William McIlvanney

The third Laidlaw novel from the Father of Tartan Noir explores "the ruin of the body, the corruption of the soul and the shattering of society" (The Wall Street Journal). Strange Loyalties begins with Jack Laidlaw's despair and anger at his brother's death in a banal road accident. But his nagging doubts about the dynamics of the incident lead to larger questions about the nature of pain and injustice and the greater meaning of his own life. He becomes...

Meet Jack Laidlaw, the original damaged detective. When a young woman is found brutally murdered on Glasgow Green, 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.

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 down a seam of corruption that runs through all levels of Glaswegian society.

These poignant short stories about the quiet yearnings of ordinary lives form 'a sad, brilliant, joyful tribute to the dreams that never make it' (Sunday Express). From a recipient of a Whitbread Award, a Faber Memorial Prize, and other literary honors'who has been called 'one of Scotland's finest writers' (Independent)'this is a collection of stories about the casualties of social and emotional struggle, the people who defy defeat with humor, resilience,...

An 'illuminating and thought-provoking' novel revolving around an academic gathering at a hotel on a Scottish island (Irvine Welsh, 'Guardian). At Willowdale, a Victorian mansion hotel on a Scottish island, a group of English Literature lecturers and students have arrived from Glasgow. They are preparing for a weekend of lectures and intellectual discussions, though some look forward to less studious interactions as well. But as they gather, they...

A dark, psychologically compelling story of grift, greed, and a salesman in trouble, from 'the finest Scottish novelist of our time' (Telegraph). Winner of a Scottish Arts Council Book AwardEddie Cameron is a thirty-five-year-old salesman for Rocklight Ltd., an electrical equipment firm in Glasgow, who feels like he's lived thirty-five years with little to show for it: a job as a salesman at Rocklight, Ltd., an electrical equipment firm in Glasgow;...