BOOK 3 · THE DCI SURINDER TAWS MYSTERIES
The Snow House
A table laid for nine. A house cut off by snow. And a family secret someone will kill to keep.
Ebook & paperback · Coming November 2026 from Rowanbrae Press
About the book
Christmas Eve, and DCI Sindy Taws is alone and on call. When the phone rings, it’s to Coldburn House, where Douglas Scrimgeour, head of a prosperous farming family, has collapsed and died at his own dinner table.
It looks like a natural death. But the table was laid for nine, with a place kept every year for someone who never comes. Douglas had promised the family a speech that night, and he died before he could give it. And the snow is falling fast enough to cut the house off from the outside world.
Then Alec Scrimgeour, a retired archivist and the family’s quiet outsider, tells the room he knows something about Coldburn’s past. He’ll explain in the morning, he says, once he has his papers in front of him.
Shortly after one o’clock, he falls to his death on the main staircase, while Sindy is standing in the hall below.
With one constable, no road out, and a family who all had a reason to want the past left buried, Sindy has until the snow clears to find out what Alec knew, and which of them couldn’t let him say it.
A snowbound Scottish Christmas murder mystery and the third DCI Surinder Taws novel – a closed-circle country-house crime story set in Aberdeenshire.
THE SETTING
Coldburn House, Aberdeenshire
A farming family’s house, a dinner table laid for nine and snow falling fast enough to close every road.
The Snow House takes Sindy away from Stonehaven’s harbour and into the heart of one family on the one night of the year they’re all under the same roof. With the outside world cut off, the house itself becomes the crime scene, and everyone inside it is a suspect.
Meet the detective
DCI Surinder Taws – Sindy – is spending Christmas Eve alone and on call. It’s the kind of night that suits her: no politics, no small talk, nobody expecting her to be anywhere. Then the phone rings. Snowed in with one constable and a family who close ranks the moment she arrives, Sindy has nothing to rely on but her own eyes – and she looks properly.
New to the series? Start with The Crimson Keep, or meet Sindy before Stonehaven in The Returning Woman, the free prequel novella.
Perfect for readers of…
Ann Cleeves – rich regional settings, close-knit communities and slow-burn investigations that reward patience
Elly Griffiths – crime that weaves myth, legend and landscape into the mystery
LJ Ross – atmospheric British crime with a sense of place that feels like a character in itself
Lucy Foley – snowbound, closed-circle mysteries where everyone in the house has something to hide
In the series
The Returning Woman (prequel, free) – The Crimson Keep (Book 1) – The Salt Wives (Book 2) – The Snow House (Book 3, coming November 2026)
Frequently asked questions
What is The Snow House about?
The Snow House is the third DCI Surinder Taws mystery by Rachel Bremner. On Christmas Eve, Douglas Scrimgeour, head of a prosperous farming family, dies at his own dinner table at Coldburn House in Aberdeenshire. When a second family member falls to his death on the staircase overnight and snow cuts the house off, DCI Sindy Taws has until the roads clear to find a killer among the family.
When is The Snow House published?
The Snow House is due for publication by Rowanbrae Press in November 2026, as an ebook and paperback. Sign up to Rachel Bremner’s newsletter to hear the moment it’s available.
Is The Snow House a Christmas murder mystery?
Yes. The Snow House is a snowbound Scottish Christmas murder mystery: a country-house, closed-circle crime novel set over Christmas Eve and Christmas night, with a family trapped together by the snow and a detective with no road out.
Do I need to read the earlier books first?
No. The Snow House is a complete mystery with its own case and resolution, so you can start here. It is Book 3 in the DCI Surinder Taws series, and The Returning Woman (the free prequel novella), The Crimson Keep (Book 1) and The Salt Wives (Book 2) fill in more of Sindy’s story.
What order should I read the DCI Surinder Taws books in?
The Returning Woman (prequel, free), The Crimson Keep (Book 1), The Salt Wives (Book 2), then The Snow House (Book 3).
Where is The Snow House set?
Coldburn House, a farming family’s home in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, cut off by snow on Christmas Eve.
Who is DCI Surinder Taws?
DCI Surinder Taws – Sindy – is a Punjabi Scottish detective in her early fifties who has transferred from Glasgow to the Aberdeenshire coast. She is sharp, stubborn, menopausal and not remotely interested in playing politics.
What kind of crime novel is The Snow House?
A Scottish police procedural crossed with a classic country-house mystery: a snowed-in house, a family with secrets and a death that looks natural until it isn’t. It suits readers of Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, LJ Ross and Lucy Foley.
Don’t miss the next Sindy Taws mystery.
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