William McIlvanney was een Schotse auteur die gevierd werd om zijn samensmelting van rauw realisme en poëtische proza. Zijn romans, vaak gesitueerd tegen de achtergrond van het Glasgow van de jaren '70, duiken in thema's van veerkracht en morele complexiteit. McIlvanney wordt beschouwd als de voorvader van 'Tartan Noir' en zijn invloed is diepgaand, vooral in misdaadromans waar zijn detective Jack Laidlaw diep psychologisch inzicht belichaamt. Met zijn kenmerkende stem en krachtige gevoel voor plaats legde McIlvanney de essentie van de Schotse identiteit en sociale realiteiten vast.
When his brother dies stepping out in front of a car, Jack Laidlaw is determined to find out what really happened. Laidlaw begins an emotional quest through Glasgow's underworld, and into the past. He discovers as much about himself as about the brother he has lost, in a search that leads to a shattering climax.
Detective Inspector Jack Laidlaw blunders his way through ruined lives and frustrated relationships investigating his brother's murder and a drug pusher in Glasgow.
"When a young woman is found brutally murdered on Glasgow Green, only Laidlaw stands a chance of finding her murderer from amongst the hard men, gangland villains and self-made moneymen who lurk in the city's shadows"--Publisher's description.
McIlvanney once again sets out on the dark side of Glasgow with Detective Jack Laidlaw. "The wine he gave me winsy wine" were the final words of Eck Adamson to Laidlaw, his only friend. Laidlaw is convinced the Eck was murdered and that an elusive young student, Tony Veitch, holds the key to the mystery.
Featuring the same family, two generations on, as DochertyTom Docherty was 17 in the summer of 1955. With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him. Years later, alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now.
The CWA Silver Dagger-winning masterpiece from the godfather of Scottish crime fiction
F the truth's in the shadows, get out of the light... Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he's dead and it was no accident. He's left behind his share of enemies, but who dealt the fatal blow? DC Jack Laidlaw's reputation precedes him. He's not a team player, but he's got a sixth sense for what's happening on the streets. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.
Book One in the Laidlaw Trilogy "Laidlaw...'is not just an inspector of crime; he's an inspector of society.'"--Allan Massie, "The Father of 'Tartan Noir'," Wall Street Journal Introducing Jack Laidlaw, the original damaged detective. The Laidlaw novels, a groundbreaking trilogy that changed the face of Scottish fiction, are credited with being the founding books of the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors like Val McDermid, Denise Mina, and Ian Rankin. Says McDermid of William McIlvanney: "Patricia Highsmith had taken us inside the head of killers; Ruth Rendell tentatively explored sexuality; with No Mean City, Alexander McArthur had exposed Glasgow to the world; Raymond Chandler had dressed the darkness in clever words. But nobody had ever smashed those elements together into so accomplished a synthesis." In Laidlaw, the first book of the seies, readers meet Jack Laidlaw, a hard-drinking philosopher-detective whose tough exterior cloaks a rich humanity and keen intelligence. Laidlaw's investigation into the murder of a young woman brings him into conflict with Glasgow's hard men, its gangland villians, and the moneyed thugs who control the city. As the gangsters running Glasgow race Laidlaw for the discovery of the young woman's killer, a sense of dangerous betrayal infests the city that only Laidlaw can erase.
'Illuminating and thought-provoking' Irvine Welsh, Guardian
Kriminalroman
»McIlvanneys Laidlaw-Trilogie: Landmarke europäischer Kriminalliteratur.« Tobias Gohlis, KrimiZeit Bestenliste Scott Laidlaw ist tot. Der tragische Autounfall seines Bruders erschüttert Jack Laidlaw schwer – in tiefer Trauer und mit dem ihm eigenen Durst macht er sich auf in die schottische Provinz, um herauszufinden, was wirklich geschah. Während Laidlaw versucht, die letzten unglücklichen Tage seines Bruders zu rekonstruieren, wird ihm schnell klar, dass die Abgründe hinter der dörflichen Fassade mindestens ebenso tief sind wie in der Glasgower Unterwelt und in seiner Vergangenheit, in die ihn seine Recherchen unweigerlich zurückführen … Laidlaws dritter und – bisher – letzter Fall!
