crime writer, Crime/Mystery, Helen Forbes, Novels, Reading Between the Lines

Queen of Grime by Helen Forbes #QUEENOFGRIME

December 21, 2025 Melanie Leave a comment

Today at Celtic Connexions, I’m featuring Helen Forbes and her novel, Queen of Grime.

Queen

Blurb

The Queen of Grime is about to pay. Big time.

Erin Flett is used to clearing up the sad debris of forgotten lives and tragic deaths. A crime and trauma scene cleaner from a deprived Edinburgh housing estate, she’s made a good life for herself and her daughter. But a secret from the past is about to catch up with her.

Ten years ago, Erin told a desperate lie with serious consequences. Now, someone else knows, and they’re determined to make Erin and her loved ones pay.

Following a terrifying late-night attack, the tension mounts until Erin doesn’t know who she can trust. As she struggles to keep her family safe, little does she realise just how close the danger is…

Queen of Grime is the first in a new series introducing Erin Flett, crime and trauma scene cleaner, and a rich cast of characters, set against the backdrop of the city of Edinburgh. With an occasional undertone of dark humour, it is a tale of family lies and family ties, friendships, secrets and loss.

Queen

Book Links

Paperback – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Grime-1-Helen-Forbes/dp/1916888348

Kindle – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Grime-Helen-Forbes-ebook/dp/B0BMJG3F65

Excerpt

What inspired me?

In an earlier novel, Deception, I had a supporting character who ran a crime and trauma scene cleaning business called Queen of Grime. My agent persuaded me that it was too good a concept to waste in that novel and that it deserved a story of its own. I thought it was an intriguing idea and there was a definite gap in the market with no other Scottish novels on this theme.

Excerpt

The fine hairs on the back of her neck are damp with droplets of sweat that glitter in the light of the lamp. He wants to taste them. The thought shivers through him, and he clamps his lips to stop himself from groaning. He can feel the ache across her tensed shoulders, the cramping of the muscles in her upper arms, the deep weariness in her bones as she bends and scrapes, scrubs and wipes. He’s watched long enough to know every inch of her body, as if she’s wearing sheer lace instead of a white hazmat suit.
She sits back on her heels, her eyes scanning the room. Job done. She stands and begins to peel off the protective suit, and his breath catches in his throat. She rubs at the base of her spine and his fingertips itch to slip beneath her clothing, feel the soft, moist skin, trickle down towards sweet oblivion.
No. He banishes the temptation. She’s not worthy of him, with her faded blonde hair, the roots neglected and dark. Her cellulite, her scruffy vest and cheap leggings, and the lazy shadow of hair in her armpits. She’s worth nothing. And she’s missed a bit.
As if alerted by his stifled laughter, she looks up at the wall in front of her.
‘Left,’ he whispers, his breath steaming against the window. ‘Up a little.’
And she finds it. A quick spray, a wipe, and the last smear of blood is gone.
The moon is bright, the grass frosted under his feet as he skirts the gravel path. At the gate, a fragment of blue and white police tape shimmers and shifts in the breeze.

About the Author

Queen
Helen Forbes is an author of Scottish crime fiction. She lives in her home-town of Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands. Helen began by writing contemporary and historical fiction, with no intention of turning to crime. It was a chance remark at a writing group about one of her short stories that led to her debut police procedural novel, In the Shadow of the Hill, set in Inverness and South Harris, featuring Detective Sergeant Joe Galbraith. Madness Lies is book 2 in the DS Joe Galbraith series, set in Inverness and North Uist.

Helen has had two standalone crime thrillers published by Scolpaig Press. Unravelling, set in Inverness, was published in July 2021. Deception, set in Edinburgh, was published in January 2022.

Spoils of the Dead, a novella, was published in November 2022, and Queen of Grime, the first in a new series, was released in December 2022.

Helen would be delighted to hear from readers. Please contact her and join her mailing list on her website www.helenforbes.co.uk to get her author news and a free copy of the novella, Spoils of the Dead.