecurity within all of them, but this is very much counterbalanced by tenacity and grit, that only heightens our perception of them as real women, and the steely strength and determination that lies beneath makes them incredibly useful allies to those who seek their help. I love the way that men are so on a sliding scale of likeability in this book, either characterised as fairly vapid, ineffectual or unhinged, like Dorothy’s police officer beau, or the frankly head-the-ball ex husband of Jenny’s who is destined to give the poor woman no peace of mind while he remains at large. To be honest her recent ex-boyfriend is a bit of a wet one too, but you get my drift. They are like perfect representations of what is best and worse about the male species, and are completely eclipsed by the author’s joyous band of female characters.

If you took all the individual strands of this story and set them side by side on a piece of paper, aliens, big cats, dodgy embalmers, a gigolo and incest amongst others, you would be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled into a Will Carver book by mistake. But no. As much as a couple of the investigative strands are a little out there, they actually do have the reader thinking, well, that could happen and what if that did happen? Who wouldn’t want a personal communication from the depths of space? Even if it’s only to tell us to ground Branson and Bezos? Who wouldn’t want a perfect taxidermy cat with feathered wings? But anyway, joking aside, as much as I found myself in a little bit of suspension of disbelief at the beginning, I warmed to the strangeness of these tales, and how as the connections fostered between them, brought everything together, with Johnstone’s smattering of extreme peril and personal loss that have peppered the books so far. As always there are serious themes addressed throughout the book of death, grief and betrayal, all underscored by his consistent theme of how fragile is the cord that allows us all to connect with each other and our insignificant place in a sprawling cosmos, perfectly summed up towards the close of the book. “We don’t ever die…we just convert our energy from one form to another, from chemical energy in our bodies to thermal in the crem furnace, to potential energy, molecular, kinetic, subjected to forces from all sides, strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational, pulling us apart and together, dancing endlessly through the swirl of creation until the end of time.”

Prior to writing my review for The Great Silence I tweeted that I would struggle to write a review, and could I just say it was feckin’ awesome. It is. My greatest piece of advice to you is that you should read this, and the other Skelf books too. Highly recommended.

[Karen Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Silence is the third book in Doug Johnstone's Skelfs series and to say I look forward to each new instalment is probably an understatement. When reviewing later books in a series, I'll often say that a novel can be read as a standalone but would advise reading the previous books first. I'm going to go a little further here to suggest that although there is nothing in The Great Silence to prevent new readers from thoroughly enjoying it, I would very strongly recommend reading A Dark Matter and The Big Chill first to really appreciate this fabulous series properly.
All three Skelf women - Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah - are still affected by events in the previous two books but that's how it should be. This might be fiction but there's a truthfulness to it; Doug Johnstone acknowledges that life isn't like a story, the final page isn't an ending and so the Skelfs remain connected to the past. The present day is no less challenging however; they are understandably anxious about the whereabouts of Craig, Jenny's ex-husband and Hannah's father. His disappearance ironically only makes his presence in their lives even more overwhelming and Jenny, in particular, knows that she cannot move on until she finds him. Meanwhile, Hannah's happiness in her relationship with her girlfriend, Indy is marred by her father's actions too while Indy has her own emotional tribulations to deal with. Dorothy is now in a relationship with Thomas and although the characterisation of all three women is exemplary, the portrayal of the eldest Skelf is my favourite. She has an active love life, plays and teaches the drums, roadies for a teenage band, continues to run two businesses and supports those in need, despite being in her seventies.
In true Skelf fashion, the women don't just have their own problems to face, however. Running a funeral home requires them to provide the caring, smooth service that everybody needs at this time in their lives and as always with this series, there's a sense of comfort in reading about their compassion, attention to detail and dignified understanding of what their role means to the people who engage their services. Funerals and the work of funeral directors are often only mentioned in passing in books and yet we will almost certainly all need to use them one way or another at some point in our lives. It's always refreshing, therefore, to read this series which examines what happens honestly and openly.
They also have their private investigation business and while Jenny and Hannah are both approached with cases, Dorothy's comes via her dog, Einstein who runs off on a walk and returns with a human foot in his mouth. Without going into any details, this investigation is everything I love about the series; it's shocking, darkly humorous and heartbreaking. The same is true for Jenny's case after she agrees to look into the relationship between an ailing woman and her young, good-looking male carer and for Hannah's investigation into whether José is really receiving communications from space.
Hannah has recently graduated with first-class honours and has a fully funded PhD in the university's astrophysics department where José will be a colleague. As she looks into his claims that he's received Morse Code messages purporting to come from aliens, she looks into the The Fermi Paradox, also known as The Great Silence. If there's a high probability that aliens exist and come from much older planets - meaning they most likely developed intelligent life long ago, then why is there still no convincing evidence that extraterrestrial beings have made contact with Earth? I love the scientific elements of this series, they're always integrated into the plot so impeccably and explore challenging topics in an accessible, thought-provoking way.
This clever thriller combines each separate subplot seamlessly, there is so much happening here and yet it flows effortlessly, never losing pace or focus.The beautifully vivid descriptions are almost a love letter to the city but the scenes where characters are on a hill overlooking it aren't just to show us how the houses, streets and parks are intertwined. Edinburgh is also the perfect metaphor as Doug Johnstone reminds us that everybody is connected and a part of this universe; past, present and future, whether our time on the planet is long or too short. In a book which exposes the worst of human behaviour, it's both heartening and humbling to consider our responsibilities and importance to one another.
The Great Silence is an outstanding novel; it's as dark, twisted and gripping as you'd expect from crime fiction, imbued throughout with witty, empathic humanity and is intelligent, insightful and authentic - a wonderful read about death and life (and the first line is bloody brilliant!)

[Gunnar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dritter Band über das ungewöhnlichen Familienunternehmen aus Edinburgh. Die drei Damen aus drei Generationen (Dorothy, Jenny und Hannah) betreiben, wie bekannt sein sollte, sowohl ein Bestattungsunternehmen als auch eine Detektei. Verschiedene Stränge handeln von verschiedenen Familiendramen, Jennys psychopathischer Ex-Mann (und Hannahs Vater) Craig ist immer noch flüchtig und lässt die Frauen nicht in Ruhe, zudem streift eine entflohene Raubkatze durch Edinburgh.

Doug Johnstone schreibt abwechselnd in jedem neuen Kapitel aus der Perspektive einer der drei Frauen und ihm gelingt es, eine enge Bindung zu den Protagonistinnen herzustellen. Es geht um Tod, Trauer, toxische Beziehungen und starke Frauen.
Wie immer bringt der Autor und Astrophysiker Johnstone auch etwas von seiner Profession mit ein. Der Originaltitel "The Great Silence" hat sowohl eine astrophysische als auch eine kommunikative Bedeutung.

Liebhaber eines klassischen Krimis werden von diesem Roman und dieser Reihe etwas überrascht sein. Die Krimi- und Thrillerelemente werden mindestens gleichwertig flankiert von Elementen über Tod und Trauer und Familienloyalität. Das macht diese Reihe höchst ungewöhnlich und einzigartig in Genre, aber umso lesenswerter. Auch dieser dritte Teil reiht sich da erfreulicherweise qualitativ mit ein.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hardest part in reviewing a great book is just starting. That is how I have felt about The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone and why I have been putting off writing the review for nearly a whole month. No excuses, I just don't know how to say what I want to in a way that does the book justice but doesn't spoil it for others who have yet to read the book.

If you have read and loved this series as I have then it's kind of a bitter sweet moment reading this book as it is the end of the trilogy but I am really hoping, not the last we see of the three Skelf women. They have been a joy to spend time with, even if their lives have been somewhat turbulent and far from plain sailing. And, whichever way you look at these books - private investigation with a scientific slant, or family drama with the heart of a thriller, it is one hell of a memorable series for all of the right reasons. Perhaps it is just enough to simply list those then?

1) Doug Johnstone has given us some of the most memorable and original opening scenes in crime fiction. It doesn't matter which of the three books you pick up, you could read the opening paragraphs and know just whose work you were reading. They may shock - this one in particular certainly made me smile - but they will stick in the mind long after you have finished the book.

2) In the Skelf women - Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah - you have three characters who are full of anxiety, passion, melancholy, determination, resignation and loyalty and everything in between. The characters are infused with a touch of the author's own love of family, science and music which adds such authenticity to their personalities that you become completely invested in their lives. Who could help but love drumstick wielding rock-chick Gran Dorothy, or admire Hannah's absolutely love for all things scientific, or Jenny's dedication to her family.

3) The stories are a perfect blend of tension, emotional depth and honesty which will have you on the edge of your seat one moment, laughing out loud the next and then experiencing the trembly bottom lip as Doug Johnstone skilfully plays with your emotions. Trust me, there are scenes in this book that will get that pulse thumping and others where you will be wiping the tear from your cheek, the one you really didn't want to have to shed. Each story has an element within that is socially relevant, so representative of modern life, that it will in turn make you more aware of things and people around you. And the author does not skimp on putting these women through the mill - each time I wonder just how much further he can push them. Apparently, a long way ...

4) The scene setting and narrative skill of the books put you right at the heart of the action. I can picture each setting perfectly, find myself salivating over the thought of a lovely Söderberg pastry every damned time, and almost feel the biting wind as it blows its way across the city of Edinburgh.

Are you tempted yet? I could tell you more about the story itself, about the missing person case, the unexpected family reunion, the Beast of Bruntsfield with its surprisingly emotional conclusion, or Hannah's foray into the world of alien communication - yes really - but I think to understand and to feel the powerful emotions that the story elicits, you need to read it for yourself. So yes, I'm sad to see the end of this trilogy. We are brought pretty much full circle in this story, ending as we begin, the Skelfs a little more battle scarred and world weary than when we first met them, but I kind of love them all the more for it.

If you'd told me two years ago that a story of three generations of Edinburgh women - Funeral Directors-come-Private Investigators, would come to be one of my favourite crime series, I may have looked at you kind of funny. But, you know what? You'd have been right. Honest, gritty, socially relevant, powerful, emotional and just bloody good fun, this is a series and a book I would heartily recommend. Immerse yourself in the world of the Skelfs. You won't regret it.

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone is the third book in the bestselling McIlvanney-shortlisted Skelfs series. Just published in paperback original August 19th with Orenda books, it is described as ‘taut, dark, warmly funny and unafraid to ask big questions – of us all – the much-anticipated third instalment in the addictive, unforgettable Skelfs series, and the stakes are higher than ever.'

The Skelf family are an eclectic bunch of women with their fingers in many pies based out of a ‘Victorian townhouse that the Skelf family had owned for a hundred years, running a funeral business and, more recently, a private investigator’s.’ Dorothy Skelf, the matriarch of the family, is widowed, following the death of her husband Jim, and is now assisted by her daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah. Dorothy is in her seventies, an American with a passion for her drum kit, who has become an institution in the community. With a heart of gold, Dorothy picks up waifs and strays, always ready to lend a hand when the need arises.

Jenny lives alongside the shadow of her ex-husband Craig. Their relationship soured many years previously. He is Hannah’s Dad and a notoriously dangerous criminal who is still obsessed with Jenny. Jenny is tough, hardened by years of exposure to Craig’s emotional and physical battering. She looks for comfort in a glass of gin and Dorothy worries for her health and safety.

Hannah is a complex individual. Highly intelligent, she is about to graduate but is always alert to the danger of her father. The Skelf family dynamic is a fractured one. Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah obviously love each other but their daily lives are constantly punctuated by drama and danger.

In The Great Silence Dorothy is shocked, but intrigued, to see her dog unearth a human foot in the local park. With the police overworked and under-resourced, Dorothy makes the decision to try and solve the mystery. It has always been her belief that everyone deserves a proper burial and where there is a foot, there is a body. Using her recent P.I. experience, she sets off to see what she can find out, unearthing a lot more than what she had bargained for.

While Hannah is hired by a colleague to uncover the source of alien transmissions, Jenny finds herself caught up in a family drama after being offered what appeared to be, at first look, a straight-forward investigative case. All three women are busy with the P.I. work while also running the funeral parlour but, as is typical with The Skelfs, nothing ever runs smoothly.

The Skelf women are a force on to themselves. They have an ability to cut through the bull of life and just get on with things. With a unique humour they remain highly supportive of each other and are always ready to step up when required. Dorothy is the lynchpin keeping the family together. With her indomitable personality she really is a true force of nature.

Doug Johnstone manages to create wonderful atmospheric and sometimes dark scenes that really come alive through his writing. Did you know that he is also ‘the drummer for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a crime-writing supergroup featuring Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre, Stuart Neville and Luca Veste' which explains Dorothy’s passion for drumming!

The plot of The Great Silence is best described in these words of Doug Johnstone- ‘Body parts, big cats, messages from space, disinterment, indie rock, suicide, incest, kidnap, bad embalming, poisoning'. It is a riot of a read with so many twists and turns, leaving the reader at times aghast, feeling utterly helpless, while at the same time inspired by these headstrong and determined women.

A host of wonderful characters make up this compelling Edinburgh-based series and, with Doug Johnstone’s flair for authenticity and humour, The Great Silence is another highly enjoyable addition.

[Yvonne (It's All About Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished reading: August 3rd 2025

“She looked again round the kitchen, felt energy pass through her like the neutrinos Hannah told her about, ghost particles that barely interact with the world. But she wanted to interact with the world, wanted to make a different. She wanted to matter.”

REVIEW

I remember really enjoying the first two books of this Scottish crime thriller series, and I'm still not sure why it has taken me a whopping five! years to finally pick up book number three. I'm definitely kicking myself now, because I had once again an excellent time with the three Skelf women! I do always love an authentic Scottish setting, and I enjoyed seeing Edinburgh through their eyes. The Great Silence once again focuses both on their funeral director and private investigation business, giving us a wide range of cases to keep you entertained along the way. The story is also once again divided into three POVs representing the three generations of Skelf women: Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah. I do have to say that the amount of POV switches as well as the active cases and things that are happing at the same time could get a bit much, and the plot had a bit of a chaotic feel at times. There were also certain elements that could get a bit repetitive... But those are only minor blips in what is otherwise an excellent story. With everything that is happening, it is very easy to just keep turning those pages, and there are plenty of twists to keep you busy along the way. Sure, some of them weren't exactly credible, but on an entertainment level there is no doubt that they worked. The Great Silence introduces some pretty heavy topics along the way though, so make sure you are ready for that... There are also references to past events that can be considered spoilers, so I would recommend reading the books in order. There is also one thing I know for sure: I won't be waiting another five years before I pick up the next book!

[Monika Armet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third installment in the Skelf series. Although you can enjoy it as a standalone novel, I strongly suggest reading the previous two books in the series, A Dark Matter and The Big Chill.

The Skelf series focuses on the Skelf family, which now consists of women only: Dorothy, the matriarch; Jenny, her daughter; and Hannah, Jenny’s daughter and Dorothy’s granddaughter.

The three women run a funeral home as well as a private investigation business based in Edinburgh.

Hannah graduates with a first in Physics and is offered a funded PhD course. Another student, José Ramírez, approaches her and tells her that he is receiving messages from extraterrestrials. He wants to employ Hannah to prove that they are fake.

Meanwhile, Jenny is approached by two siblings, who appear deeply concerned for the health of their elderly mother. They suspect that their mother’s carer is slowly trying to kill her to receive her inheritance.

When Dorothy is walking the family dog, Einstein, he finds a human foot. What’s more perplexing is the fact that the foot appears to be badly embalmed.

At the same time, Craig, Jenny’s ex and Hannah’s father, is still out there.

When Sophia, Hannah’s half-sister, is taken from her bed in the middle of the night, all suspicion falls on Craig…

I am such a great fan of the Skelfs!

It was wonderful to see Dorothy working with Archie, who has Cotard’s Syndrome, a rare mental disorder where people believe they are dead. It was fantastic for Archie to play a more central role in their investigation. I was quite flabergassted to read about the private embalming world – it made me realise that some people have very unusual hobbies!

I also enjoyed seeing Jenny bond with Fiona, Craig’s second ex-wife, with whom he had Sophia. The two women worked together to find the missing girl.

Overall, it’s a great book with an explosive finale. I definitely recommend it.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Silence – The Skelfs are back

Doug Johnstone returns with his Edinburgh based mystery series, which continues to go from strength to strength. Featuring three generations of Skelf females who run a family funeral directors and private investigations business, which is no easy task and keeps them all on their toes.

Dorothy discovers a severed human foot under a bush while out walking her feisty little dog. A perplexing case into which she dives head-first, which brings her face to face with death. It also spurs her on to find out what is happening across the more suburban greener parts of Edinburgh. Dead feet do not just appear.

Dorothy’s daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah also have their hands rather full. Both in fear of Craig, husband and father, an escaped criminal, who the police cannot find. Jenny puts in more than an investigation to try and find her husband, as the police are not exactly rushing around to find him. While he is on the run he is a danger to both Jenny and Hannah. Jenny is putting herself in danger.

Hannah has to move back in with the Skelf women as her dad has left her a graduation message at the home she shares with her girlfriend. She is about to embark on a PhD in the Physics department at Edinburgh, when she is engaged to investigate the messages that one of her colleagues keeps receiving.

What this adds up to is a number of challenging investigations, which will lead them to come face to face with danger. Whether they survive is a different matter. What the reader gets is a tense and emotional rollercoaster of a ride. There are ups and downs.

It is fantastic to have strong female protagonists, who are enjoyable to read about. While being a touching and often funny portrayal of grief. Doug Johnstone is a fine Scottish writer, who has crafted an excellent story.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the books about the Skelf women.
There's never a dull moment although Jenny and Hannah sometimes think the PI stuff is boring.
The funeral business certainly isn't.
Two found feet, from different owners/bodies, a wild jaguar roaming the Meadows in Edinburgh, a hanging paedophile in the garden, a kidnapped child and a wedding all play major parts in the book.
It would appear that Scottish writers are sponsored by Highland Park.

[Lesley Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Love the different chapters following the main characters' narratives . The different strands of plot made for really interesting ideas and conclusions. I sometimes feel that the relationship between Hannah and Indy is a bit too good to be true but overall a great read .

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Doug Johnstone's writing and The Skelfs series has a special place in my heart. I have been looking forward to The Great Silence ever since I finished the last of the series.

Whilst you could read The Great Silence as a stand alone story, I do think, with this series, readers will benefit from reading the first two books; A Dark Matter (2019) and The Big Chill (2020)

For anyone who isn't familiar with the series, The Skelfs are an Edinburgh family of three generations of women. The family have been undertakers for over one hundred years, and they also have a private investigation firm. The family is made up of Dorothy, in her seventies and originally from California; her daughter Jenny; mid-forties, divorced and living with her mother, and Jenny's daughter Hannah. Twenty-one, recently graduated from University and living nearby with her girlfriend Indy.

The family are quirky and unusual and incredibly loyal to each other. They may annoy each other sometimes, but they've been through such a lot, in a relatively short time, that there's really nothing that will destroy their family now.

The story opens as Dorothy walks her dog Einstein across Brunsfield Links, in the city. Einstein goes off to explore the undergrowth and returns with a severed human foot in his mouth! Dorothy is one of those women who takes this in her stride, bundling it up into a dog-poo bag, taking it home and then calling in Thomas; local police officer, and also her boyfriend.

This severed foot is just the beginning of a series of complex cases that the Skelfs are faced with, and not only do they have these outside occurrence to take up their time, they also have their own personal family issues that continue to rear their ugly heads. Not least, Jenny's ex-husband; an on-the-run murderer who is determined to get his revenge on his estranged family.

Along with the Skelf women, there's a cast of supporting characters who add such depth to the plot lines. There's Thomas, black, Swedish, widowed and much younger than Dorothy. We have Indy; Hannah's girlfriend who is faced with the prospect of reliving the tragic deaths of her parents when her grandparents arrive from overseas, and there are the animals; incredible characters with personalities that match the humans for sure.

Whilst a team of female detectives-cum-undertakers could sound a bit cosy crime, I can assure you that it is not! Doug Johnstone interweaves some really important and often disturbing themes into his storylines and is not afraid of a little violence or gore. There's a dark undercurrent of menace that pervades the story, with a brooding and hungry big cat on the loose, desperate and disturbed characters appearing from the past, and the damaging effects of grief just a few of the issues that are dealt with.

With short, sharp chapters, alternating between the three female leads, this could be confusing, there's a lot packed into it. However, it's never a difficult read, it can be challenging, subject-wise, but the writing is excellent and the plot flows freely throughout.

It's been an absolute delight to return to the incredible Skelf family. I have a lot of love for these characters, and the incredible Edinburgh setting. Doug Johnstone is an incredible talent. I adore this book.

[Jacob Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skelf family are back in Doug Johnstone’s latest book, The Great Silence. This is such an original crime series, and this is one of my favourite books of the year so far. I couldn’t resist starting it as soon as my copy arrived.

It’s fair to say that the Skelf family have been through a lot over the three books. There is intrigue right from the start in the latest book in this series, and Doug Johnstone certainly knows how to hit the ground running. When Dorothy is out walking her dog, Einstein, he comes across an embalmed human foot in a local Edinburgh Park. Hannah, her granddaughter, is asked to help out a friend of hers, who may or may not be in contact with aliens, as part of his research into possible life elsewhere in the universe. He thinks someone is deliberately targeting him. Things take an even darker turn when the daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-partner goes missing. And big cats are also stalking the city.

The Skelf women are still reeling from the events at the end of the last book. They are now living in constant fear, but that doesn’t stop them from carrying on investigating the strange events that are taking place. Only the Skelf family could come across an embalmed human foot and not be particularly perturbed. I wanted to know just what was going on in Edinburgh, particularly with the reports of the big cats as well. It makes for a very chilling atmosphere which Doug Johnstone writes so well.

This story really gets dark as the events which are happening in the city are explored further. It is perhaps their most challenging case to date. In the Skelf family, Doug Johnstone has created a unique set of characters, which makes his books come to life. They’re what makes this series so good and so original. I think Dorothy, in particular, is my favourite.

What I loved particularly about this book and the last book in the series are the discussions Hannah has with her friends about exoplanets, which is a topic I’m really interested in. The nerdy part of my brain was buzzing when they talked about Seti and the types of planets discovered in the universe.

This is a series which you really must read if you haven’t done so already. It’s dark, intriguing, and so, so original. This is highly recommended by me.

[Gail Barrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Skelf women but this third story has too many events going on at once and it is hard to keep track of them all. Think three women, one of each generation, each with one or two personal issues, a complicated love life, some issues hanging on from former stories, a new mystery to solve, and a couple of larger dangers, not the least of which is an escaped panther. It is possible that the guy who is the key threat may have been dealt with at last, but as he has had several close escapes already, it is not impossible to think that he yet lives and may rise terrorize them once again. I'm a bit boggled by all of this going on at once.

[Sandy Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Torn on this one

Maybe it was because there were so many characters or maybe no real mystery but I found this book good and awful at the same time. The good was the interaction between the people and the animals but the story seemed to plod along until the author thought he had run out of his storylines and had no further ways to put forth his beliefs, so bam! Let's finish it all now! I am also not a big fan of one chapter devoted to one character then another to someone else; this continued throughout. Annoying.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compulsive diverting read. That said, I think the material for this volume for this family has racked up beyond the suspending belief level.

I prefer the storylines that are quirky rather than gratuitously violent; happenstance rather than solving every aspect of every story.

Just think the volume has been put up too much

[David Kenvyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Skelf women are back. For those of you who have not been following the trilogy, they are undertakers with a sideline as private investigators. Dorothy is the matriarch of the clan and we meet her in the first book as se is preparing to cremate her husband illegally in her Edinburg back garden. She takes over the running of the businesses, even though se had not been aware of the private detective business. Her daughter Jenny, having lost her job as a journalist moved back into her mother’s mansion near Bruntsfield in Edinburgh. Jenny was married to Craig wo can best be described as malevolent. (I am trying not to give away too much of the plot of the previous novels). Jenny and Craig have a daughter, Hannah, who is studying astrophysics at Edinburgh University and who is in a relationship with Indira (Indy) who works as a receptionist, and more, at the Skelfs’ business. At the end of the last novel, Craig had escaped from a prison van and has now been on the run for a year.
Dorothy is now in a relationship with Thomas, a widowed black Swedish police inspector. Jenny ad a relationship with Liam, broke it off and now regrets doing so. Craig has entered another relationship, and had a daughter called Sophie who is eight years old. The other thing that you need to know, is that there is a dog called Einstein and a cat called Schrodinger. You can tell that Hanna is an astrophysicist. Dorothy is out for a walk with Einstein on Bruntsfield Links when he brings her a present. It is an embalmed human foot.
If that does hook you in to reading the story, nothing will.
The title, “The Great Silence”, is taken from an astrophysical puzzle. If there is other intelligent life in the Universe, why have we not been contacted? There are a number of possibilities, the first being that our planet is unique. Given the size of the Universe and the number of stars and planets, this does seem to be unlikely. This means that there must be other reasons, one of which could be that we do not understand the messages that are being sent. This is central to one of the plots in the book. Hannah as just gained a first in physics and is about to join a team researching exoplanets. One of her colleagues, Jose, thinks that he is receiving such signals in English but translated into Morse Code. This is so unlikely that he asks Hannah to check and investigate his data. Joe fears that someone is playing a trick on him. The alternative is that he is going mad. This is one of the many cases that the Skelfs find themselves investigating.
There is Vanessa and her Italian toy boy, Francesco. Vanessa’s children fear that he is slowly poisoning her and that he will persuade her to alter her will. Jenny takes on this case. Indy’s grandparents arrive from Kolkata wanting to exhume their son and daughter-in-law and then to have them cremated in accordance with Hindu belief. Dorothy is trying to find out who embalmed the foot that Einstein brought to her. Then Sophie, Hanna’s half-sister, goes missing.
Doug Johnstone keeps all these balls in the air with consummate skill, keeps you turning the pages wanting to find out wat happens next and weaves all the disparate stories into a coherent whole. He even convinced me that I understood the theories of astrophysics. (Doug Johnstone was an astrophysicist before he began writing stories). The climax comes with the inevitability of Greek tragedy. It is the confrontation between Jenny and Craig. The ending is very Viking.
There is only one more thing to say. I forgot to mention the panther.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Großmutter Dorothy Skelf, Mutter Jenny und Enkelin Hannah führen in Edinburgh ein Bestattungsunternehmen mit angeschlossener Detektei, unterstützt vom berufserfahrenen Bestatter Archie. Die Drei-Generationen-WG hat inzwischen die verwaiste 14-jährige Abigail aufgenommen und Indy, Hannahs indischstämmige Lebensgefährtin, die noch in der Ausbildung als Bestatterin ist. Die 71-jährige Dorothy scheint als Schlagzeug-Lehrerin und Partnerin von Thomas, des Schwarzen Polizisten schwedischer Herkunft, aktuell am ausgeglichensten zu sein. Jenny lebt eher unfreiwillig wieder unter Mutters Dach, nachdem sie ihren Job als Journalistin verloren hat. Die Beziehung zu ihrem kriminellen Ex -Mann Craig wird ihr erst Ruhe lassen, wenn er endlich wieder in einer Gefängniszelle sitzt. Hannah hat nach erfolgreichem Abschluss ihres Astrophysikstudiums eine Doktorandenstelle zugesagt bekommen und bereitet sich auf ihre Hochzeit mit Indy vor.

Als der adoptierte Border-Collie Einstein beim Gang im Park mit Dorothy einen (einbalsamierten) menschlichen Fuß findet, scheinen die Skelfs & Archie durch ihre Berufserfahrung (und die vorhandenen Kühlräume) die idealen Ermittler in diesem Fall zu sein. Archies vernichtendes Urteil über den Körperteil, die Einbalsamierung sei handwerklich schlecht gemacht, wirft die Frage auf, welcher Branchenfremde in der Stadt hier am Werk ist. Die nächtliche Sichtung eines Pumas im Park zwingt die Skelfs schließlich auf die Suche nach dem Zusammenhang zwischen Fuß und einer evtl. illegal gehaltenen Raubkatze. Ihre Recherche zum Thema Einbalsamierung führt das Familien-Team zu einer Reihe schräger Nebenfiguren.

Neben Dorothys beunruhigendem Fall mit dem Fuß und dem derzeit einzigen bezahlten Beschattungs-Auftrag, an dem Jenny arbeitet, hat jedes Familienmitglied mit persönlichen Altlasten zu tun. Craig allein würde ein ganzes Ermittlerteam beschäftigen können, und Indys Großeltern reisen spontan an, um die Exhumierung und Verbrennung von Indys verstorbenen Eltern durchzusetzen. Hannah (mit einer Vorgeschichte von Depressionen) sieht sich gefordert, Einfühlung im Spektrum von Trauerbegleitung und psychischer Krankheit tätig zu werden, während Hannahs Schlagzeug-Schülerin Abigail sich endlich mit der Beziehung zu ihren Eltern auseinandersetzen muss.

Die Drei-Generationen-Gemeinschaft der Skelfs erweist sich wieder einmal als ideale Geschäftsidee und hinreißendes Romansetting. Durch die Bestatter-Tätigkeit der Frauen ergeben sich äußerst nützliche Kontakte. Jede der fünf Personen, die hier als Bestatter tätig werden, beeindruckt mit ihrer Hingabe an den Beruf und dem respektvollen Umgang mit den Toten. Gestrandete werden in den Haushalt aufgenommen und deren Kümmernisse therapiert. Besonders von Hannah erhoffe ich, dass sie sich zukünftig nicht nur um Astronomie und außerirdische Intelligenz kümmern wird, sondern ihre therapeutische Stärke in die Firma einbringen kann.

Weit davon entfernt, cozy zu sein, scheinen die Fälle die Skelfs zu finden wie “Eisenspäne den Magneten“, schreibt Sonja Hartl im informativen Nachwort. Doug Johnstone zeigt in seiner Skelf-Serie - außerordentlich empathisch - den Tod als Teil des Lebens und Trauer als lebenslangen Prozess, für seine zahlreichen Figuren zusätzlich verknüpft mit dem Loslassen in Trennungsprozessen und Gewalterfahrungen.

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Serieninfo
3 von 6, bisher übersetzt 1-3.

[Peter Fleming · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s now book 3 so we are into a settled format of storytelling, it has a familiar pattern but is far from formulaic. It is told in third person from the view of one of the women and rotates through them with each new chapter. They each lead up an investigation (or two) with input from the others and the investigations occasionally cross over or meet, all the while against the daily backdrop of the business of caring for the dead and comforting the living.

In this series odd happenings are expected, in The Great Silence our author has surpassed himself with incidents from the unusual to the bizarre with a delicate touch of surrealism at times. The beauty is that each one when isolated is strange, unlikely but not outside the bounds of possibility, but the effect of the cumulative is magnificently dizzying. Occam’s Razor has not been blunted but rather handed into the local constabulary as part of a knife amnesty. There is little risk of readers guessing the solutions to these mysteries, thanks to the brilliant and creative plotting.

The Skelf ladies are the central characters, and this episode sees them finding happiness through their relationships. It is the friendship and nurturing of others through difficult times that is most prominent though. Dorothy has cared for Abi for a year, steering her through difficult times whilst estranged from her mother. Times that are only going to get worse before they get better. Meanwhile the ever-erratic Jenny is becoming more stable and has struck up an unlikely relationship with Fiona, Craig’s second ex, the woman he left Jenny for.

The series started with Dorothy’s late husband being cremated in the garden (in A Dark Matter) and fire provides a literal leitmotif through the story, with Indian and Nordic traditions and imagery before a return to the beginning.

Emotionally it is a study of grief. How it affects people differently, how it can manifest both physically and mentally and how necessary it is for us to grieve in our own time and place in our own way. We are all individuals and even pets can grieve. Again, the author is a master of picking just the right tone, making what could seem maudlin into something uplifting, almost joyous. We all must suffer loss at some point, and this points to a way to deal with it. It is perhaps fitting that the most poignant moment is left to a cat.

Of course, there must be a chunk of physics in the story, and I love how it is so well expressed rather than dumbed down. This time it is the search for extraterrestrial life. Man has always looked to the stars, originally for gods and now to wonder if we are the only planet with life. The terrifying prospect of us being alone set against that of there being a superior race out there that could destroy or exploit the Earth. Natural inquisitiveness makes man search but is he doing the right thing…

The pacing is upbeat, there is a lot to get through plot wise and there is plenty of action, danger and jeopardy throughout which speeds things along. Even so there is plenty of room for characters to breath and express themselves, this is thoughtful as well as thought provoking writing of the highest standard.

[Susan Corcoran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone is the third in the Skelfs series and the finest to date and that is saying something, as book one A Dark Matter and number two The Big Chill were stunning as well.

What makes this book and the series as a whole, some of my favorite books of all time? Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah, that’s who, a trio of females, all of whom are strong, passionate and intelligent women, protagonists in a story in which they hold centre stage. How rare is that? How marvelous that they command a story in which the humour is dark, in which they are not there to support the male lead, but masters of their very unique and marvelous world.

They are frankly some of modern literatures best characters, rounded, emotional, fragile and yet strong, creative and brave. Mother, daughter, granddaughter all work as undertakers as well as private investigator’s, what more is there to love? Best of all, as the series progresses we get to understand them more and more, we cheer their success’s, we cry tears at the losses they suffer, we fear for their lives and we turn the pages at a relentless pace, because we care, we love them and the thought of losing even one of them feels like a physical pain. Doug Johnstone understanding this, takes the reader in The Great Silence right to the edge of what they can bear, as he places all three in terrible danger. But he never losses sight of why I love this trio so much, they are authentic, they make mistakes, they love with every inch of their being, they are kind and they have an instinctive need to help people. In this installment that includes a postgrad researcher who worries his colleagues are trying to tip him over the edge, by making him believe that aliens are sending him messages. A family at war and a wild animal on the loose and most worrying of all, Jenny’s murderous ex-husband is still haunting them. It is physically impossible to turn away in case by taking a breath, we miss a moment, a clue that solves the mysteries the women are investigating.

He takes us and them on a journey racked with danger, but remarkably manages to fill the story with human experiences that will have you in tears, as he touches on some of life’s greatest agonies, grief, loss, loneliness, the intrinsic need to be loved, to make a connection with others. All that would be unbearable, if not balanced out by the community he creates around them, by how they as individuals reach out to help others, to help them find peace, by making that human contact that chases the pain away, or at least makes it infinity more bearable.

Where there is silence, Doug Johnstone fills it with a wonderful story and three remarkable women. Showing in this, his finest work to date, that thrillers can be beautifully written, that women can not only carry a story, they can command it.

The Great Silence is utterly compelling and everyone needs to buy it, because you will not regret it!

[Alyson Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awful lot has happened in the first two stories in this series which has had huge repercussions for the family but most of this is well explained, so I would say read the books in order if you don't want any spoilers but equally you'll have no problem picking up the story here straightaway. Set in Edinburgh, all the cast of great characters are back – grandmother Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah, three generations of women working together since Dorothy's husband Jim died. They run an odd combination of funeral parlour which has been in the family for generations and also a private detective business from their home. Also present are Einstein, the dog rescued from a car crashed car into a grave in book 2 and Schrödinger the cat who maintains a love/hate relationship with him. Thomas, the black Swedish DI who helps out Dorothy with cases, is now in a nice relationship with her and still working there is solid reliable Archie, a man coming to terms with suffering from Cotard's syndrome where he believes he is already dead. Abi, Dorothy’s teenage drumming student, is still staying with them after the shocking case in the last story concerning her father, Hannah has just gained a first in physics and Einstein has found a chewed embalmed foot in the woods. Jenny is regretting breaking it off with Liam and it looks like her murderous ex Craig is back, still on the run from jail. Hannah’s new PhD colleague thinks he is being sent messages from someone pretending to be an alien life form and a strange brother and sister think their elderly mother’s Italian stallion carer is trying to bump her off. Oh and “Whiskers” is roaming the area and terrifying the locals. It’s a busy time with lots of strange and baffling cases for the Skelf women to get stuck into whilst trying to keep their own lives on track. Then events turn more sinister and danger lurks. Will they manage to get to the various truths while remaining unscathed?
There is an abundance of warmth and humour in this very enjoyable story which is as much about family relationships and the ties which bind as it is about the investigations themselves. The main characters are well described and are very likeable, particularly the dependable Thomas and Archie who is a very unique person. They have a gentler and more human approach to the PI work which yields great if sometimes surprising results. Despite this being the final book of the trilogy, I do hope there will be more adventures for these admirable ladies. Highly recommended for a great and slightly quirky story featuring fantastic characters. 5*

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Silence in the third book in Doug Johnstone's series featuring The Skelfs. If you haven't already met the Skelfs, let me introduce them. Dorothy is the matriarch of the family, in her 70s she's still a keen drummer. Her daughter is Jenny, wary that her violent ex-husband will be seeking revenge and put them in danger. Hannah is her grand-daughter, newly graduated from Edinburgh University and about to start a PhD in astrophysics. The women all assist to one extent or another with the family undertaking business. Oh, and they do a bit of private investigating on the side. The cases the women investigate in The Great Silence means this book could be read as a standalone. However, to really get the best experience and understand what makes the Skelf women tick and to get the most out of the storylines which have run through the series, you really should read all three.

There is a lot packed into the pages of this book. With severed feet, extra-terrestrial messages, an Italian toyboy and big cats roaming Brunstfield Links, you can't say this is your run of the mill thriller. And that's just touching upon some of the aspects of the plot. There are plenty of twists and turns from start to finish. Chapters from the points of view of each of the women in turn make this book rattle along at a fair old pace. Each of their investigations and each of their personal stories are just as engaging, and the author doesn't shy from putting his characters in some challenging and downright dangerous situations!

The Edinburgh setting of the books is home for me. I know the pubs, the streets, the buildings, the parks which feature so it was easy for me to picture exactly where the characters were and where the action was taking place. This really added to the story for me. But if you don't know Edinburgh, I think that Doug Johnstone has done a brilliant job of setting the scene.

In The Great Silence we see all sides of life and death, and of love and hate. I believe that this was to be a trilogy and if so, it's a satisfying end although I am a bit sad to leave the Skelf women behind. I am rather hoping that Doug Johnstone will be persuaded to give them another outing. There's so much going on in this book that it was a really engrossing page-turner. The Skelf women are such great characters and the author has brought these strong and complex women vividly to life. The first two books in the series are currently on a Kindle monthly deal for just 99p each so if you haven't already read them, why not treat yourself and let The Skelfs get under your skin. (August 2021)

[Rich B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very good entry in this series about the Skelfs, three generations of Edinburgh funeral directors / private investigators. Lots of humour, warmth and great characters mixed with some real dark and emotionally gripping storylines.

The story kicks off with grandmother Dorothy walking Einstein the family dog. Nice quiet start. Until the dog re-appears with a foot in his mouth. Yep, an actual severed human foot.

We soon find this is linked to a mysterious wild big cat roaming around the parks and wooded areas of town. A large part of Dorothy’s story is her trying to track down the origins of the foot and also the story behind the big cat.

Then we have daughter Jenny who’s murderous ex-husband from the previous books is still on the loose. She takes on a case where a brother and sister believe their mother is being manipulated by her much younger carer and their inheritance is at risk.

But as she gets involved in finding out what’s really going on, her ex-husband’s step-daughter is kidnapped and there’s a frantic search to find her (and him).

Finally, we have daughter Hannah (and her partner Indy), who take on a case for an astrophysics university student who is seeing mysterious messages appear in transmissions he analyses from space. The question is if he’s being pranked by fellow students or are the messages actually for real.

On the side, they’re planning their wedding, plus dealing with Indy’s Sikh grandparents who’ve arrived from India and who want to exhume the buried bodies of her parents so they can be cremated.

Plus, we also get the close of the storyline set up in the previous book, where Abi, a teenage girl who’d run away is stating with the Skelfs and her mixed up family background comes back in a very unpleasant way.

Blimey, there’s a lot going-on in this book. The author does a great job of weaving the different storylines together without you losing a sense of what’s going on. It’s very well-written over all and never felt confusing.

If there’s one weakness, it’s that there’s maybe too many coincidences linking the family to each of the storylines for it to be quite believable. It wasn’t enough to put me off, but surely that many crazy things can’t happen to one family at the same time? Can’t really mention specifics without giving away spoilers, but more than once found events seemed to stretch credulity a bit too far.

But that aside, it’s an easy fun read, well-written and a very enjoyable. The dark and emotional moments are countered with more upbeat, funny and moments of genuine human connection too.

Definitely worth a read.

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to have another visit with the remarkable Skelf women who operate a funeral home and private investigations business in Edinburgh.

The events described occur a year after The Big Chill. Dorothy is now in a relationship with Thomas and still housing Abi, a teenager with a turbulent family life. Jenny has parted from Liam but is still anxious about the whereabouts of her ex-husband Craig who is still a fugitive. Hannah, in a strong and positive relationship with Indy, graduates and is embarking on a PhD in astrophysics.

Each of the three becomes involved in investigations. Dorothy’s dog finds a human foot and, as expected, sets out to find the owner. Jenny is hired by two adult children to investigate their mother’s caregiver whom they think is scamming her. A postgraduate student asks Hannah to investigate the authenticity of messages that appear to come from outer space.

And these are just the beginning. There is so much going on; for example, there’s a kidnapping, a suicide, unexpected family reunions, a panther attack, and a disinterment. The pace is perfect, with several surprises. Suspense ramps up, as more than one of the women ends up in danger.

For me, much of the interest lies in the women. They are such authentic personalities, flawed and fragile but with strong, admirable traits. They are loving, determined, and unstintingly loyal and supportive: “the Skelfs were the support network, the comfort through all this shit.” Their compassion is also outstanding; I love how they reach out to help others. Yet they all possess distinct identities with passions of their own. Dorothy loves her drums and Hannah is fascinated by science, especially physics.

The theme could be summarized as connection - the interconnectedness of all things and the human need to connect: “We are all joined to each other in millions of ways, from the subatomic level to the size of the cosmos” and “’We all need connection in our lives.’” Near the end, Hannah thinks “about all the other people out there in the universe looking for a connection.” Even the title, another name for the Fermi paradox, emphasizes this theme.

Anyone looking for a crime fiction that offers more than just a mystery and detective work should certainly pick up this series. There is family drama, action and suspense, humour, insightful reflections on life, and truly memorable characters.

I encourage readers to connect with the Skelfs!

Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Silence is the third novel to feature the Skelfs, a family in Edinburgh, three generations of women - Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah - running two businesses, funeral directors and private investigators, with Hannah also balancing her studies in physics at Edinburgh University. It opens a year on from the previous novel, with opening pages that feel slightly elegiac - until the peace of Dorothy's early morning dog walk on Bruntsfield Links is disturbed when her collie, Einstein, discovers an embalmed human foot...
The whole opening section is a series of highs and calm followed swiftly by lows and chaos: Jenny trawls Leith on the trail of an escaped prisoner and thinks of the relationship she has recently lost. Hannah celebrates her graduation and stellar personal news - then she returns to the flat she shares with girlfriend Indy, to find someone has broken in, immediately instilling fear. Abi, the teenager semi-adopted by the Skelfs in the last book, is building herself anew as part of a band - drumming teacher Dorothy being their roadie-cum-chaperone - until someone appears to inflict new wounds.
There's a lot to take in, but each PI case and each funeral the Skelfs deal with get their turn in the spotlight as the point of view moves smoothly between the three women; details are examined, conversations had (some of those involving the embalmed foot inquiry are sublime) and mysteries solved. The final confrontation sees Jenny write the last lines of a chapter from her past and get the kind of wild frontier justice that is barely a hair's breadth from vengeance, which is exactly what she and her family need.
There are some very deliberate nods back to the earlier books in The Great Silence, and in particular the penultimate scene circles back to the beginning of the first novel, A Dark Matter, tying the trilogy together firmly. And then, is that a hint? Well, I do hope so...
Part of the power of these novels is the carefully woven plots but the main strength is the characters. The three Skelf women in particular are so exquisitely drawn, so compelling. Johnstone, always excellent in creating female characters, has triumphed in these novels in the mix of generations and personalities; in Dorothy, Jenny and Hannah as individuals, in relationships with outsiders and as a family unit. I find myself wondering if I will bump into them if I head across Bruntsfield Links. There's the vaguest hint at the end suggesting there is more to come, and I really hope that happens.

[Sharon Rimmelzwaan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone is the much-anticipated third instalment in the addictive, unforgettable Skelfs series. A series that is a darkly funny, tense and so engrossing.
We are back with the Skelf women and the family funeral director business along with the private investigation business is not a simple job. Dorothy, the matriach of the family finds a human foot as she is walking the dog, it brings with it a complex case as well as potentially deadly results.Daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah have their hands full too: The mysterious circumstances of a dying woman lead them into an unexpected family drama, Hannah's new astrophysicist colleague claims he's receiving messages from outer space, and the Skelfs' teenaged lodger has yet another devastating experience.
Nothing is clear as the women are immersed ever deeper in their most challenging cases yet. But when the daughter of Jenny’s violent and fugitive ex-husband goes missing without trace and a wild animal is spotted roaming Edinburgh's parks, real danger presents itself, and all three Skelfs are in peril.
I have loved the Skelfs since I read The Big Chill and since then have caught up with the series. They are books that can be read as standalones but I have an almost obsessionlike need to read the full set. These women are like no other. They are so determined and they have a brilliant relationship with each other. I love the fact that they need no males to make a success of themselves, they are so fierce I just love them all for that! It does make these books stand out (along with the dark humour of course).
Doug Johnstone has created a story that covers many subjects with the multiple threads that run through it. He has the knack of bringing plenty of different themes within his books so everyone has something they can relate to. We are on a journey with the Skelfs and we are privy to the dangers they are up against as well as the emotions that run through this book. Loss, love, grief, lonliness, all these and more are touched on and explored throughout his books. A unique series that I am utterly grateful to be able to feel like I am a part of through Doug Johnstone's magnificent writing.
Thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for the copy of the book.

[Heather Copping · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a newbie to this set of stories involving the Skelfs, a group of women running an undertakers business in Scotland and also a private investigators, I was pleased to see that there was a synopsis of each of the characters and the jobs they do in the first few pages. This both serves as a reminder and a useful source of info for a newbie to this family. Dorothy, widow of Jim, now running the funeral directors, her daughter Jenny, granddaughter Hannah and her partner Indy. Along with Archie who helps her run the funeral side of the business and Thomas, a Swedish man working for the Scottish police, these make up the core characters in the book.
We are straight away drawn into the story when Dorothy's dog (Einstein) finds a human foot in the undergrowth at the local park and Hannah and Indy find their flat has been broken into, whilst Hannah's graduation ceremony was taking place. Not long after as Hannah and Indy were walking Einstein, something appears in front if them, they are both in a state of shock as they are sure that what they have seen is a panther, a panther in Scotland!! Dorothy is approached at a funeral by one of the mourners wanting her to investigate their mother being slowly killed off by her carer and Hannah has been asked to investigate a case of aliens by her new work colleague, all in all it looks like the family are going to be busy. Will they be able to do all that's asked of them, or will it be one body too far? Especially when Indy's grandparents arrive and want Indys parents bodies exhumed and then cremated! There is certainly lots going on in this book and as such there is lots to keep you entertained and guessing throughout.
This thriller story certainly keeps you reading throughout the pages and I did like the way the characters had their own individuality and this got you to know each person and how they thought, worked and lived together as an extended family.
It is set in Scotland and I can imagine lots of people going round the streets to walk in the footsteps of the Skelf family and see where each incident has taken place. I will definitely be on the lookout for the previous two books in this series, I would love to know how this series started and meet the Skelfs from the beginning.

[Yvonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

From reading the two previous books in this series I knew I was going to be in for a roller coaster ride. I did not, however, expect it to be such an amazing ride!

This is the third book in The Sklef's series, set in Edinburgh. The Skelf's are a family of different generations of women and boys are an amazing group. Headed by Dorothy, the family-run not only funeral directors but also have a Private Investigation business.

Dorothy is an amazing matriarch and her daughter, Jenny and granddaughter Hannah are doing a great job. With the family dog finding a foot, an abusive ex on the run and a very strange message the women have their work cut out. As if having all these dynamic women under one roof is not enough, Dorothy also takes in waifs, those who have troubles that just need a safe place and a roof over their heads. Oh, did I mention the big cat that is on the loose around the city?

This is a breakneck speed of a read, one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I do like the way the author alternates his chapters between the three Sklef women, it kept this reader up to speed with all that was going on, and boy was there a lot. Credit to the author for keeping all these sub-plots in check and not allowing me to get confused. As the women are very unique it is very easy to keep up with who is who and their individual roles don't their own cases as well as when they all come together.

This story does have a tense atmosphere to it, there is the threat of the big cat lurking, the abusive ex who is making life more than hell for some and then of course there is the body part. The author has so skillfully woven all the dramatic and dynamic plots together brilliantly and it makes for a very intense and thrilling read.

This is a fabulous series and I do think it is just getting better and better. There is more tension and it does have a gloriously dark edge to it. This is a series that I would say you do need to read from the beginning as there are mentions of previous storylines.

This is definitely a tense, fast-paced, dark and gritty glimpse into the world of the Sklef women, they are a fabulous family and this latest book is an amazing read. It is one I would definitely recommend.