The Longest Shadow by R. J. Mitchell
THE LONGEST SHADOW begins atop Scotland’s Wallace Monument where a skeleton from DS Thoroughgood’s past threatens to put a stop to his future.
The third installment in the DS Thoroughgood series of Scottish crime thrillers sees Angus Thoroughgood in pursuit of a suspect he believes to be the psychotic leader of a vicious gang wanted for abduction and murder. Taking to the streets of Glasgow’s West End, these famous streets are the stage for a high octane pursuit that will leave the reader gasping for breath — but does Thoroughgood have the right man?
With the case still wide open, Thorughgood’s complicated love life drags him into the battle for the control of the Roxburgh Whisky dynasty. Tensions build towards a nail-biting crescendo as Thoroughgood works to identify the killer intent of wiping out Scotland’s most famous whisky family. With the finger of guilt pointed at a powerful Triad leader, clues from a 70-year-old war-time diary lead Thoroughgood to realise nothing as it seems. However, with the charms of Victoria Roxburgh clouding his judgement, Thoroughgood is dragged into a fight to the end with a ruthless foe whose identity shocks them both.
The Longest Shadow sees author RJ Mitchell drawing from his 12 years of experience as a Glasgow police officer utilising his knowledge of the city and its history to his advantage in this thrilling third chapter of the DS Thoroughgood series.
About R.J. Mitchell:
Robert James Mitchell was brought up in Stirling. Mitchell was initially detailed beat duties out of the former Blackhill Police Office and then Baird Street Police Office in the former ‘D’ Division, or the North, as it was known to all the men who served in the division. In January, 2007, while recovering from an appendicitis, Mitchell decided to write the first draft of ‘Parallel Lines: The Glasgow Supremacy‘, drawing heavily on his own experiences and featuring the characters of Detective Sergeant Gus Thoroughgood and DC Kenny Hardie.
Review
First off I just want to say how much I have enjoyed this type of blogtour, reading a series with weekly intervals! I’m kind of sad that I have come to the end of the process.
‘The Longest Shadow’ is the third instalment in the DS Thoroughgood series and it’s just as enjoyable and high octane as the first two. It opens with Gus having a day trip out to the Wallace Monument but ends up having to fight for his life. Typical Gus huh. The next day him and Hardie are given the case in which a gang is going round and targeting butcher shops and making away with all their stock, much to the amusement of the rest of the detectives. But nothing ever turns out to be an easy case with these two. They take on the case just as the gang hit a farmers shop and kill the owner and kidnap his wife.
Whilst in his personal life Gus is still seeing Vanessa Velvet who is rescued in the last book, but he is struggling with her fame. However, he agrees to accompany her to a charity event she is hosting along with the Roxburgh family. He is soon embroiled with their drama as well. The younger son has been poisoned, the business is merging with the triad and some war diaries show the Grandfather was not the war hero they all believed him to be.
What I love about this series is since I’m a Glasgow gal I can visualise so much of the book without trying, I can see where influences has come for places and events and I can feel a genuine love for the city and it’s people. The police procedural aspects of the books are also on point, well you would expect that of someone who worked there for 12 years, but that gives the series the authenticity that so many strive for and fail. Plus the characters feel as if you could walk into The Chip and find them standing at the bar and have a chinwag with them. I’m pleased that in this book Gus is managing to start to move on from the events in the first book. It would have become quite stale if he was always mooning away for that character. However, I have come to realise that the real love story is actually between Gus and Hardie. They would literally do anything for each other and it’s lovely to see that as a reader.
There is actually a fourth DS Thoroughgood story but it is set when he first joins the police. So please excuse me while I go off to read that. Also there better be a fifth instalment coming soon!
