Cold cases, war crimes and political killings: the crimes in these novels have long histories, and the investigators pursuing them are doing something close to archaeology. Karen Pirie traces an Edinburgh skeleton back to the Balkan Wars. Bosch juggles a 1989 DNA impossibility and a politically charged death at the Chateau Marmont, with just three years left on the LAPD. Lorimer's Zimbabwe holiday is overtaken by a Glasgow murder. And Bannerman, in Brussels in 1979, stumbles into a double killing the powerful would prefer buried.
Michael Connelly, The Drop - Approaching retirement from the LAPD, Harry Bosch is drawn into two disturbing cases: a decades-old DNA match and the suspicious death of a councilman's son. His pursuit uncovers a hidden serial killer alongside a deep-rooted police conspiracy.
Alex Gray, Out of Darkness - DSI William Lorimer's holiday in Zimbabwe takes a dangerous turn when enemies from his friend Daniel Kohi's past resurface. Back in Scotland, a murder investigation closes in on Daniel's own front door.
Val McDermid, Skeleton Road - A skeleton found on an Edinburgh rooftop leads a war crimes investigator, a cold case detective and a forensic anthropologist into secrets stretching from the Balkans to Scotland.
Peter May, The Man With No Face - In Brussels in 1979, a Scottish journalist investigating political corruption finds himself standing over two murdered men. The only witness is a traumatised child whose drawings show everything except the killer's face.
