Duncan McCormack

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 McCormack is brought into the investigation to identify where, exactly, its 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.

Set in 1976, seven years after the murders recounted in Liam McIlvanney's breakout novel, The Quaker, this new Glasgow noir novel is a stand-alone mystery featuring serial character, Detective Duncan McCormack. McCormack has returned to Glasgow after a stint with the Metropolitan Police in London. The reason for his return is left a lurking mystery throughout. He is investigating a series of murders that seem at first to be the result of random bouts of violence among Glasgow's poor and destitute. McCormack, however, has insight into Glasgow's underground that many of his colleagues don't. He has a secret of his own that he guards carefully but that takes him places and introduces him to people that prove essential to his investigations. Mcilvanney's The Quaker was named the Scottish Crime Fiction Book of the Year and a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The Guardian called it "a solidly crafted and satisfying detective story." McIlvanney is known for his well-crafted plots, his deep characterization, and his stylish prose. The Heretic is no exception.