Books to Look Forward to From Cannogate and Blackthorn Books

March 2021

In a grimy flat in Glasgow, a homemade bomb explodes, leaving few remains to identify its maker. Detective Harry McCoy knows in his gut that there'll be more to follow. The hunt for a missing sailor from the local US naval base leads him to the secretive group behind the bomb, and their disturbing, dominating leader. On top of that, McCoy thinks he's doing an old friend a favour when he passes on a warning, but instead he's pulled into a vicious gang feud. And in the meantime, there's word another bigger explosion is coming Glasgow's way - so if the city is to survive, it'll take everything McCoy's got . The April Dead is by Alan Parks

June 2021

The Cursed Girls is by Caro Ramsay. Megan Melvick has returned home after a three-year absence to visit her dying sister, Melissa, for the last time. As she approaches the grand Scottish country estate where she grew up, the memories come flooding back. Just what did happen on the night of Melissa's wedding five years before? Where has Megan and Melissa's mother disappeared to? And why does Melissa whisper that solitary word before she finally slips away: Sorry. In order to overcome her demons, Megan must confront her painful recollections of that terrible night, the night of Melissa's wedding. The night somebody died. But can she really trust her memories? And who is so determined that she should forget?

Books to look forward to from Cannongate books (including Blackthorn books)

March 2020

Bobby March Will Live Forever is by Alan Parks.  Who is to blame when no one is innocent? The papers want blood. The force wants results. The law must be served, whatever the cost. July 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city's own rock-star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel. Alice Kelly is thirteen years old, lonely. And missing. Meanwhile the niece of McCoy's boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked - off the books - to find her. McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

April 2020

The Laidlaw trilogy by the late William McIlvanney are being reissued. – Laidlaw - Meet Jack Laidlaw, the original damaged detective. When a young woman is found brutally murdered in Kelvingrove Park, only Laidlaw stands a chance of finding her murderer from among the hard men, gangland villains and self- made moneymen who lurk in the city’s shadows. 

The Papers of Tony Veitch - Eck Adamson, an alcoholic vagrant, summons Jack Laidlaw to his deathbed. Probably the only policeman in Glasgow who would bother to respond, Laidlaw sees in Eck’s cryptic last message a clue to the murder of a gangland thug and the disappearance of a student. With stubborn integrity, Laidlaw tracks a seam of corruption that runs from the top society. to the bottom of society.

Strange Loyalties - When his brother dies stepping out in front of a car, Detective Jack Laidlaw is determined to find out what really happened. With corrosive wit, Laidlaw relates an emotional quest through Glasgow’s underworld, and into the past. He discovers as much about himself as the loved brother he has lost in a search that leads to a shattering climax.

Luis Machi has had enemies for a long time: after all, he's built his success on dirty deals - not to mention his cooperation with the military junta's coup years ago, or his love life, a web of infidelities. What's new is the corpse in the boot of his car. A body with its face blown off, detained by a pair of furry pink handcuffs that Machi knows well . . . Someone is trying to set him up, but the number of suspects is incalculable. Machi is stuck dredging his guilty past for clues and trying to dispose of the mystery corpse. But time is just another enemy and it's running out fast. Like Flies from Afar is a wickedly dark and thrilling ride through the corruption and violence of Argentina, embodied by a single degenerate man and one very complicated day.  Like Flies From Afar is by K Ferrari.