Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for providing this audiobook for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Callie Munro may not be Edinburgh’s most seasoned private investigator, but the city has already shown her more than enough of its darkness. Even so, nothing prepares her for entering her tech specialist’s flat and finding him dead. What begins as a search for answers soon deepens into something far more insidious when Callie discovers traces of a hit-and-run that, according to the official record, never happened at all. As witnesses vanish and facts bend beneath the weight of someone else’s design, Callie is forced to confront a chilling possibility: power is not merely hiding the truth, but actively rewriting it. Before long, the question is not only whether she can uncover what happened, but whether she can do so before she becomes another death in the killer’s portfolio.
In The Blackbird Conspiracy, Tariq Ashkanani returns to investigator Callie Munro with a sequel that broadens the world introduced in The Night Watcher. A winner of the Bloody Scotland Prize, Ashkanani writes crime fiction with an eye for atmosphere as much as incident, and here the mood is as important as the mystery itself. Edinburgh becomes more than a backdrop; it is a city of shadows, sealed rooms, and half-truths, a place where secrecy gathers in the corners. Through taut pacing and a steadily tightening sense of unease, Ashkanani builds suspense that feels less like a formula and more like an atmosphere closing in. Beneath the mechanics of the investigation lies a timely anxiety about surveillance, secrecy, and the fragile nature of truth in a world where records can be altered and narratives controlled.
I give The Blackbird Conspiracy 4 out of 5 stars. What drew me in most was its unusual approach to the police procedural, shaped through the perspectives of both a suspect and a private investigator. That dual lens gives the novel a compelling instability, placing the reader in the uneasy space between pursuit and suspicion. At times, however, the book’s repeated returns to events from the first installment begin to pull focus from the central death investigation. Rather than functioning as brief emotional echoes, those references sometimes feel like a parallel storyline running alongside the present mystery. For that reason, while the novel can technically stand on its own, readers may find it richer and less distracting if they begin with the first book in the series. The ending also moves into territory that feels somewhat detached from the novel’s main body, as if it belongs to another story waiting just beyond the frame. Still, I found much to admire, particularly the thread involving Callie’s adoption and her search for her biological parents. I also appreciated the book’s engagement with technology and digital vulnerability, even when some of those details already feel slightly dated—a familiar hazard for fiction that tries to write at the speed of the present.
Readers who gravitate toward domestic thrillers, concealed conspiracies, and mysteries with a shadow of espionage will find much to appreciate here. I would also recommend the novel to fans of Lisa Jewell and M.W. Craven, particularly those who enjoy suspense that balances personal stakes with larger questions of power and control. Book clubs seeking a suspense, thriller, or mystery selection may find this series especially discussion-worthy. Because the novel includes detailed descriptions of murder and physical assault, I would caution against it for younger readers.
The Blackbird Conspiracy releases on August 14, 2026, and is available for preorder through our Bookshop.org store.
This post contains affiliate links.
What I’m Reading
- Current print book: Eden Undone, Abbott Kahler
- Current audio book: Lincoln’s Autocrat, MR William Marvel
- Book I’m most looking forward to: The Magic of Chamomile Cottage, Heather Webber
Discover more from Read With Lindsey
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
