This series of comedic crime thrillers follows the misadventures of an inept barber who stumbles into the criminal underworld. His clumsy attempts to manage a murder and conceal evidence lead to a cascade of absurd and hilarious situations. Lacking social graces and any real talent for his trade, the protagonist must rely on chance and the help of unlikely allies to avoid detection. It's a rollicking read filled with dark humor and unexpected twists.
Barney Thomson, an awkward barber from Glasgow, leads a monotonous life filled with mediocrity and isolation. Stuck in a rut for twenty years, his dull existence takes a surprising turn when inadvertent murder and a deranged psychopath enter the picture, adding unexpected chaos to his routine.
Barney Thomson ist der meistgesuchte Serienkiller seiner Zeit – aber kann eigentlich keiner Fliege etwas zu Leide tun. Alles war bloß ein Missverständnis: Ihm werden sechs Morde angehängt, vier soll er gemeinsam mit seiner Mutter verübt haben. Aber eigentlich wollte er ihr bloß helfen, die zwei anderen Opfer im Frisörsalon sind zufällig in die Schere geschlittert. Nun ist Barney auf der Flucht ins schottische Hochland, und es verschlägt ihn in das entlegene Mönchskloster St. John’s. Sehr zu seinem Unglück treibt dort jedoch ein echter Serienmörder sein Unwesen, nach und nach müssen verschiedene Glaubensbrüder ihr Leben lassen. Da zwei der Morde mit Frisörwerkzeugen verübt wurden, und Barney allen Mönchen die Haare schnitt – wobei sein Repertoire sich allerdings auf zwei Schnitte beschränkt: Mike McShane in »Robin Hood« und Sean Connery in »Der Name der Rose« – fällt der Verdacht auf Barney alias Bruder Jakob. Erst nach dem vierten Mord beschließt der Abt, die Polizei einzuschalten. Schon bald trifft die Polizei in Form von Hauptkommissar Mulholland und seiner jungen Kollegin Proudfood im abgeschiedenen Kloster ein, und erst nach einem dramatischen Showdown kann der wahre Mörder gestellt und die Unschuld Barneys bewiesen werden...
In trying to come to terms with his murder-ridden past, Barney foolishly joins the nearest branch of Murderer's Anonymous, bringing him once more into contact with the criminally insane. In minutes, there is a killer reducing the population of Glasgow on a daily basis, and Barney is soon caught up in this tangled web of death, butchery and Elvis. schovat popis
Following his previous involvement with a branch of Murderer's Anonymous, which ended with him dead at the foot of a cliff and his brain stored in a jar, Barney Thomson's future seemed bleak. However, for no reason, suddenly he is back, plucked from the grave to be the personal barber to the First Minister of the Scottish Executive.
Barney Thomson is a restless soul in search of a quiet town in which to settle. He thinks he might just have found it in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae and life can at last bring him some peace. It might have done, but for things like the dead body at the bottom of the stairs, and the ghost tormented for all time to go to the bathroom.
As Barney Thomson is closing up the barbershop for the night, an old man enters looking for a Cary Grant cut and a bit of a chat. The following day, Barney discovers that his late night customer was the captain of a fishing trawler which had been found abandoned on the Clyde over one hundred years ago.
Searching for answers to his tortured, murder-filled existence, Barney Thomsn is drawn to take a job in London. Such is Barney's fate, that just as he arrives, a serial killer by the name of Harlequin Sweetlips begins to run amok among executives of Bethlehem's company. Suddenly, Barney is again in the middle of a multiple murder investigation.