Glasgow’s underbelly in the 1970s is well given life in this debut book by Alan Parks.
A young man commits murder at a Buchanan St. bus station. Shooting a waitress before killing himself.
For DI Harry McCoy the question is why. There isn’t a connection between the two people.
When the murder/suicide leaves a dotted line to the Dunlops, McCoy is at odds with his bosses.
He has a hatred for the wealthy Dunlop family, whom he has run afoul of in the past.
It’s all problematic as McCoy is under the thumb of crime boss Stevie Cooper, going back to their days in a Catholic boys home.
Parks sets the scenes solidly in time, referencing David Bowie in concert, and Scotland losing to England 5-0 in Hampden.
Excellent Scottish noir.
~ June Lorraine
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10 responses to “Alan Parks: Bloody January”
Love the idea of Scottish noir!
Me too Laurie, some great writers there
This sounds like a nice different kind of story.
Sounds intriguing! Another good Glaswegian crime novel is Ed’s Dead. I hadn’t known about Glasgow’s rough reputation until reading a couple of these books!
Glasgow was a pretty scary city to be in back then, but it’s since been transformed. As in any city, there are rough areas, but for the most part it’s a great place to wander around in.
Didn’t get to Glasgow when in Scotland last year. I’m sure it would be good place to visit.
I hadn’t been there in some decades when I went there in the early 2000s, and was astonished by the transformation of the place. My cousins who live there laughed at me, because they’d been telling me this for years.
I’ll keep that one in mind. Thanks for dropping by Vicky 🙂
I am too lazy to remember how to appropriately post a comment, so hey. I think I’ve read one of his books… enjoyed it.. don’t remember the title, but the names of the author and the hero seem muy familiar…
I think you’ve got the hand of it 🙂