The Hidden Gems of Tartan Noir - Part One
The Scottish crime fiction space is booming and that is tricking fantastic! There are so many authors competing with the ‘big guns’ like Ann Cleeves, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Stuart Macbride et al, that new authors and gems of books sometimes struggle to be seen. Yes, of course, they don’t have the big PR machines behind them but good writing and novel concepts are something that should be celebrated by my fellow bloggers and readers.
So, here are the ‘hidden gems’ of the recent crime fiction books / authors to be on the look out for!
Angus McAllister - Close Quarters, Murder in the Merchant City.
I found these books by chance in my local Waterstones and was intrigued to read them, as I love to see how authors portray the fine city of Glasgow, my home town. My favourite of his two books is definitely ‘Close Quarters’ as it reminded me of my time as a student in the West End and you can certainly recognise the characters which you encounter whilst there! Im also surmising but I am sure the pub they all drink in is based on Tenants Bar! Here is the blurb for ‘Close Quarters’;
Walter Bain is the self-appointed dictator of the tenement at 13 Oldberry Road in Glasgow’s cosmopolitan west end. For years, Walter has striven to impose his family values – stairs must be regularly washed, noise kept down, and wheelie bins moved back and forth at the correct times.
When Walter is found murdered, there are plenty of suspects among his ungrateful neighbours. Comic book dealer Billy Briggs is estranged from his daughter, with his business in ruins, and Tony Miller is jobless and facing eviction, all because of Walter. Henrietta Quayle, bullied and belittled by the dead man, conceals a murderous obsession beneath her timid exterior. And alcoholic solicitor Gus Mackinnon has even more reason to hate Walter than anyone else.
As Close Quarters takes a look back over the years at the various turbulent relationships between Walter and his neighbours, one thing becomes clear: although only one may be the murderer, none of them will mourn his passing.
Margaret Kirk - Shadow Man, What Lies Buried.
Margaret is a relative newcomer on the Scottish scene but I have enjoyed both of her books which form a series based on DI Lukas Mahler. Also, she is very active on Instagram (@highlandwriter) and is lovely and engaging when you mention you have been reading her books. The characterisation of her main protagonist is brilliant and her plots are detailed but not too over complicated. The tension levels are great but what I loved about these books is that Margaret’s love for the Inverness and surrounding areas shines through.
Here is the blurb for the second in the series ‘What Lies Buried’;
Ten year-old Erin is missing; taken in broad daylight during a friend's birthday party. With no witnesses and no leads, DI Lukas Mahler races against time to find her. But is it already too late for Erin - and will her abductor stop at one stolen child?
And the discovery of human remains on a construction site near Inverness confronts Mahler's team with a cold case from the 1940s. Was Aeneas Grant's murder linked to a nearby POW camp, or is there an even darker story to be uncovered?
With his team stretched to the limit, Mahler's hunt for Erin's abductor takes him from Inverness to the Lake District. And decades-old family secrets link both cases in a shocking final twist.
T.F. Muir - DCI Andy Gilchrist series.
There are now eight books in this series so it is not as if they are new to the ‘Tartan Noir’ realm but they are not books I see regularly in bookshops so this is why I thought they deserved a shout out, plus they are bloody good books!
They are based around St. Andrews which make a change as not many authors look at that area as a base for their books and it is a place close to my heart! As much as i hate to quote The Daily Record they did hit the nail on the head when they said, 'Rebus did it for Edinburgh. Laidlaw did it for Glasgow. Gilchrist might just be the bloke to put St Andrews on the crime fiction map.'
The latest in the series is ‘Dead Catch’ which was published in February this year.
When Joe Christie's fishing boat is swept onto Tentsmuir beach during a fierce storm, a man's mutilated body is found in the hold. DCI Andy Gilchrist of St Andrews CID is called in to investigate. But his murder investigation deepens when he learns that Joe Christie and his boat have been missing for three years.
The police pathologist, Dr Rebecca Cooper, retrieves a five pound note from the dead man's throat. Is this the killer's calling card? And whatever happened to Joe Christie? Cooper offers Gilchrist a clue to the dead man's identity - a scar from a recent operation to repair a bone shattered by a bullet.
The dead man is found to have been on the payroll of big Jock Shepherd, Scotland's premier crime patriarch, and when three more of Shepherd's men turn up brutally murdered, Gilchrist fears a tectonic shift in the criminal underworld.
Gilchrist and his partner, DS Jessie Janes, set off along a murderous trail where they uncover a plot involving drug shipments and police corruption, and come face to face with a man for whom human life means nothing.
J. D. Kirk - DCI Logan series.
J. D. Kirk is an author which I found by browsing on Kindle Unlimited one day and I am glad that I did. The first book is set in Fort William with the remaining in the series being set in Inverness. All three have come out so far in 2019 meaning he is a prolific writer. Don’t you just hate having to wait years sometimes between books! He is also riding high in the Amazon charts - #1 in Scottish Crime and was one of the most popular authors in Kindle Unlimited.
The most recent in the series is ‘The Killing Code’ .
What would you do if there weren't any consequences?
After twenty years on the force, Detective Chief Inspector Jack Logan thinks he has seen it all.
He is wrong.
When a nurse is murdered on her way home from nightshift, Jack and his team go on the hunt for her killer.
As more victims are uncovered, Jack finds himself tracking a murderer afflicted by a unique psychosis - one that leaves him free to maim and kill without a shred of remorse.
Facing a new type of killer in an unfamiliar city, DCI Jack Logan is about to be pushed to his limits, before being forced to realise just how little he truly knows.
Caro Ramsay - Anderson and Costello Thrillers
Caro Ramsey is an amazing Glasgow author who has now written 9 books in the Anderson and Costello series so far. The 10th, ‘The Sideman’, is due to be published in May 2020. Throughout these books it is the telling of the ups and downs of a twenty year professional and personal relationship that form the heart of these books. However, the variety of the plots in the books is what is key here. They show empathy and a love of Glasgow and the surrounding area.
On a wee side note here, she did also collaborate on a cook book called the ‘The Killer Cookbook’ with authors such as Peter James, Val McDermid and Ian Rankin to name a few. Its a great read and all the proceeds go to charity.
Here is the description for the next release ‘The Sideman’;
With no evidence against him and no known motive, DI Costello must break the rules if she is to get her man.
Detective Inspector Costello has resigned. No notice, no goodbyes. Convinced that George Haggerty murdered his wife and son despite his cast-iron alibi, Costello has gone solo, determined to expose a ruthless killer without being hampered by police protocol. But is she right about Haggerty’s guilt? And where has she disappeared to?
DCI Colin Anderson has no time to ponder the loss of his partner of twenty years. With a badly beaten body found on a remote mountain pass; a woman with a serious head wound who won’t communicate in any way; and a substantial pool of blood discovered at the edge of Loch Lomond, Police Scotland have their hands full. Could there be any connection to Costello’s disappearance …?
That is all for now but ‘Part Two’ will be coming at some point next week! Enjoy your weekend folks :)
