Skinner's Trail

Bob Skinner #3

by Quintin Jardine

A murder in an affluent Edinburgh suburb leaves Assistant Chief Constable Bob Skinner baffled. Then a case of property fraud takes Skinner in a new direction. Moving from Scotland to Spain to a climax in Edinburgh, this thriller follows a trail involving vice, corruption, and the merchants of death.

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Scotland, Detective, Procedural

499 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Quintin Jardine (born 1945) is a Scottish author of three series of crime novels, featuring the fictional characters Bob Skinner, Oz Blackstone, and Primavera Blackstone. He was educated in Motherwell and in Glasgow where he studied at what was then the city’s only University. After career as a journalist, government information officer and media relations consultant, he took to the creation of crime fiction.

His first wife, Irene, with whom he shared over 30 years, from their teens, died in 1997. He is married, to his second wife, Eileen. They live in both Scotland and in Spain

Reviews

[LJ]

SKINNER'S TRAIL (Police Procedural-Europe-Cont) – Ok
Jardine, Quintin – 3rd in series
St. Martin's Press, 1996- Hardcover
Assistant Chief Constable Robert Skinner's newest case starts in Scotland with the murder Tony Manson, a criminal who runs drugs and prostitutes. The trail leads to Spain and money laundering, and on to Amsterdam and back to Scotland.
*** While I may get tired of Rebus' drinking and angst, Skinner is so perfect as to be annoying. He is tall, lean, attractive, smart, an excellent shot and at hand-to-hand combat, well liked by his superior and subordinates, and has a perfect wife and baby. He easily gets the cooperation of other police agencies and bad guys tell him everything. It all gets to be a bit much. So why do I keep reading the series? Because under all that is a decent procedural with just enough suspense to keep me going. It's a quick, okay read.

[Lewis Weinstein]

Skinner is a good cop, and Jardine focuses on the detecting process of the boss and his group, with enough character development to spark interest for the long haul of the series. In this story, the process of deciding who the really bad guy is (as opposed to the many other bad guys) involves keeping track of who is still alive. It kept me turning the pages, and putting another Skinner on my "to read" list.

[Dave]

The problem with this series is that the plots are increasingly incredible while the main character becomes steadily more superhuman....

Another one or two then I'll find something else.

[Colin Mitchell]

Bob Skinner is an Assistant Chief Constable in Edinburgh, Scotland, but finds himself following a trail of greed, violence, and death. He also beats up a suspect in a Spanish police barracks and then shoots a man. In Scotland, all the police officers appear to be above the rank of Inspector. Not really very realistic. The action through the story is good and fast-moving. A little heavy on the " lovvy dovvy" wife and new baby stuff.

Worth 3 stars as it was likeable enough but not near the top of my list of detective stories.

[Fredrick Danysh]

Assistance Deputy Chief Bob Skinner learns of a possible land swindle in Spain prior to his vacation there with his wife and new born son. In Scotland a criminal boss is brutally murdered and a race to fill the void begins. Skinner gets caught up in an international investigation of murder, drugs, and corruption.

[Avid Series Reader]

Skinner's Trail is the 3rd book in the Bob Skinner mystery series by Quintin Jardine, set in 1990's Edinburgh Scotland.

Skinner's Trail starts with the birth of Bob and Sarah's son James Andrew Skinner (JAS) nickname Jazz, and an open-and-shut murder case by a newly released felon.

Bob, Sarah and Jazz travel to their L'Escala house in Catalonia Spain for a holiday, where Bob also works with the Guardia Civil on a suicide/property scam case.

Soon Bob senses the two cases are related, parts of a major ongoing crime run by clever and ruthless criminals. His investigation puts Bob in danger both in Spain and Scotland, but of course in the end justice is served.

While Bob focuses on unraveling the many complicated threads of the crimes, he is oblivious to a family event; heavy foreshadowing throughout the book leads to a surprise for Bob on the last page (easy for the reader to guess early on).

[Nathan]

I'm not sure I'll continue with this series.
Skinner is just too perfect, I much prefer a main character to have some failings. Bob Skinner has the obligatory beautiful wife (who is a medical doctor/professor, naturally) the perfect baby, a beautiful and intelligent adult daughter, is tall, fit, a crack shot, accomplished martial artist etc etc. Give me a lonely, rumpled, drink sodden Rebus any day...

Anyway, I lost interest in this book around 80% of the way through, it just got to a stage where I didn't care what happened, and it was a chore to get to the end. There is a good enough set of characters in here, and the plot was ok (if unrealistic) but it is all a little humdrum, and the Mills and Boon spec sex scenes do not help (all mutual explosions sort of thing). I will probably read another couple in the series but if they are as predictable as this one I will give up on Skinner and read something more worth my time...

[Ann Repetto]

complicated plot was fine but the characters are annoying. Skinner is so full of himself. not going to continue w/the series.

[Siobhan]

As a big lover of crime fiction, I am always eager to dive into recommendations. The Bob Skinner books came highly recommended from another crime fiction lover at work – in fact, they were so excited for me to read the books that they let me borrow their paperback copies. While I could see some of the appeal with the first two books, they did not grab me as much as I had expected. This third book, however, was much more enjoyable.

I will be honest and say that this is a three-point-five-star rating. When I compared it to the first two books that I also gave three-star ratings to, I feel like I should have given this a four-star rating. However, I could not quite bring myself to do so. This was a big improvement upon the first two books, yet it still was not quite a full four-star rating. Nevertheless, this is my favourite in the series thus far. The crime was much more interesting in this one, with elements that kept me more engaged than the far too out-there elements of the prior books. It was more crime fiction than an attempt to be something bigger, which made me much happier with this story. However, things remain far too easy with the characters. Everything is perfect and right, which makes it rather boring to watch. I want some elements to keep me hooked outside the crime, and it is not there because of the characters being rather dull. Also, they did annoy me at some points with views that were of the time – that is, rather outdated and had me rolling my eyes. There was a bright spark at the end that promises at least some interest in the next book, which has me a bit more eager to pick it up.

All in all, the series is improving. I am crossing my fingers the next book will finally hit with the force I have been hoping for since they were first recommended to me.

[Sheila]

3.5 to 4 stars. A man approaches Skinner at a lunchtime talk thinking he has been defrauded over a home deal in Spain. At the same time a well known crime leader in Edinburgh is found dead and also his friend Linda whose husband Lennie has just been released from prison.
Skinner sets off for his home in Spain along with Sarah and his newborn son, James Andrew (hate the nickname Jazz but c’est la vie) where he does some work on behalf of the defrauded man. Thus starts a series of murders and mayhem involving crime bosses and dodgy real estate businesses and drug smuggling.

[Jan]

This is the 2nd Skinner book I've read and while the 1st one was okay, i couldn't finish Skinners Trail.

The writing of Skinner's perfect wife, who has the perfect pregnancy, with a perfect birth that within a day of said birth the perfect wife is looking at crime scene photos and declaring how, when and who. Seriously!

I skipped through the perfect family scenes, but when they travelled to Spain just 3 weeks after the birth, I threw the book across the room unable to read any more.

[Laraine]

4 stars. The third book in Jardine's Bob Skinner series got off to a bit of a slow start but once the action started, it was a very good read. Skinner, a new father, gets called in on the killing of a gangland kingpin. This leads from Scotland to Spain and all over Europe, trying to find a killer and uncover a major drug ring involved in other unsavoury exploits. A good read all in all.

[David Hull]

While I doubt other senior police officers, in Scotland and in other jurisdictions, would greatly appreciate Assistant Chief Constable Bob Skinner telling them constantly how they should 'do their job', I still find this series to be a great read.

[Kathy]

I enjoyed following Skinner's Trail across Scotland into Spain and beyond. He's quite tenacious when it comes to solving crime. Traveling with his wife and new son added another layer to this complex character.

[The Cruciverbalistic Bookworm]

Not a bad one; slightly too long and all the villains/culprits conveniently ending up dead. Isn't Bob Skinner a tad overbearingly overconfident? Anyway, I had read the 2nd book in this series more than a decade ago...can't remember why I didn't bother further with the series until this one.

[Kerry Bonham]

A good plot, with some interesting twists. Felt a little rushed at the end.

[Maggie]

Good story a bit dated but this was published in 1990s Will move on with series and would recommend

[Sue]

Exciting Scottish police tale of Bod Skinner!

[Adam]

Goods, slightly dated by technology!

[Iain Hamilton]

Another top notch from Jardine. Skinner is definitely no nonsense and I'd definitely want to work for him. Keep em coming.

[Leigh Harrison]

The relentlessly patriarchal Bob Skinner proves once again that he's better than anyone else and a right prat with it.

[Mary]

Even after having read this book a few times before listening to the audio version brought a new spin to this engrossing 3rd outing of Bob Skinner. James Bryce is a wonderful narrator and really brings the characters to life.
This book takes you from Edinburgh to Spain and various other places in Europe with dramatic scenes unfolding as you travel along. Highly entertaining.
If you have never tried this series I would highly recommend starting with the 1st book Skinner's Rules and carry on from there.

[Virginia Van]

In the midst of his elation at the birth of his son Jazz, Assistant Chief Constable Bob Skinner agrees to look into a matter of an apparent property fraud in the Catalonian town of L'Escala where he himself has a getaway home. However, the it quickly becomes clear that the case is much bigger - and more deadly - than he had expected. A complex, fast paced internatioal thriller.

[Pauline]

Enjoyed this book even though it was a little bit old fashioned in style.