Alice Rice Books In Order

Publication Order of Alice Rice Books

The Alice Rice series is a set of mystery novels by Gillian Galbraith, a Scottish mystery author. She was born and raised in the small town of Haddington in Scotland and as a teen studied the law. Galbraith practiced as an advocate specializing in medical negligence cases before she turned to writing fiction when she quit the legal profession in 1999. For a time, Galbraith had a job as a legal reporter for “The Scottish Famer.” She has also penned articles that have offered legal opinions in the London published “Times” newspaper. “Blood in the Water,” the debut novel of the “Alice Rice” series that was first published in 2007 is set in Edinburgh Scotland.

Gillian Galbraith was born in 1957 in Coupar Angus and as a teen went to the Universities of Dundee and Edinburgh. She then worked as a bookseller, dishwasher and journalist before she was admitted to the Scottish Bar. Before becoming a lawyer, she worked for a time as a journalist. Much of her work as advocate in the Scottish legal system was in Civil Law though she also got involved in some criminal trials at the Judiciary’s High Court. She quit her job as advocate when she published “Blood in the Water,” the first of the “Alice Rice” series of novels. She now has more than seven novels to her name including “The Good Priest” which is a standalone title. Galbraith currently lives with her husband and daughter in Kinross-shire. When she is not writing her novels, she loves to sculpt in clay.

The “Alice Rice” series by Gillian Galbraith are police procedurals featuring disillusioned police officer Alice Rice. She has nothing of a personal life as she lives for her work with no love interests or close friends. The only companion she has is Quill her dog that usually stays with a neighbor while she is out working her cases. Nonetheless, she gets along just fine with her colleagues at work though this does not fill the huge hole in her life. While her life may be a shambles, she is a capable and smart detective who is trying to make it in a very macho world. She is confident and whenever she has any doubts you can be certain that she will have enough belief in her capabilities to pursue all lines of enquiry. “Blood in the Water,” the first novel in the series is a thrilling police procedural that introduces detective Alice Rice of Edinburgh. She is racing against time to solve a series of terrible homicides that have been committed by an unknown person. The deranged maniac seems to have a vendetta against the professional men and women of New Town. In the second novel of the series, a retired sheriff is found murdered in his house under mysterious circumstances. It is now up to Rice to hunt down the killer and the quest leads her to an unfamiliar world. It is a world in which protesters and wind farm developers face off with daggers at the ready. In “Dying of the Light,” the third of the “Alice Rice” series, Alice is leading her team in the hunt for a serial killer that has been targeting call girls in the city. She is also dealing with her private insecurities.

“Blood in the Water,” the debut novel of the “Alice Rice” series of novels introduces Alice, a thirty five year old veteran of the Edinburgh Police Department. She is a savvy and smart woman that is very good at her job even though she had first entered the force as a naïve optimist convinced she could change the world. She is more grounded nowadays having seen and been through a lot but she remains optimistic. She is also very lonely and disillusioned even as she has been charged with investigating a series of grisly murders against the professional class in town. There is tremendous pressure on her to resolve the case as the body count is rising. But she is facing off against a faceless and implacable killer that seems to have a vendetta with the professional class in Edinburgh. Galbraith draws on her own experiences in the legal and medical worlds to provide a realistic and fascinating murder mystery.

“Where the Shadow Falls,” the second novel in the series continues to follow detective Alice Rice. She is investigating murders in Edinburgh that will expose family feuds, secrets and lies. It seems that everyone in town has a secret and even as the people of the small town fight resist the building of a wind farm development it seems there is more to the feud. Soon after, the body of a former sheriff is found in a house and Alice Rice is assigned the case. She finds out that the homicide had something to do with the wind farm development which had been proposed and been strongly resisted by the locals. She has a ton of suspects, several notes that had been sent to the sheriff in distinctive handwriting and a secret lover that refuses to come forward. It is a lot of mess that Alice and her team have to rummage through to find any traction in the case. But then their lead suspect is knocked down in a hit and run incident, making things even more complicated. In the meantime, Alice also has to do with her mother’s worsening health, her growing attraction for a suspect named Ian Melville and the mental breakdown of a neighbor suffering from Alzheimer’s.

“Dying of the Light” the third novel of the “Alice Rice” series is the story of a serial killer that targets call girls in Edinburgh. He usually murders them and lays their arms out as if in prayer. The Edinburgh police are keen to stop the killings before it turns into another media circus. Unfortunately for Alice who is assigned to the case, her usual partner is feeling under the weather and she has to work with Simon Oakley. They soon find DNA evidence on two bodies that are linked to a priest that says he has never met any of the women and that he was not near the scene. DCI Bell is convinced the priest is their man but Alice thinks otherwise. She continues on a dangerous quest as she is forced to conduct a side investigation without backup. In the meantime, her barmy neighbor Miss Spinnell is interested in seeing her sister after five decades of wrangling.