PREQUEL NOVELLA · THE DCI SURINDER TAWS MYSTERIES
The Returning Woman
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Published April 2026 · Ebook · Prequel to The Crimson Keep · Scottish crime fiction
Everyone wants this one filed as an accident. Everyone except her.
Before Stonehaven. Before the spiral. Before the case that would make her name on the Aberdeenshire coast, Sindy Taws was a DI in Glasgow – good at her job, inconvenient to her bosses, and fighting to be heard in a station that had already decided whose side it was on.
Then an elderly woman is found dead on a towpath of the Forth and Clyde Canal.
A cold morning. An older woman. An unlucky fall. The easy answer is forming before Sindy even reaches the scene, and everyone around her is happy to sign off on it.
But Sindy looks properly. The hands that didn’t go out to break the fall. The bag that didn’t shift. The phone that should be there and isn’t.
Somebody wanted this to look like an accident. Sindy wants to know who – even if nobody in the station wants her to ask.
A complete mystery, not a sample chapter. The Returning Woman is a full novella with a case, a killer and an ending – and it’s free when you join Rachel’s mailing list.
MEET SINDY
The detective Glasgow underestimated
DCI Surinder Taws – Sindy to almost everyone – is a Punjabi Scottish detective in her early fifties. She’s sharp, stubborn, menopausal and not remotely interested in playing politics, which is precisely why the politics keep finding her.
By the time of The Returning Woman, her marriage has collapsed and a formal complaint against her ex-husband has left her professionally isolated – tolerated rather than trusted, talked over rather than listened to. The canal case lands on her desk at the lowest point of her career, and it’s exactly the kind of death nobody wants examined too closely.
How she handles it tells you everything about the detective who later steps off the train in Stonehaven, looking for a fresh start – and finds a body on the first morning.
Perfect for readers of…
LJ Ross – atmospheric British crime with a sense of place that feels like a character in itself
Ann Cleeves – rich regional settings, complex characters and slow-burn investigations that reward patience
Elly Griffiths – crime that weaves myth, legend and landscape into the mystery
Rachel McLean – contemporary female detectives navigating real-world pressures alongside the case
From the canal to the coast
The Returning Woman is set in Glasgow, on the Forth and Clyde Canal and the estate that surrounds it – concrete, water and lives lived close together. It’s a long way from the cliff paths of Stonehaven, where the series proper begins, and that’s the point: you meet Sindy in the world she leaves behind.
Rachel Bremner spent childhood summers on the Aberdeenshire coast, and the series that follows – starting with The Crimson Keep at Dunnottar Castle – is rooted in the real landscape and folklore of north-east Scotland. The novella is the bridge that takes Sindy there.
Frequently asked questions
What is The Returning Woman?
The Returning Woman is a prequel novella by Rachel Bremner, introducing DCI Surinder Taws before the events of The Crimson Keep. Set in Glasgow, it follows DI Surinder Taws as she investigates the death of an elderly woman found on the towpath of the Forth and Clyde Canal – a death that everyone around her is keen to file as an accident. It is a complete story with its own case and resolution – not a teaser or extract – and is free when you sign up to Rachel’s mailing list.
Do I need to read The Returning Woman before The Crimson Keep?
No – The Crimson Keep works as a standalone and you can read it without the novella. But The Returning Woman gives you the full picture of who Sindy Taws is and what she has been through before she arrives in Stonehaven. Readers who start with the novella tend to find the emotional stakes of The Crimson Keep land harder as a result.
Where is it set?
The Returning Woman is set in Glasgow, on the Forth and Clyde Canal and the surrounding estate. The series that follows is set in Stonehaven, a real harbour town on the Aberdeenshire coast, with key scenes at Dunnottar Castle.
How do I get it?
Sign up to Rachel’s mailing list and the novella will be delivered to your inbox. There is no cost. You can unsubscribe at any time and your details will never be shared.
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