BLOOD, RUST, AND STEEL, the final installment in Stuart MacBride’s Roberta Steel series, is a deep exploration of the challenges that our protagonist faces shorty after announcing her retirement. It seems that a killer will refuse to allow her to leave quietly.

MacBride kicks things off with an interesting disclaimer that makes one approach the novel with a feeling of curiosity and trepidation: “Warning --- the following is NOT based on a true story and anyone who says otherwise is lying.” The conclusion to this trilogy, which is an offshoot of MacBride’s Logan McRae series featuring Acting Detective Inspector Roberta Steel, is a winner. It features her eccentric team, which she lovingly named the Queen Street Irregulars, in a tip of the hat to Sherlock Holmes.

"As with all of MacBride’s work, nothing is ever easy, and the harsh realities depicted in modern-day Scotland law enforcement are as gritty as they come."

The book opens with a grisly discovery near a train route: a rolling bin containing human bones. Steel and her righthand man, Detective Constable Stewart “Tufty” Quirrel, are called to the scene and determine that whatever bodies were stuffed into that bin did not go there willingly. A symbolic piece of this novel are the crows gathering around the death site that seem to be speaking to Steel and Tufty. The cover boldly depicts one of them in its defiant glory.

Steel also must deal with a political protest that got quite violent and left one young woman hospitalized after being stabbed. Throughout the story, she corresponds with Logan McRae, which are all refreshing reminders of MacBride’s terrific characters and worldbuilding. McRae is one of the few who can commiserate with Steel over their mutual disdain for the leadership in their police force. They are definitely making life difficult for Steel on her way out the door.

Meanwhile, grisly remains continue to be found around the area, and McRae is pulled directly into what is being called the work of the Tayside Ripper. Steel is nearly killed in an explosion and wakes up in the hospital with a plate in her head for good measure. After finally healing, she eventually finishes out her term but chooses to stay aboard as a consulting detective, a decision that she will come to mostly regret.

Steel finds herself sitting atop a powder keg in the form of a major drug operation that also may be behind the body parts attributed to the Tayside Ripper. Just when she thought she was out…well, you know the rest. It will take her entire former squad, who have come to doubt her prowess after some post-retirement setbacks, to successfully shut down this case. 

As with all of MacBride’s work, nothing is ever easy, and the harsh realities depicted in modern-day Scotland law enforcement are as gritty as they come. Like the tagline on the front of the book reads, “Retirement is a killer.”