A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, Christopher Brookmyre, Little Brown, £12.99

Christopher Brookmyre won many friends when he visited these islands for Wordplay 2005 last September. And his latest book is a must-read.

It's one of those books that grabs you on page one, and rarely lets you go.

It's a shocking, in-yer-face, start, sprayed with bad language, to describe the sheer panic of two men dealing with a couple of dead bodies.

What follows is a flashback to when the protagonists were starting school. The fear of first day school nerves is wonderfully observed.

From then on Brookmyre takes us on a rollercoaster ride of  emotions and suspense, backwards and forwards between the two eras.

His detailed portrayal of characters, and how they evolve is superb.

Save £1 on this book at the Shetland Times bookshop throughout June - see coupon in The Shetland Times, Friday, June 2

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