William McIlvanney Book order (chronological)

Der Anwalt Bobby Carter wird tot in einer Gasse hinter einem Pub aufgefunden, der unter dem Schutz eines lokalen Gangsterbosses steht. Damit gerät das fragile Gleichgewicht, das Glasgow seit Monaten zu einer relativ sicheren Stadt macht, ins Wanken. Neben einer verzweifelten Familie hinterlässt Carter vor allem viele Feinde. Aber wer profitiert wirklich von seinem Tod? Ermittler Jack Laidlaw hat einen sechsten Sinn für die Straße und bezweifelt, dass hinter dem Mord rivalisierende Gangs stecken. Dafür muss er aber den wahren Mörder von Bobby Carter finden – und zwar bevor es zu offenen Straßenschlachten in Glasgow kommt ... »Das Dunkle bleibt« ist ein von Ian Rankin vollendetes Laidlaw-Manuskript aus McIlvanneys Nachlass und ein literarisches Ereignis.

In this scorching crime hook-up, number one bestseller Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of DI Laidlaw, Glasgow's original gritty detective

Detective Inspector Jack Laidlaw blunders his way through ruined lives and frustrated relationships investigating his brother's murder and a drug pusher in Glasgow.

McIlvanney once again sets out on the dark side of Glasgow with Detective Jack Laidlaw. "The wine he gave me winsy wine" were the final words of Eck Adamson to Laidlaw, his only friend. Laidlaw is convinced the Eck was murdered and that an elusive young student, Tony Veitch, holds the key to the mystery.

Book One in the Laidlaw Trilogy "Laidlaw...'is not just an inspector of crime; he's an inspector of society.'"--Allan Massie, "The Father of 'Tartan Noir'," Wall Street Journal Introducing Jack Laidlaw, the original damaged detective. The Laidlaw novels, a groundbreaking trilogy that changed the face of Scottish fiction, are credited with being the founding books of the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors like Val McDermid, Denise Mina, and Ian Rankin. Says McDermid of William McIlvanney: "Patricia Highsmith had taken us inside the head of killers; Ruth Rendell tentatively explored sexuality; with No Mean City, Alexander McArthur had exposed Glasgow to the world; Raymond Chandler had dressed the darkness in clever words. But nobody had ever smashed those elements together into so accomplished a synthesis." In Laidlaw, the first book of the seies, readers meet Jack Laidlaw, a hard-drinking philosopher-detective whose tough exterior cloaks 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, its gangland villians, and the moneyed thugs who control the city. As the gangsters running Glasgow race Laidlaw for the discovery of the young woman's killer, a sense of dangerous betrayal infests the city that only Laidlaw can erase.

'Illuminating and thought-provoking' Irvine Welsh, Guardian

Featuring the same family, two generations on, as DochertyTom Docherty was 17 in the summer of 1955. With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him. Years later, alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now.