Silent Bones: A Karen Pirie Novel (Karen Pirie Novels Book 8)

Silent Bones: A Karen Pirie Novel (Karen Pirie Novels Book 8)

by Val McDermid

4.2 (8,544)

4.2 stars from 8,544 reviews. One of the highest rated Mystery Thriller books we track.

432 pages~7.2 hr readPublished by Little, Brown Book Group LimitedPublished 2024-01-01

$9.2465% off peak

Last checked: May 30, 2026

Price history: $9.24 $26.60

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Fans of these authors will like this...

  • Tana French
  • Ann Cleeves
  • Denise Mina

Fans of these books will like this...

  • The Skeleton Key
  • Slow Horses
  • How the Dead Speak

Perfect for you if...

  • You love procedural crime fiction where the detective work itself is as gripping as the mystery, especially when characters have genuine professional stakes.
  • You're invested in Karen Pirie's team and want to see how they've evolved by book eight, following a character whose intelligence and pragmatism feel earned rather than imposed.
  • You enjoy Scottish settings that feel real, with political texture and local detail that goes beyond mere backdrop.

Maybe not for you if...

  • You prefer standalone crime novels or single-POV narratives, since this is book eight in a series with established team dynamics.
  • You want fast-paced action and high-stakes chases; McDermid's strength is methodical investigation and character depth rather than adrenaline.
  • You're uncomfortable with explorations of murder within intimate relationships or expect your mysteries to resolve cleanly without moral ambiguity.

About this book

Scotland, 2025. A landslide on a motorway caused by heavy winter rain unearths a skeleton buried eleven years earlier. The remains belong to Sam Nimmo, an investigative journalist who disappeared after becoming a suspect in his girlfriend's murder. Nimmo had been investigating the murky politics of the Scottish independence referendum before he vanished. DCI Karen Pirie, chief of Police Scotland's Historic Cases Unit, takes on the cold case. She must determine whether Nimmo's death was connected to his investigative work or to his girlfriend's murder. As her team investigates, a new allegation surfaces: a hotel manager's death, previously thought accidental, may have been murder. This death may also connect to another accident on a remote Highland road. Karen and her team work through a series of interconnected puzzles involving secrets hidden within a Scottish Highlands town.

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Price History

Kindle price over time. Green zones = periods when the book was free.

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Free$13.30$26.60Apr '25Dec '25May '26May '26
$9.24$26.60

Currently on sale at $9.24 — 65% off peak. Price has dropped 3 times over the last 14 months. Goes on sale roughly every 111 days. Typically stays discounted for 225 days.

Sales Rank

Amazon sales rank: lower number = better selling book. #1 is the bestseller.

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#1,425#55,440#109,454Aug '25Sep '25Jan '26May '26

Currently #3,818 in the Kindle store — a top-10K bestseller.

Rating & Reviews

Purple line = star rating over time. Blue area = total review count growth.

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3.5★4.3★5.0★Nov '25Dec '25Jan '26Jan '26Feb '26RatingReviews

Currently 4.2★ from 8,544 reviews

Gaining approximately 807 new reviews per month. Reader interest is surging. Rating has dipped slightly from 5.0 to 4.2.

Sale Prediction

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Free$13.30$26.60Apr '25Dec '25May '26May '26PredictedMay '26

Actual Predicted

This book is currently discounted at $9.24. It typically returns to around $26.60.

Prices shown in USD from Amazon US. We continuously pull new data to improve tracking. If dates look old, it usually means there has been no significant change since the last data point.

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Val McDermid

1 book on Vagrant Press

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