It is important that you read the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books in the order in which they were published, since these are not stand alone novels. The pair pursues serial killers in plots that will keep you on the edge of your seat with your jaw clenched. The relationship of Tony and Carol Jordan, police inspector, is so tentative and slow moving that you sometimes could scream, but you keep waiting for it to progress. In Tony Hill, McDermid has created a flawed and damaged character who still manages to live in the world and work for the forces of good as a Profiler, expert at his work because of his scarred past. But if that's not a problem, I highly recommend these books. If you are averse to graphic depictions of violence and perversion, you may want to skip this series. McDermid creates a tight, incredibly tense story that keeps you reading, sometimes even when you don't want to. But the development of the plot, along with the minutiae of each character's life and personality, make for excellent reading. I won't try to tell you about the plot, since many other reviews do that. McDermid writes wonderful prose that makes her characters come alive - all of them, not just the two major characters. Now that I have read all of the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan books to date (a new one is due later this year), I felt it was time to write a review of the first book. I purchased The Mermaids Singing partially because of the reviews I read on Audible, but probably more because Val McDermid seemed to be the favorite mystery author of Mikael Blomqvist in The Millenium Trilogy (The Girl With.

The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid