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Laidlaw Trilogy
by William McIlvanney
In Laidlaw, the first book of the series, we are introduced to Jack Laidlaw, a hard-drinking philosopher-detective whose tough exterior only partly hides a rich humanity and keen intelligence. Laidlaw's investigation into the murder of a young woman brings him into conflict with Glasgow's hard men, gangland villains, and the moneyed thugs who control the city.
Books 2 & 3 in the Laidlaw trilogy coming fall 2014.
"Starred Review. First published in 1977, this reissue of the stunning first volume of McIllvaney's Scottish crime trilogy introduces Det. Insp. Jack Laidlaw." - Publishers Weekly
"It is great entertainment, but McIlvanney's achievement is to transcend the conventions of the crime novel even while he observes them. The trilogy is one of the finest things in modern fiction, in the Chandler and Simenon class." - Spectator (UK)
'A classic of the genre…If you only read one crime novel this year, this should be it.' - Guardian (UK)
"The finest Scottish novelist of our time." - Telegraph (UK)
'The Laidlaw books are not just great crime novels, they are important ones. McIlvanney proved that crime writing could have both perfect style and huge ambition. Most of us writing crime fiction today are standing on the shoulders of giants. McIlvanney is one such giant." - Mark Billingham
"It's doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney's Laidlaw." - Ian Rankin
"Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlow. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city." - Denise Mina
This information about Laidlaw was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
William McIlvanney is credited with being the founder the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors such as Denise Mina, Ian Banks, Val McDermid, all of whom cite him as an influence an and inspiration. The Laidlaw trilogy "changed the face of Scottish fiction." His Docherty won the Whitbread Award for Fiction. Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch both gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association. Strange Loyalties won the Glasgow Herald's People's Prize.
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