Laidlaw (Laidlaw Trilogy)

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There’s a lot to like in this book. The plot is engrossing and intriguing, it’s well written in a style as gritty as the city. Laidlaw is likeable and fascinating. He’s bleak, abrasive and a paradox of a man and not easy to live with as his wife Ena will attest. I really like his brand of philosophy which is his own and therefore unique! Harkness is a good character too and the pair develop a bond based on insults. There are some excellent analogies in the storytelling and some very good descriptions. There are nice touches of wry humour which provides a contrast to the bleak story and to some of the harshest characters and there’s very realistic and colourful dialogue between them. The book build well to a dramatic conclusion. Each of the many people who walk through the story has a set of goals and issues, and McIlvanney gives us hints of their depth no matter how short a time they’re on the stage. There’s Laidlaw’s partner in the case--a relative newbie to the profession; his understandably cranky wife; his nemesis on the police force; the perp; the victim; the perp’s parents; the victim’s parents; crime bosses; the perp’s lover … En esta novela aparece el cuerpo de una mujer joven en un parque de Glasgow. Enseguida conoceremos al autor porque lo que interesa en esta historia es conocer el entorno de la víctima y del asesino. El odio religioso protestantes/católicos, el deseo de venganza o la homosexualidad, que en esa época estaba muy mal vista, forman parte de la trama.

One feature is the extent to which the perspective switches. At some point we see the world through the eyes of almost every character. It’s extremely effective, and some of the scenes are very powerful, one in particular when family and neighbours gather in the house of the victim, men in one room, women in another. Laidlaw shares some similarities with Derek Raymond's Factory novels. It's still fresh despite depicting the dark days of the late 1970s. Naturally some of it is anachronistic and of its time, but it's also timeless too. Think Raymond Chandler or Georges Simenon at their very best and you get the idea. I'm going to have to finish the trilogy now, and look forward to The Papers of Tony Veitch and Strange Loyalties. Es más que dudoso que yo hubiese acabado escribiendo novelas policíacas sin la influencia del Laidlaw de McIlvanney, un autor literario que volvió su mirada hacia la novela criminal urbana y contemporánea, y demostró que el género servía para abordar dilemas morales y conflictos sociales». When Scottish writer William McIlvanney died in 2015, he left behind a half finished manuscript, which was handed to his publisher by his widow, and was then completed by that other wonderful Scottish writer Ian Rankin! What a terrific combination this is, resulting in a fine example of gritty Tartan Noir!

It turns out she had lied about where she was going and what her true intentions were on the fateful Saturday night, not only to her parents but to her best friend too.

La vittima è una ragazza di diciotto anni: strangolata e stuprata post mortem. Anche sodomizzata. Solo un corpo che affiora nel fiume potrebbe essere un inizio più “classico” di questo. Anche se…The last Laidlaw novel by Mr. McIlvanney was left incomplete upon his death. Several years later Ian Rankin, who is an avid fan of Mr. McIlvanney’s writing, was asked to complete The Dark Remains. This is a republication of a 1977 book, the first in the Laidlaw series and I’m not sure as a crime fiction fan how I’ve missed this series! The book starts in an intriguing way with a ‘monsters’ journey through Glasgow. Later on a body of a young female is found in Kelvingrove Park which DI Laidlaw and DC Harkness investigate. This story is told from several perspectives including Laidlaw and

There’s so much going on that it’s difficult to write a coherent review. Laidlaw is a depressive who suffers from migraines, and who is defensive about his personal life. He has a philosophical bent, prone to analysing everyone and everything around him. When I heard about this new novel written by Ian Rankin and the late William McIlvanney joining forces for the first ever case of D.I. Laidlaw, Glasgow’s original gritty detective I just couldn’t resist reading it. I am very familiar with Ian Rankin’s work and enjoy the Rebus series but have never read any of Mcllvanney’s books. Mcllvanney’s widow found the unfinished manuscript of The Dark Remains and approached the publisher with it, who in turn asked Ian Rankin if he would be interested in finishing it. This really is a combined effort and Rankin does a good job in adopting the same feel for the novel, so much that I was unable to see the join. This is one of those novels that is intriguing and difficult for me to figure out how much I like it. In a strange twist of fate, it’s Ian Rankin who completed this novel, as William McIlvanney had passed away before completing the manuscript. It was fascinating trying to work out where Rankin “took over”, as it’s quite seamless. There were one or two moments where I thought “Hmmmm…did people really speak like that then?”as a few phrases seemed more current. But that was only the briefest doubt. It’s such a wonderful merging of two incredible crime Writers, at the top of their profession.

I don’t. But I don’t really fancy anyone else as one either. I hate violence so much I don’t intend to let anybody practise it on me with impunity. If it came to the bit, he’d win the first time all right. But I’d win the second time, if here was enough of me left to have one. No question about that. I’d arrange it that way. I don’t have fights. I have wars.’” McILvanney had previously written 3 Laidlaw novels and I can't wait to read these novels as I much preferred this book to the Rebus novels.

Maybe there is an extra frisson in reading mysteries set in places you've been to, that are familiar on more than tourist terms - perhaps that's why I haven't loved some of the Scandis as much as expected. This is a book that feels so much of its city, the cast of toughs and of working-class characters who are far sharper and more intellectual than southerners would ever have assumed on hearing the accent; the spartanness that seems in the very flesh of the place even whilst it's debauching; and the sectarianism (something I heard about more than saw) which makes its first cunning appearance through simile: still following the relentless parade of his own thoughts, like an Orange March nobody dare cut across.First published in 1977, does Laidlaw stand up? In short, yes. There's no mystery. We know who the identity of the killer pretty much from the off. The killer is in hiding and pursued by various vengeful pursuers. The question is who will find him first? The police, or one of the others. It's doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney's Laidlaw." - Ian Rankin what's better than a poet writing noir novels. nothing, that's what. glasgow in the 1970's seems a bit like freetown in the naughties: brutal, poor, unfair, corrupt, biting, where the people wonder why you never come to the bar anymore, they miss you you see. William McIlvanney was a Scottish writer of novels, short stories, and poetry. He was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of 'Tartan Noir’" and has been described as "Scotland's Camus".