Oz (Osbert) Blackstone is the hero of three mystery novels written by Quintin Jardine, although the first of the them was originally published under the pen-name of Matthew Reid.
I first came across these books, looking for anything else that he had written once I had caught up with the author's Skinner series of books, and was delighted to find that these books also heavily featured my home city of Edinburgh (with some side tracks involving less interesting localities such as Fife, Spain, Switzerland, etc.).
In order not to give away too much of the plot I'll confine my description to the blurb from the back of the books, but I would just like to say that I enjoyed these books every bit as much as I enjoyed the Skinner series.
Blackstone's Pursuits Headline Books ISBN 0-7472-5460-5
When Private Enquiry Agent Oz Blackstone opens the door of the flat in Ebeneezer Street, the sight that greets him isn't quite what he's looking for.
Diminutive stockbroker Willie Kane - reclining on the bed with a large knife still embedded in him - is clearly no longer in a position to assist Oz in recovering the nine hundred grand he's stolen from his employers and secreted in a numbered Swiss bank account. Nor is Oz going to get any assistance from Willie's partner in crime, aspiring film actress Dawn Phillips, who seems to have flown the coop.
So Oz's five per cent finder's fee is beginning to look a distant prospect - when into the flat walks Dawn's blonde, brown-eyed sister, Primavera Phillips.
The trouble is, Prim Phillips is the most irresistable woman Oz has ever seen. She also has the key to opening the Swiss account. All in all, it's quite enough to make a man forget common sense, professional duty - and the fact that someone out there is willing to kill to get their hands on the money...
A Coffin for Two Headline Books ISBN 0-7472-5461-3
After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Phillips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St. Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava.
But soon they find their new home may not be quite so idyllic as it looks. Beneath the surface bubbles a brew of intrigue, deception - and murder. Before long Prim and Oz find themselves helping to evict a skeletal squatter whom the locals fear might harm the tourit trade, as well as trying to authenticate a previously undiscovered Dali masterpiece bought by a gullible client at a highly unconventional auction.
Some very dark secrets come to light, and as they close in on the identity of St. Marti's unwanted resident, and the truth about the unknown Dali, Prim and Oz stand on the threshold of uncovering one of the century's most amazing stories...
Wearing Purple Headline Books ISBN 0-7472-5666-7
Newly married to his childhood sweetheart and happily settled in Glasgow, private enquiry agent Oz Blackstone is looking for a touch of the unexpected in his life. And when he's introduced to the seven-foot, granite-muscled figure of Everett Davis, champion wrestler and head of the burgeoning Global Wrestling Alliance, he knows he's found it.
The GWA's televised tour of Europe has been dogged by inexplicable technical hitches and terrifying accidents in the ring - leaving Everett convinced that someone is trying to sabotage his business before it can take on the big boys and go global. Under the inspired disguise of Master of Ceremonies, Oz enters the extraordinary world of professional wrestling - a dazzling arena of larger-than-life characters where even the bitterest opponents depend on each other for their very lives - to try and unmask the perpetrator.
But as he begins to discover the dangerous reality behind the glittering facade, a string of accidents becomes murder, and suddenly Oz has to wrestle with the biggest crisis of his life.
