David's best mate died falling off a cliff - and he was the last to see him alive. Fifteen years later, he returns to Arbroath, where another death forces him to face the past.A darkly funny, gripping debut from one of Scotland's finest writers - newly reissued.

ANNIVERSARY EDITION

INTRODUCTION BY CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE

Your best mate just fell off a cliff in mysterious circumstances. You were the last person to see him alive. What do you do?

If you're David Lindsay from Arbroath, you leg it - and don't go back. Not for fifteen years.

Then Nicola Cruickshank - yes, that Nicola, the girl you always fancied but never had the guts to speak to - gets in touch. She wants you back for a school reunion. At the very place it happened. Of course you say yes. Not to lay ghosts to rest, but because you still fancy Nicola.

The thing is, if you are David Lindsay, then returning to Arbroath isn't going to bring closure. Because when someone else tumbles off the cliffs - an act the locals now call tombstoning - David has a choice: run away again, or finally find out why people around him keep dying...

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About the Author
Doug Johnstone is the author of twelve novels, most recently The Great Silence, the third in the Skelfs series, which has been optioned for TV. In 2021,The Big Chill, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2020, A Dark Matter, the first in the series, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Independent Voice Book of the Year award. Black Hearts (Book four), will be published in 2022. Several of his books have been best sellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He's taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He's also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.


Book Information
ISBN 9781917764186
Author Doug Johnstone
Format Paperback
Page Count 300
Imprint Orenda Books
Publisher Orenda Books