The Quaker

Liam McIlvanney

Book - 2019

It is 1969 and Glasgow is in the grip of the worst winter in decades yet it is something else that has Glaswegians on edge: a serial killer whose name alone is enough to make them tremble with fear. The Quaker has killed another victim, snatching a young woman from a nightclub and dumping her body like trash in the back of a cold-water tenement. He leaves no clues, and the investigation has led police down one blind alley after another. DI McCormack has few friends in his adopted city and a lot to prove. A talented young detective from the Highlands, an outsider with troubling secrets of his own, Duncan McCormick is brought into the investigation to identify where, exactly, it's gone wrong. His arrival is met with anger and distrust by... cops who are desperate to nail a suspect. When they identify a petty thief as the man seen leaving the building where the Quaker's last victim was found, they decide they've found their serial killer. But McCormack isn't convinced. From ruined backstreets, to deserted public parks, and down into the dark heart of Glasgow, McCormack follows a trail of secrets that will change the city -- and his life - forever.

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Subjects
Genres
Detective and mystery fiction
Thrillers (Fiction)
Noir fiction
Historical fiction
Gay fiction
LGBTQ+ fiction
Published
New York, N.Y. : Europa Editions 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Liam McIlvanney (author)
Physical Description
375 pages ; 21 cm
Awards
McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Book, 2018.
ISBN
9781609455408
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A serial killer dubbed the Quaker stalks the dance halls of 1969 Glasgow in this engrossing crime thriller from McIlvanney (Where the Dead Men Go). With the public jeering at the police for failing to find the killer of three women in its months-long investigation, the brass brings in Det. Insp. Duncan McCormack, fresh from a successful takedown of corrupt officials, to determine where the investigation went wrong. An outsider to this most sectarian of cities, McCormack faces not only an elusive killer but investigators willing to ignore the lack of evidence and charge a suspect to close the case. Despite the open hostility, McCormack pursues his own theories. An auction house heist leads McCormack to believe that the murders may involve a man intricately tied to city power brokers with little to fear from the authorities. McIlvanney's depiction of a terror-gripped Glasgow upended by redevelopment and shattered neighborhoods is as important to the story as the arresting characters he has created. Readers will welcome a new master of tartan noir. Agent: Jim Gill, United Agents. (Sept.)

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