Wow! What an absolute stunner of a book. This was so different to a lot of the books out there at the moment. Totally gripping and thrilling and I couldn’t stop reading it although I really didn’t want to finish it!’ Reader review Editorial director Eve Hall acquired world all language rights to The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill and a second book, following a three-publisher bidding war,from Mark Stanton at The North Literary Agency. This is a book that will provoke emotions as you read, especially when there are bodies which have been undiscovered. This is something that I’ve found myself being emotionally invested in which I didn’t think I would be. Grave works as a specialist cleaner. If someone dies at home and remain undiscovered for sometime, Grace makes sure that the deep clean ensures no contamination is left at the end. I found this a difficult book to rate and review. For approximately the first half of the book, it was shaping up to be a strong 4 star read for me but later came closer to 2 stars while my attention waned. It had a fascinating and original premise. Grace McGill, its protagonist, and narrator works as a forensic cleaner. It is her duty to deep clean and disinfect rooms where a person has died alone. The decomposing body has been left undiscovered for weeks or months. It is gruesome work, but Grace takes pride in meticulously decontaminating the room and restoring it to its original state before the death. She feels sorrow for the fact that the body had lain undiscovered for so long and she holds contempt for neighbours, friends, and families who failed to notice that the deceased was missing and who died a lonely and long- undiscovered death.

Grace is a cleaner – she is employed to go into homes where somebody had died and remained undiscovered for weeks and she is employed to sanitise the house and remove all harmful toxins, or what have you. The author is adept at creating memorable characters who really draw you into a story and grace is no exception. She has a very complicated past, and a troubled relationship with her own father which goes some way to explaining her actions. There is a great deal of empathy with her, but also a whole host of contradictions and her ways of coping with the atrocities she must see are fascinating and yet authentic. I was really drawn to her, keen to see her uncover the truth, even if she was somewhat less confident or outgoing than the typical amateur detective, for that is surely what she is. Twisted, twisting, original …. The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is unforgettable‘ CHRIS WHITAKER

Hobbies

The title fits the book well, but it didn’t do anything to make me want to read it. Nor does the cover. Grace McGill lives a simple life. She is happy not to be noticed as she is uncomfortable around people and making conversation is torturous. Grace is a cleaner. She makes a living cleaning crime scenes where bodies have been found long after someone has died. The worst possible scenes are her speciality. She takes pride in her work and tries to treat these homes with respect. When she is called to clean a house where Mr Thomas Agnew laid dead and undiscovered for months, she finds a pile of newspapers, all dated the 23rd of July for various years. Intrigued, Grace starts digging into the old man’s life, eager to discover the relevance of this date. Meeting two of his old friends at his funeral, Grace realises that they are hiding something and fuels her curiosity. Determined to find the truth Grace finds herself drawn into a mystery and soon finds herself being followed and threatened. What will Grace do with the truth, and how will it change her life?

Grace is the narrator, I really like that Grace is chatting to the reader. The writing style runs with the chatty natural feel. I started off loving Grace, her quirky character really has good depth. The story is very character driven. There’s plenty of tension, it’s got a good pace throughout. The elderly are particularly at risk of loneliness, he added, because it’s far less common now to see extended families living together or near each other. I’m still dwelling on the ending. I don’t know if I liked it or not. It’s certainly a book that will stay with me for some time. I don't think of those characters will stay with me longer than Grace McGill....she is an amazingly, complex character.The young woman is tasked with cleaning the flat of one Tommy Agnew, a man that had lain dead for a long time before being discovered. The smell was horrific, his imprint still embedded in the bed, flies, a gelatinous soup of human decay. It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach but Grace does it with vigour. It is here that she discovers a group photograph taken on Bute which leads Grace down a road she’d never intended on travelling.

A premise that, gratifyingly, delivers the goods in spades and does so with a superbly well drawn cast of characters and a rather unique, well written, often dark narrative. Compelling and wholly engaging reading. Top notch' In addition to being an enthralling and very entertaining murder mystery, The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill is a dark love story to Glasgow and Rothesay. The descriptions of the settings are so detailed that anyone that knows Glasgow and spent childhood holidays in Rothesay (like many people from the West of Scotland) is sure to love this compelling story.There are many surprising twists and turns to come, and we are looking for a serial killer, but the most staggering surprise came towards the end, when all of the pieces of the jigsaw come together with another death. No spoilers here!! Be prepared for overt descriptions caused by the remnants putrefying bodies. I credit the author for researching the science of removing and disinfecting the pathogens created, but the grisly technicalities may be a little much for some. If you’re not friends with eww and goo, this party may not be to your liking. I hadn't realised that the singer Lena Zavaroni and her family originated in Rothesay. She had such a short and difficult life. I knew the man that she was briefly married to. This story is told from the narrative of Grace, and the reader really gets into her mindset, we live her obsessions and compulsions, even though we know she is in danger.

Some photos and a collection of newspapers found at one of her clean up jobs triggers an obsession to try and solve a mystery.

Featured Reviews

Nothing fills me with more joy that finding a new crime novel that’s set in Scotland. I’m proud of this wee country but if you thought for a moment that it was all visit Scotland type photographs and inspirational quotes about this wonderous place, you would be sorely mistaken. Yes, we do have the stunning glens, fantastical mountainous peaks, and country parks to die for, but we also have the darker side – the shadows lingering down alleys, constantly waiting and watching, the drug abuse, the violence and the most insidious – the crime. Aside from her unusual occupation, Grace is a unique character, painfully shy, obsessive and more comfortable around death than she is around most living people. It’s not a happy life that Grace leads, but she takes a kind of contentment from honouring the dead through her work. And it is that need to honour the dead that drives her to consider the link between her last three death cleans. These were lonely people, too. Each left undiscovered for some time. Grace hates that there was no-one to visit these people; no-one to know that they had died and to mourn them. So she often goes to their funerals, too. It’s very cleverly plotted, we care about Grace, even before we get what her real interest in the dead men is. Its gripping, intense and atmospheric. It’s an interesting rumination on lonely deaths. Yes, there’s a big, dirty, dark story here but pass a thought for the victims in life.