Doug Johnstone – The Big Chill

‘The Big Chill’ by Doug Johnstone is a funny mix of funeral directors and private investigators that, when I read the synopsis for the book, I felt I just had to read. It is the second book in the series about the Skelfs, private investigators who also run a funeral home! This is my first foray into the Skelfs and feel it is okay as a standalone, but my interest is also piqued enough to try to read the first book as soon as I can!

The Skelf family consists of grandmother Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah, three generations of women working together since Dorothy’s husband Jim passed away. Jenny’s ex-husband, Hannah’s dad, is now on remand in prison, so the women are having a little peace after the events of the first book. They have help in the funeral home so everything is going quite smoothly.

Doug Johnstone really knows how to make an impact, I can say that much. A police car actually crashes into an open grave of a funeral the Skelfs have organised, the man in the car dies. The man cannot be identified, so Dorothy decides she will find out who he is. Craig then decides to change his plea to not guilty throwing a spanner in the works as Jenny is just starting a new relationship. Hannah is back at university with her quantum physics and befriends an elderly professor.
We see the peace being shattered bit by bit, as first one of Dorothy’ drumming students disappears and her parents don’t seem bothered one bit. Then there is the suspicious death at the University. These events spiral into something far more dangerous for the Skelfs as the story develops.

This family are a bunch of no-nonsense women, who seem more than likely to be finding lost husbands than any hard-hitting work. I found I liked Archie a lot. He is just coming to terms with having Cotards Syndrome, with which he has the idea he is already dead. I find him a very special and different person, maybe because he works in the funeral business too.
I enjoyed the pacing of the story, with the tension building throughout and then the explosion that is the final part! I am hoping we have another Skelf story as I am now truly invested in this family and the surrounding characters, also the cliffhangers that the book leaves us with gives me hope. Thank you to Orenda Books for the digital copy of the book to take part today.