Laidlaw
William McIlvanney
“I don’t like questions. They invent the answers. The real answers are discovered, before you even know what the question is”
Available as Paperback, eBook, Downloadable audio
In the beginning there was Laidlaw. The CWA Silver Dagger-winning masterpiece that launched a genre, from the godfather of Scottish crime fiction
THE FIRST IN THE ORIGINAL LAIDLAW TRILOGY. WINNER OF THE CWA SILVER DAGGER.
THE DARK REMAINS, Laidlaw’s first case, out 2 September 2021. PRE-ORDER NOW!
‘If you only read one crime novel this year, this should be it’ Guardian
‘A bloody good read’ Val McDermid
When a young woman is found brutally murdered in Kelvingrove Park, only one man stands a chance of finding her killer. Jack Laidlaw. He is a man of contrasts, ravaged by inner demons but driven by a deep compassion for the violent criminals in Glasgow’s underworld. But will Laidlaw’s unorthodox methods get him to the killer in time, when the victim’s father is baying for blood?
Acclaimed for its corrosive wit, dark themes and original maverick detective, the Laidlaw trilogy has earned the status of classic crime fiction.
“He kicked the door open so the likes of Ian Rankin, Denise Mina and me could sneak through behind him”
Val Mcdermid
See more reviews
“The pure distilled essence of Scottish crime writing”
Peter May
“Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlowe. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city”
Denise Mina
“It’s doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney’s Laidlaw”
Ian Rankin
“Forensic examination would likely reveal that all Scottish crime novels have a little Laidlaw in their DNA … Powerful, gripping and beautifully written”
Craig Robertson
guardian, Top 10 Scottish Crime Novels
William McIlvanney
William McIlvanney is the author of the award-winning Laidlaw trilogy, featuring Glasgow’s original maverick detective. Both Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association, while the third in the series, Strange Loyalties, won the Glasgow Herald’s People’s Prize. He died in December 2015.
Laidlaw is the first book in the Laidlaw Trilogy.
“Laidlaw brought Glasgow to life more viscerally than any book I had read before: the good and the bad, the language and the humour, the violence and the drinking … This book made me realise that pacey, streetwise thrillers didn’t have to be American: we had mean streets enough of our own.”
The Guardian asked great crime writers to pick their favourite crime novels, and Christopher Brookmyre thinks you should be reading William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw.