To Die In June by Alan Parks
Alan Parks , Canongate Books , Crime / May 25, 2023

Please note, To Die in June is book six in an ongoing series. It’s possible this review may contain minor spoilers for those of you who haven’t read books one to five. Consider yourselves duly warned.  A woman enters a Glasgow police station to report her son missing, but no record can be found of the boy. When Detective Harry McCoy, seconded from the cop shop across town, discovers the family is part of the cultish Church of Christ’s Suffering, he suspects there is more to Michael’s disappearance than meets the eye. Meanwhile reports arrive of a string of poisonings of down-and-outs across the city. The dead are men who few barely notice, let alone care about – but, as McCoy is painfully aware, among this desperate community is his own father. Even as McCoy searches for the missing boy, he must conceal from his colleagues the real reason for his presence – to investigate corruption in the station. Some folk pray for justice. Detective Harry McCoy hasn’t got time to wait. Working on the assumption that each Harry McCoy novel is going to contain a month of the year in the title, with To Die In June we have…

The April Dead by Alan Parks
Alan Parks , Canongate Books , Crime / March 25, 2021

Please note, The April Dead is the fourth Harry McCoy novel. Though these novels can be viewed as standalone works I would suggest beginning with book one, Bloody January. With that in mind, the review that follows may contain a mild spoiler or two if you haven’t started there. Consider yourselves suitably warned. When an American sailor from the Holy Loch Base goes missing, Harry McCoy is determined to find him. But as he investigates, a wave of bombings hits Glasgow – with the threat of more to come. Soon McCoy realises that the sailor may be part of a shadowy organisation committed to a very different kind of Scotland. One they are prepared to kill for. Meanwhile Cooper, McCoy’s long-time criminal friend, is released from jail and convinced he has a traitor in his midst. As allies become enemies, Cooper has to fight for his position and his life. He needs McCoy to do something for him. Something illegal. McCoy is running out of time to stop another bomb, save himself from the corrupt forces who want to see him fail and save the sailor from certain death. But McCoy discovers a deeper, darker secret – the sailor is…

Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks
Alan Parks , Canongate Books , Crime / February 19, 2021

Please note, though this is a standalone novel it is the third book featuring detective Harry McCoy. I’d recommend reading Bloody January and February’s Son before picking this book up. I’ll guarantee that if you do when you do read Bobby March Will Live Forever you’ll enjoy it all the more. WHO IS TO BLAME WHEN NO ONE IS INNOCENT? The papers want blood. The force wants results. The law must be served, whatever the cost. August 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city’s own rock-star hero, has just OD’ed in a central hotel. Alice Winters is twelve years old, lonely. And missing. Meanwhile the niece of McCoy’s boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked – off the books – to find her. McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time? It is universally understood that the people of Scotland do not function well in high temperatures, so finding Harry McCoy attempting to solve multiple crimes in the midst of a blistering heatwave does not bode well. When we join the detective, he is attempting to locate a missing child, unravel the story behind a…