The body of a man is found slouched between two garbage bins with a bullet wound to the forehead. Just another day in Glasgow, a city rife with crime. Detective Inspector Catherine McLeod quickly discovers that the victim was a drug dealer and thug involved in a number of serious incidents over the years. He’s also connected to some big-time gangsters. Catherine must navigate through department politics and the treacherous world of organized crime, as well as keep her family intact, while she hunts down the killer.
Intersecting with her murder case is a missing persons investigation involving a depressed, aspiring actress, Jasmine Sharp, who works for her Uncle Jim as a private investigator to pay the bills. She’s terrible at it, but she needs the work. When Jim goes missing, Jasmine is forced to take her new profession seriously and find him. Jim was working on a case involving a missing family that might be connected to a notorious gangster who died 20 years earlier.
Brookmyre’s latest novel is billed as a departure from his previous crime novels in that it plays the events straighter than his more darkly comedic books. That’s technically accurate, since the violence and crimes depicted are tragic and serious, but there’s still humor underlying a lot of the scenarios, and in the way Brookmyre views the stupidity of his criminals. The early scenes of Jasmine mishandling suspects, inadvertently revealing her undercover status, and subsequently ruining the case, are cringe-inducing, yet funny. The humor, however, is always kept in check and never dominates a scene.
There’s also a poignancy here, specifically regarding Jasmine’s plight in the wake of her mother’s death, that deepens the narrative when we’re not hightailing it through the twisty narrative. Glasgow is again vividly chronicled, and Brookmyre’s way with dialogue is equally impressive. Jasmine makes for a nerve-wracking protagonist at times, but only because she’s so recognizably human and identifiable. The tenacious Catherine, who is more the prototypical no-nonsense cop we’re used to seeing in crime and mystery books, nevertheless makes for a great protagonist despite her familiarity. This is a solid, unflinching read.
