D.C.I. Daley

The rich vein of crime fiction from Scotland continues with Denzil Meyrick’s D.C.I. Daley audiobooks. At the start of the series, the eponymous Detective Chief Inspector has risen through the ranks of the Scottish police force but now has to adjust to the pressures and responsibilities of his role. Daley now finds himself being sent to investigate serious crimes out in the wild craggy coasts and close-knit communities away from the city streets and he’s usually alone when he does so.

It’s down to him to break the walls of silence and seek out clues in these hostile environments, but with Meyrick guiding the stories, nothing is ever as it seems. Crimes in these parts often have their roots in the distant past, when unsolved murders, international crime syndicates and bitter family feuds prove to be pivotal to D.C.I. Daley’s breakthrough. With fully formed recurring characters, gallows humour and Daley’s personal and professional struggles to contend with, you won’t be able to stop listening.

Narrator David Monteath is described as 'the only Scottish voice-over to hire'. Listening to the D.C.I. Daley books, it’s hard to argue. He sets the tone perfectly, guiding you in the blink of an eye from breezy, sardonic scene descriptions to disarming menace. Whoever trained him as a professional actor knew what they were doing.

Denzil Meyrick’s authenticity in this field comes from his own time in the police force. Many of the stories can no doubt trace their roots to this time. But he’s also managed a distillery in his time, a vital source of reference for this very Scottish series. The first title, Whisky from Small Glasses (2012), is about as autobiographical as you can get given the writer’s career, but by the second or third audiobook, you’ll be fully bought into Meyrick’s creation.

Every one of the D.C.I. Daley series has become a crime fiction best seller and the titles are regular visitors to the Kindle Top 10. With Monteath’s skilled narration, they’ve had a new lease of life in audio format.