The Cold Truth

Police Scotland #13

by Ed James

This edition collects Cullen and Bain books 1-3, so purchasers of those books should avoid this.
Cullen, Hunter and Bain return in a three-part novel, where each of them must face the Cold Truth.

City of the Dead
A body in a bin. Two cops at each other's throats.

Acting DI Scott Cullen faces his worst fear – managing DS Brian Bain, his old boss and notorious loose cannon. But when Cullen is called through to Glasgow to investigate a murder, Bain is back on his home turf.

A body found in an industrial bin, soaked in bleach and naked except for an adult nappy. Amid an ongoing investigation into similar crimes, but stopping short of murder, can Cullen rise above Bain's behaviour and solve the crime?

World's End
A body in a supermarket. A cop with a plan. Another with a nightmare.

When a body turns up in an Edinburgh supermarket, Acting DI Scott Cullen must dig into the victim's life—and his own recent past.

While DS Brian Bain is in charge of investigating the supermarket and its staff, including the tainted meat scandal of a few years ago, he's also scheming away, trying to solve the case before his boss.

But will Cullen's goal be thwarted by Bain's game? Will Bain save the day? And will they catch the killer before they strike again?

Hell's Kitchen
Two cities in lockdown. Two cops in distress, separated by an ocean.

"Ach, it'll be fine." Famous last words that leave DS Brian Bain trapped across the other side of the Atlantic from where he needs to be. Recording a podcast while the world ends.

"This is a nightmare." Shoved back into operational policing to manage the lockdown in Edinburgh, Acting DI Scott Cullen is faced with some ghosts from his past. Ghosts that kill.

And with Bain thousands of miles away, can his long-standing plan come to fruition? Or will events dictate his actions?

Readers LOVE this Gritty Police

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Oh, how I loved this book... The characters, the conspiracy theorist, and the gritty dialogue - the best entertainment I’ve read in a police thriller ever" – Goodreads review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Excellent characters, fast pace, interesting story line" – Goodreads review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Incredibly fast paced with mayhem on both sides of the pond. Some crazy supporting characters make for a wild ride to say the least. A must read in a must read series. Don't miss any of author Ed James' Scott Cullen books." – Goodreads review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Hell's Kitchen is a perfectly paced page turner that switches points of view between Cullen's career ladder climbing and Bain's bitter foul mouth. Bain's chapters are a complete delight, and it's cool to catch more glimpses into another side of him. Hell's Kitchen has action, murder, conspiracy theories, a stolen bum pack, and the return of characters from past books. This is the best yet of the already wonderful Cullen and Bain series" – Amazon review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This story is filled with suspense, intense evil, and plenty of twists and turns. I love the relationship between Cullen and Bain, the same being absolutely brutal at times! The story kept my interest from the start, through every twist and turn, to the very end!" – Amazon review

Binge the Police Scotland serie

466 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 16, 2023

Reviews

[David Marriott · Rating 1 out of 5]

not good

I’ve given up on this book, can’t understand half what Bain is talking about Lost patience can’t be bothered to read more.

[Shirley]

Consists of 3 books: City of the Dead, World's End and Hell's Kitchen
City of the Dead, Cullen and Bain 1
A body is found in a industrial bin. It's a naked man in a nappy. It crosses over with a series of rapes that the Sexual Offences team is working on which means that now acting DI Scott Cullen will have to liase with his ex Sharon McNeil. Also he's got the issue of supervising his old boss, Brian Bain now demoted to Sargeant.
World's End: a body of a young man is found in a supermarket, smothered with minced meat in his mouth which is sealed with yellow reduced stickers. Cullen has to find out if this is one of the disgruntled customers who have been trying to cheat the reductions system or is revenge for a poisoned meat scandal.
At the same time the demoted Bain is seething that Cullen is now in charge of him and tries to set him up by planting missing evidence in his locker.
Hell's Kitchen :the covid lockdown is about to hit the UK and Bain and Paul Gordon/"Elvis" have gone to the USA to promote their beer reviewing podcast. But they shouldn't be there as all leave has been cancelled. Bain wants out of the way as he knows he's likely to be sacked, plus the podcast is making them a lot of money. Elvis naively ticks the leave was approved.
Meanwhile back home Scott and newly transferred Sargeant Lauren are back in uniform taking homeless people into accommodation due to the pandemic and arresting conspiracy supporters trying to burn down phone masts.
But when called to a sudden death it turns out to be Bain's ex. And his disgraced son, ex police officer Kieron, has heard his mother's been poisoned and has broken out of jail to avenge her.
Bain and Elvis are struggling to get home when New York goes into pandemic meltdown and Bains passport is stolen when he intervenes with thugs raiding an ambulance for PPE.
Cullen ends up trying to do the job Bain wants to do himself. And finally gets to meet Bain's "Thai mail order bride" who turns out to be Scottish/Thai and fell in love with Bain after a night out.

[Lynette Wells · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worse book I've ever read. Scattered plot, foul language the Bain character is vile and boring.

[Susan Milne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up on this. Very disappointing.

[Sharryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 *