The Papers of Tony Veitch

Starred review from February 16, 2015
At the start of Edgar-finalist McIlvanneyâs excellent second entryâfirst published in 1983âin his Laidlaw trilogy, Det. Insp. Jack Laidlaw receives a summons to a Glasgow hospital from a homeless man he knows, Alexander âEckâ Adamson. The alcoholic Eck is largely incoherent, but before he expires, Laidlaw is able to make out one repeated statement: âThe wine he gave me wisny wine.â Among Eckâs few possessions is a piece of paper with a handwritten note that appears to be some sort of philosophical manifesto. Two names also appear on the paper. Laidlaw and his partner, Det. Constable Brian Harkness, discover that one of those named, a well-known thug, has recently been murdered. When they examine Eckâs possessions more thoroughly, Laidlaw and Harkness wonder who helped Eck write his mini manifesto, and this leads them to well-to-do Tony Veitch. New evidence soon proves that Eck didnât drink himself to death; he was poisoned. Veitch becomes the prime suspect for both murders, despite Laidlawâs doubts that heâs actually the killer. But forces beyond Laidlawâs control, on both sides of the law, try to thwart his investigation at every turn. McIlvanney, the undisputed grandfather of tartan noir, gives reader a complex, existential hero struggling to right myriad wrongs. Agent: Laura Mamelok, Susanna Lea Associates.