Heads or Hearts

Independent Edinburgh in 2033 is having a problem, its borders are not secure and many are wondering if the city should join the reconstituted Scotland. Quint Dalrymple has more immediate concerns, a human heart has turned up on a football field. Not long after that gruesome discovery, a headless body is found floating in a canal. Does this all have to do with the upcoming referendum about joining with Scotland? And who’s behind the butchery? It’s obvious someone is trying to intimidate the good folks of Edinburgh, the only question is who?

I was pleased to see that Dalrymple has been “resurrected”. Johnston combines political intrigue with bloody murder and does it grace and style

Thanks for bringing Quint back!

In the Acknowledgements section of this novel the author describes his main character as mouthy and recalcitrant. Who am I to differ with the author? Quintilian Dalrymple is a new character for me and I was fascinated by this world of the city-state of Edinburgh in 2033. A lot has changed, but the Council of City Guardians has come to realize they were holding the reins in just a bit too tightly on the regular Citizens, so the ban on football (among other things) was overturned a few years back. The revival is most welcome to the citizens but the Guardians can't possibly let them become aware of what was found in the center of the pitch in one of the stadiums. Call in Quint Dalrymple, demoted a long time back down to the rank of just plain citizen. Quint's job is to solve the riddle of the object found on the pitch without disturbing the bustling tourism industry that is keeping Edinburgh's financial head above water. He certainly can't let gang warfare or an upcoming referendum to rejoin Scotland get in his way.

This story was especially interesting to me since it deals with how this individual city had coped with the collapse of the governing countries as we know them now. I have to say this imagined world sounded perfectly logical to me. Not that I would want it, but I can certainly imagine it turning out this way. The character of Quint was a pleasure to watch unfold along with his sidekick Davie. There is a lot of humor in the book along with Quint's love of blues music. The only criticism I have is that Quint made a lot of declarations of probable wrongdoing only to have the challenged person respond with "prove it" and there was not any proof. After a few times of that happening I began to wonder why the author kept doing it. Still, definitely a recommended read.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

Interesting one this, although I have to admit I have jumped into a middle of a series and that carries a slight disadvantage. Anyway this is quite timely what with the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, but it is set in the future where countries and society in general have gone through a meltdown. In Scotland there are a number of City States, including Edinburgh where this is set. And the future Edinburgh is Orwellian in nature with “Guardians” in power and Auxiliaries that act as enforcers. In this mix we have Quint Dalrymple who is brought in as an investigator when a decapitated head is found in strange circumstances.
There is much in the plot, state corruption, potential revolution, a murder mystery and questions about whether Scotland should join the City states and become a single entity. In fact the change in the status of the world and the superpowers is mentioned in parting, but it is a fascinating framework for the story. Oh, and a running theme in this is the most important thing in the world…football.
I enjoyed the concept and the vision of a future Edinburgh and Scotland, the plot worked less well for me, slightly over complex and Quint and his sidekick rushing from point A to point B, I would have liked to see more exploration of life in Edinburgh, but this may have been covered in previous books. It’s certainly a murder mystery with more than a twist and I did enjoy it.

Great to see Quint back in action in the New Enlightenment Edinburgh. A good mystery set in a dystopian Edinburgh of the future. I'd recommend starting at the beginning of this excellent series, for the storyline which develops, but this book would stand up in its own right.

Quintillian Dalrymple (Quint to his friends) is an investigator in the city state of Edinburgh, set in a dystopian future where Edinburgh has become an independent state based on the principles set out in Plato’s book The Republic and rule by a Council of City Guardians Edinburgh has had its share of problems and now in 2033, has been forced to relax some of the draconian rules instituted when the new City State was founded. Dalrymple quickly finds himself investigating the case of a human heart found in the middle of a football pitch, which leads to him to corruption at the heart of the city (no pun intended) and devious schemes to rig the referendum, which asks whether Edinburgh should at last re-join the state of Scotland. I was so pleased to find this novel as I’d been a great fan of the Quintillian Dalrymple books – I’ve got all of them on my bookshelf but not seen a new for over ten years, so I was overjoyed to see this one at last. Reading it was like meeting up with an old pal and finding out about lots of old friends you’d forgotten about – they are all there, even Billy Geddes! If you’ve read the Quint Dalrymple books before, then you’ll get it straight away. If you’re unsure because it’s the sixth in a series, I suggest you try one of the earlier novels on Kindle first, rather than missing out on this excellent dystopian detective