Meet the Skelf’s, an Edinburgh family of three strong women who will engage readers in Doug Johnstone’s winning A Dark Matter.

Matriarch Dorothy is struggling with her grief after her husband Jim dies suddenly. Running a funeral home and a private investigation business is a strange dichotomy.

Jim’s unusual assistant helps with the mortuary side of things, while divorced daughter Jenny moves home and steps in to help by taking on several of the PI cases her father started.

Granddaughter Hannah, a university student, has her own grief, dealing with the loss of her grandfather while she grapples with the disappearance of one of her roommates, Mel.

When Dorothy discovers that Jim was making monthly payments to an unknown woman, and needs to find out the secrets he kept. Was he not the upright husband and man she’d known and loved?

Meanwhile, Jenny’s adultery case takes on the several twists as she investigates and doesn’t find what she expects. And Hannah leans on her father when it comes to light at the friend she thought she knew had her own cadre of secrets.

There will be a murder, twists that stand everything on their head, and a wry humor that brings out Johnstone’s deft touch.
Auntie M loved this book and hopes it will be the start of a series featuring the Skelfs. Don’t miss this entertaining, completely absorbing read–highly recommended.