There’s no shortage of great detective stories set in Edinburgh, of course, spearheaded by Ian Rankin’s Rebus series. Since 2012, James Oswald has steadily added to this roster with his DI Tony McLean series and The Violent Hour, the 15th to feature McLean, has arrived. Appropriately, it is set during an unprecedented Edinburgh heatwave around the Fringe. What links two dead bodies and a man washed up mysteriously naked on a beach with no trace of identity? It’s got twists and turns aplenty with shades of the supernatural to go with the usual crime hijinks.

The challenge for any long-running series like this is to be inviting both for fans of the series and newcomers. There are, of course, nods to the wider series, but it feels welcomingly self-contained, with much of the focus on the ongoing case but with room for character development for DI Tony McLean and DI Janie Harrison. These are compelling characters who wonderfully contrast one another while both investigations challeng all their experience. Oswald does well to cram in multiple, seemingly disparate investigations and locations into a tight 370 pages. The lingering heatwave adds an extra layer of dynamics and unease, compounding an already complex investigation.

One of the best ways to keep a series fresh is to rotate the key players. Several are introduced here including PC Felicity Gordon, a key figure in the investigation who looks set to feature prominently in future instalments and feels like an instant favourite. This certainly doesn’t feel like a series 14 books deep, there is still plenty of intrigue and character beats.

A series of brutal, animalistic murders has Edinburgh feeling uneasy and the police force stretched to find answers. The addition of supernatural elements later on may not sit well with everyone but does offer a fresh angle to what otherwise feels by the book, so Oswald should be applauded for taking such a risk. The crimes feel uncomfortable and dark, adding a sense of urgency to the investigation.

Even though this is a novel set in Edinburgh during the Fringe, it never feels like it is treading on overly familiar ground, and for a series that has been running for over a decade, it is fresh and exciting, far from tired. This is far from the tourist image of the city; it’s a dark, brooding place, and while the festival is ongoing, there is little time for the team to drop into a comedy show. Oswald cleverly juxtaposes the lighthearted entertainment with the barbaric murders.

The Violent Hour is a surprisingly brutal entry in the DI Tony McLean series. Impressively, it manages to keep the series feeling fresh and going in some directions that will surprise fans of the usual crime fiction tropes. The way he interweaves the initially disparate storylines is impressive and ultimately makes the book accessible for newcomers and long-term fans.

Rather than being an Ian Rankin knock-off, Oswald continues to prove he is a master of the craft, offering a book that feels distinct and shows a different side to Edinburgh and Tartan noir. For all the blackness and murder, there is still humour and characterisation that pierces the dark veil. Even if some of the shifts don’t totally work there is much that does impress.

Back in 2012, we interviewed James Oswald shortly after the release of the very first DI Tony McLean novel, Natural Causes.

Wildfire
Print/Kindle/iBook
£9.99

CFL Rating: 4 Stars