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Murder in Edinburgh by Val Penny #MURDERINEDINBURGH

June 28, 2026 Melanie Leave a comment

Val Penny is my guest today, along with her novel, Murder in Edinburgh, featuring DI Hunter Wilson.

Blurb

A woman’s body is found in a shallow grave on the edge of an exclusive Edinburgh golf course. The victim bears the signs of a brutal struggle: blows to the body, marks around her throat, knees scraped raw as she fought to escape.

But there is no name. No phone. No one reported missing.

Detective Hunter Wilson is summoned from his regular darts night to take the call. Two decades on the force, he’s seen plenty. But this one gets under his skin from the start.

Edinburgh

Buy Links

PAPERBACK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/EDINBURGH-absolutely-gripping-Detective-Mysteries/dp/1805736477

KINDLE – https://www.amazon.co.uk/EDINBURGH-absolutely-gripping-Detective-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0GX34K8HF

Excerpt

Shit! He jumped. A mirror on the cupboard door gave him a fright! He thought it was a burglar dodging against him. Jamie didn’t like to fight. Violence wasn’t his game. He felt all hot and sweaty. He stood still for a moment, holding his chest while his heartbeat returned to normal. Then he looked around. Two doors to the left, two doors to the right, and in front of him, a staircase and a door. He opened the first door on the left and slipped into the room. He was pleased; this was the room with the French windows. Jamie unlocked them, just in case he needed an escape route. As Pop always said, you couldn’t be too careful.

He kept the torch on low beam and swept the light around the room. He started at the mantelpiece and shoved the silver and ornaments into his Asda bag. Shocking having to pay 5p for a plastic bag now. Daylight robbery. As opposed to nighttime robbery.

Moving over to the desk, he found a thick roll of cash. Lucky. And a cheque book. Did anybody still use these? Very old-fashioned. He stuck it in his pocket anyway. Bingo! Boxes: jewellery boxes; watch boxes. Nice. Lots of gold – bracelets, necklaces, and rings with big sparkly stones. The watches were impressive: a Rolex, and this one – a Breitling Transocean thingy. Well over £20k. Sweet.

Jamie was clearing the contents of the boxes into his pockets and congratulating himself on his haul when he heard a creak. He stopped to listen. Shit! The front door. Lucky it needed oil, really. Who was it? Piss.

Jamie heaved his stash into his pockets and his bag and shoved the cash down his trousers. Didn’t even have time to examine the goodies.

***

Sir Peter Myerscough came back early. He came back alone. That day, he had had to brief the First Minister on the action taken to contain the suspected terrorist threat in Broughty Ferry, then he had taken his parliamentary researcher for dinner. It did not take long to get through the three courses and coffee at the New Club. He had tipped off the staff to keep the meal coming.

He was both saddened and furious that the girl was leaving because she was lovely. He would have been proud to have her as a daughter; he would have been prouder still to have her on his arm. What eye candy! He was disappointed he had never got into her pants. It was such a pity she had never been up for it with him.

Her leaving now was bloody inconvenient because her salary was cheap, while she was efficient and easy on the eye. She was also damn good at her job. This was a most unusual combination, and Sir Peter had no doubt that his assistant would be all but impossible to replace on those terms.