The Papers of Tony Veitch
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4.0 • 25 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Jack Laidlaw returns in the groundbreaking series. “The Laidlaw books are like fine malt whiskey—the pure distilled essence of Scottish crime writing” (Peter May, international bestselling author).
In this second book in his monumental Laidlaw series, McIlvanney tells the tale of Eck Adamson, an alcoholic vagrant who 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 down a seam of corruption that runs through all levels of Glaswegian society.
“Excellent . . . McIlvanney, the undisputed grandfather of tartan noir, gives reader a complex, existential hero struggling to right myriad wrongs.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The good news is that Laidlaw is back.”—The Observer
Praise for William McIlvanney and the Laidlaw series
“A crime trilogy so searing it will burn forever into your memory. McIlvanney is the original Scottish criminal mastermind.” —Christopher Brookmyre, international bestselling author
“Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlowe. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city.” —Denise Mina, award-winning author of Conviction
“Compelling . . . McIlvanney lays bare the soul of Glasgow, capturing every nuance of its many voices.” —Alex Gray, author of the DCI Lorimer novels
“Laidlaw is an enduring hero with the dry wit and insight to make other literary detectives seem two-dimensional. McIlvanney is the razor king of Scottish crime writing.” —Gordon Ferris, author of the Douglas Brodie Investigations
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Edgar-finalist McIlvanney s excellent second entry first published in 1983 in his Laidlaw trilogy, Det. Insp. Jack Laidlaw receives a summons to a Glasgow hospital from a homeless man he knows, Alexander Eck Adamson. The alcoholic Eck is largely incoherent, but before he expires, Laidlaw is able to make out one repeated statement: The wine he gave me wisny wine. Among Eck s few possessions is a piece of paper with a handwritten note that appears to be some sort of philosophical manifesto. Two names also appear on the paper. Laidlaw and his partner, Det. Constable Brian Harkness, discover that one of those named, a well-known thug, has recently been murdered. When they examine Eck s possessions more thoroughly, Laidlaw and Harkness wonder who helped Eck write his mini manifesto, and this leads them to well-to-do Tony Veitch. New evidence soon proves that Eck didn t drink himself to death; he was poisoned. Veitch becomes the prime suspect for both murders, despite Laidlaw s doubts that he s actually the killer. But forces beyond Laidlaw s control, on both sides of the law, try to thwart his investigation at every turn. McIlvanney, the undisputed grandfather of tartan noir, gives reader a complex, existential hero struggling to right myriad wrongs.
