Love this character. It was intense to relive the early days of 2020 lockdown, so that's something to know going in. Karen, though -- I love how she knows/finds her own mind. I love how she's gathering a solid crew of investigators. I love how she proceeds come hell or high water. I wish she had less aggro from the boss, and I'm hopeful for that turn about in the future. I think Daisy will likely end up to be trouble, but I'm interested to see how that plays out. Emotionally taxing, but a great story. ( )

I tore through this book in two days. It was a visceral reminder of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic: although the world seems to have moved on, we must not forget how terrifying those early days were and how little we knew about the virus (and we don't know that much more now, especially about long Covid). The details were just right and accurate. I liked too that each squad member got some airtime in the story. ( )

I loved this story set in Edinburgh during the lockdown in 2020. I loved all the twists and turns that DCI Karen Pirie encounters while trying to solve a cold case. I enjoyed getting to know a bit about Jason and Daisy. I really liked that I could figure out the main characters even though I have not read all the books in this series. I could not put the book down. I received a copy of the book from the publisher for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will. ( )

DCI Karen Pirie is head of Police Scotland’s Historic Crime Unit. Scotland is in its third week of Covid lockdown and has put into place specific protocols that must be followed…primarily staying at home in your bubble and keeping your distance from people when out and about. As a result, the Historic Crime Unit has been cooling their heels, since cold cases aren’t really an emergency. That is until Detective Inspector Jason Murray (“the Mint”) gets a call from Meera, an archivist at Scotland’s National Library. Mystery writer Jake Stein had died a year earlier and his estate donated his papers to the National Library.
Included in the papers was a partial manuscript, The Vanishing of Laurel Oliver. Meera felt that the plot of the story bore a striking resemblance to the sudden, unexplained disappearance of 18-year-old University student and fledgling mystery writer Lara Hardie a year earlier. The protagonist even has the same medical condition as Lara. A week-long manhunt for Lara produced no body. There was no evidence of foul play and no indication that Lara would take her own life or wanted to disappear. As a result, there was no case to investigate.

During the Covid lockdown, Karen Pirie was living in her boyfriend Hamish’s flat along with co-worker Daisy while Hamish was away north in the Highlands. So, when Jason broached the subject of the manuscript, Pirie jumped at the chance to work on something, although a year-old case really didn’t qualify as a cold case.

What Pirie and crew knew about Stein was his meteoric rise in popularity followed by a catastrophic fall after an ex-lover publicly accused him of sexual abuse and he unabashedly included her in one of his books without sufficiently disguising her identity.

In this new manuscript crime writer Jamie Cobain purportedly plotted and executed the perfect murder while deflecting the guilt onto one of his friends. The protagonist was eerily similar to Stein himself while the friend in the novel was similar to Stein’s friend and chess partner. Why would anyone do that…incriminate himself even posthumously?

As Pirie, Daisy and Jason review the archives and re-interview all of Stein’s acquaintances and friends, including his ex-wife, more details emerge, casting doubt on Stein’s guilt or innocence.
Along with an excellent crime novel, McDermid describes how Covid, the lockdown and its aftermath impact both her colleagues and the world in general. She doesn’t pull any punches in this area either.
Past Lying has received several starred reviews. One reviewer said “Karen and her supporting cast are absorbing, providing insight into the restriction on police work during the pandemic…” Another reviewer stated “This page-turner grips from the outset and doesn’t let go.”

There is a lot of action despite the Covid lockdown timeframe. There are several ancillary stories as well, all adding up to a great read.
My first thought for comparable books was Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders…both books within a book, although Horowitz’s protagonists are amateurs whereas McDermid’s are professionals.

I’ve read all the books in the series except for book #2, A Darker Domain and they are all good reads, in any order you read them. ( )

This book marked a welcome return for Val McDermid’s highly empathetic character, Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie, who leads the Historical Crimes Unit in Edinburgh. The novel opens in 2020, shortly after the United Kingdom was plunged into lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid 19. DCI Pirie has opted to spend lockdown in the capacious flat owned by her partner Hamish, although he is now living in the Highlands where he is running a recently acquired still, which he has converted to the production of hand sanitiser. Karen has been joined in Hamish’s flat by her colleague, Daisy Mortimer. The third member of the Unit, Jason (“The Mint) Murray, is in lockdown with his girlfriend Eilidh, and finding that patience with each other is starting to fray.

It is Jason who sets this story going, after taking a call from an archivist at Scotland’s National Library. Just before lockdown came into force, she had been working through the papers of a recently deceased successful writer of crime fiction, whose papers had been passed to the Library for retention. She had noticed that the unfinished manuscript of the writer’s last work bore a very close resemblance to the details of the unresolved disappearance of a young woman about a year earlier. In ordinary circumstances, she might have thought nothing of it, but having time on her hands in lockdown, the story had preyed on her mind. DCI Pirie and colleagues also have time on their hands, having been consigned to lockdown themselves, and decide to look into it further.

Val McDermid gives us a novel within a novel, and we get to read much of the manuscript. She also offers great insight into the methodology of some authors, and also touches on the potentially awkward subject of authorial jealousy, as one hitherto successful writer’s star wanes while that of a newcomer to the crime fiction scene waxes.

As always with McDermid, the storyline is complex but very well managed. There are several different storylines behind the principal one of the investigation. In addition to the normal fits and starts that accompany any developing police case, there are the added complications of Covid. I was also struck by the differences between the regulations prevailing in Scotland, compared to those down in London where I passed my lockdown periods.

I remember hearing an interview that Val McDermid gave a couple of years ago supporting the publication of her novel 1979. She had decided to write a novel set in the past because she did not yet feel ready to engage with Covid in her books. I can readily understand that, and two years ago it would have felt all too current. ( )