The Heretic

by Liam McIlvanney

Overview

Set in 1976, seven years after the murders recounted in Liam McIlvanney’s breakout novel, The Quaker, this new Glasgow noir novel is a standalone 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609457419
Publisher:	Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/08/2022
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	99,773
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Liam McIlvanney’s first book, Burns the Radical, won the Saltire First Book Award. He is also the author of two previous novels, All the Colors of the Town and Where the Dead Men Go, which won the 2014 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel. He is a regular contributor to numerous publications, including the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He is Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He lives in Dunedin with his wife and four sons.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/14/2022

McIlvanney’s outstanding sequel to 2019’s The Quaker makes the mean streets of Glasgow palpable in the service of a memorable whodunit plot. In 1975, Det. Insp. Duncan McCormack returns home to Glasgow, after a six-year stint as a member of London’s Flying Squad, to head a unit of the new Serious Crime Squad. His first task is to locate Walter Maitland, an elusive criminal who’s been prowling the labyrinth of the city’s underworld. Then he lands another hot potato—a man found on a rubbish heap with his head bashed in turns out to be Gavin Elliot, a former Tory MP and slumlord, who was once accused of rape. A bombing that claims six lives, including Maitland’s brother, and possibly linked to Elliot’s killing, ups the ante. McCormack must keep his homosexuality a secret as he contends with the brass who haven’t forgotten that during the Quaker investigation he brought down the head of CID for the City of Glasgow Police and did so “with what many people... considered an unseemly glee.” Tartan noir fans will hope to see a lot more of this complex, flawed lead. Agent: Jim Gill, United Agents (U.K.). (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Liam McIlvanney

“Every aspect of The Quaker is superb.” —Washington Post

“A new master of tartan noir.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“McIlvanney composes beautiful prose about ugly things.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A beautifully crafted police procedural.” —Seattle Review of Books

“A Dickensian crime novel.”—Mystery Matters

“Intricately plotted, resourceful in its characterization, and gorgeously written.”—Toronto Star

“[Liam McIlvanney] shows a deft touch for character and setting throughout this absorbing, atmospheric read.”—Crime Watch

“Skilfully dovetailed … atmospheric … a solidly crafted and satisfying detective story.” —The Guardian

From the Publisher

2021-12-15
A maverick Scottish detective returns home to nail a crime boss and shake up the police department.

Seven years after making a name for himself back in 1969 by catching the serial killer known as The Quaker, DI Duncan McCormack is back in Glasgow after his stint with the London police, much to the chagrin of his boss, DCI Alan Haddow. After a warehouse fire spreads to a nearby tenement, killing four people, including a mother and her wee daughter, the righteous McCormack decides that local crime boss Walter Maitland ordered the blaze. His initial investigation takes him to the once-posh Duke of Perth restaurant and a spa fronting for a whorehouse for white-collar gentlemen. In the absence of any concrete evidence implicating Maitland, McCormack has carte blanche to scour the colorful underworld of the notoriously gritty city. McIlvanney, who reveals the identity of the arsonist early on, is less interested in creating mystery than in exploring the pulsing, crime-ridden city through dozens of incisive character portraits and backstories. McCormack’s sidekick, DC Liz Nicol, a feminist struggling in a sexist environment, is an ideal protégée for the equally resolute McCormack. Another grisly crime lands unwelcomed in the duo’s caseload when one-time MP Gavin Elliot, director of Wyndford Property Limited, is tortured, beaten to death, and left in the city dump. As if ferreting out miscreants were not challenge enough, McCormack must also deal with Shand, an ambitious colleague anxious to bring him down.

Crackling, full-bodied Scottish noir effectively evoking a colorful era.

Kirkus Reviews