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Edinburgh, 2025 – sweat city. Global warming has led to strict water rationing. The ruling Council of City Guardians has been forced to become more user-friendly – so citizens now live for the weekly lottery draw. Then people start dying after drinking poisoned whisky, and subversive, blues-haunted investigator Quintilian Dalrymple is thrown into a nightmare case which threatens the Council’s very existence. For Quint, distinguishing friend from foe soon becomes a question of life or death. And the body count, like the temperature, keeps on rising…
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Reviews
Praise for WATER OF DEATH
'The mixture of sardonic, occasionally vicious wit, the brilliant concept of this city of the future, and a strong plot are the mixture as before and very tasty it is' Birmingham Post
A hugely entertaining fantasy ... engagingly imagined
Think of Plato's Republic with a body count
'Johnston's future city is a dark place, even in the Big Heat of post-global warming summer. Over three novels featuring Quint Dalrymple, he has charted the political and social development of a totalitarian state struggling to find a balance. But this is never a dry treatise, for Johnston's vision is shot through with the bleakest of black humour, never losing sight of the humanity of his characters. This series is getting better all the time' Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News
'An acclaimed crime series...Johnston brings an intelligent perspective to the dark excitement of the thriller'
Nicholas Blincoe, Observer
An intricate web ... Johnston is a Fawkes among plotters ... Quint's career looks set to blossom
A powerful, fantastical thriller
'Both prescient and illuminating'
Ian Rankin, Daily Telegraph
This is first-rate crime fiction with an original twist
'A thoroughly enjoyable tale'
Sunday Telegraph
Impressive follow-up to the award-winning Body Politic...Johnston's conceit with Edinburgh is brilliant and there's a mordant Scots wit...stylish
'Trendily dystopian'
The Herald
'Not only a cracking thriller (with a hugely shocking climax), but a timely one. Johnston's vision of the future is highly entertaining'
Ham & High
Praise for BODY POLITIC:
'A hugely entertaining fantasy ... engagingly imagined'
The Times
'An intricate web ... Johnston is a Fawkes among plotters ... Quint's career looks set to blossom'
Observer
'Darkly satirical ... more than just a murder story'
Scotsman
'A fascinating and thought-provoking debut that delivers much and promises more'
Val McDermid in Manchester Evening News
'A thrilling hunt-the psycho novel with countless twists, turns and dead ends ... accomplished ... offers real proof of the vigour and class of current Scottish crimewriting'
Ian Rankin in Scotland on Sunday
'An excellent satire, and good thriller to boot ... Further adventures are promised and eagerly awaited'
Mike Ripley, Daily Telegraph
'Think of Plato's Republic with a body count'
The Sunday Times
'Intricate plotting and tongue in check descriptions of post-Millennial Edinburgh'
Shots
'You'll see why Johnston's bone-chilling dystopia took Britain's John Creasey Award for the year's best crime debut'
Kirkus
'This bleak, near-future hunt for a vicious serial killer won Britain's Creasey Award for best first novel and should capture admiring attention here as well...Offbeat, but on target, this is one exciting debut'
Publishers Weekly
Praise for THE BONE YARD
'A powerful, fantastical thriller'
Night and Day (The Mail on Sunday)
'[A] sly satire and gruesome thriller'
Daily Telegraph
'Impressive follow-up to the award-winning Body Politic...Johnston's conceit with Edinburgh is brilliant and there's a mordant Scots wit...stylish'
Guardian
'This is first-rate crime fiction with an original twist'
Sunday Telegraph
'An inventive, well-structured and briskly paced thriller'
Yorkshire Evening Post
'Clever and exciting'
Inverness Courier
'My reader loves him'
Bookseller