Glasgow's Black Heart

Glasgow's Black Heart
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2011-03-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1845969804

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland. It is a city of culture, of impressive architecture, enterprise and endeavour, and is one of warm-hearted, generous people. But it also has a dark side. Beneath the busy streets, the Victorian sandstone and urban trendiness lies a black heart that beats in rhythm with the roar of the traffic and the echo of footsteps on concrete. It is a black heart pumped by greed and lust, violence and murder. And it has beaten since the city first sprang up on that dear, green place on the banks of the Molendinar Burn. This is the epic story of Glasgow crime. Beginning in 1624 when the Tolbooth was built at Glasgow Cross to house the courts and town jail, author Douglas Skelton covers four centuries of Glasgow's hidden history, tracing the formation of the first paid police force in Britain, the Black Assizes of the circuit court and the formation of the city's own High Court of Justiciary. Here you will find the pimps and pushers, gangsters and gangleaders, rioters and robbers who flooded the veins of the city. Famous felons rub shoulders with their less notorious, but equally vicious, counterparts. Here also are the thief-takers, cops, lawyers and judges who tried to stem the gushing flow, some with more success than others. These stories may not be what the City Fathers would like to see on Glasgow's CV, but they are as much a part of its traditions and its legacy as the fish, the bell and the tree.

How to Make Friends with the Dark

How to Make Friends with the Dark
Author: Kathleen Glasgow
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 110193476X

From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a novel about love and loss and learning how to continue when it feels like you're surrounded by darkness. "A rare and powerful novel." --Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret Tiger's life changed with a simple phone call. Her mother has died. That's when darkness descended on her otherwise average life. Tiger's mother never talked about her father, and with no grandparents or aunts or uncles, her world is packed into a suitcase and moved to a foster home. And another. And another. Until hope surfaces in the shape of . . . a sister? Sometimes family comes in forms you don't recognize. But can Tiger learn to make friends with the darkness before it swallows her whole? "Stunning and beautifully written."-HelloGiggles "Breathtaking and heartbreaking." --Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places

The Real Taggarts

The Real Taggarts
Author: Andrew G. Ralston
Publisher: Black & White Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1785301675

Keeping the streets of Glasgow safe has never been an easy task. From the pre-war razor gangs through to the drug lords of recent times, the city streets have never been free from peril. But without the men who relentlessly fought crime year after year, the citizens of Glasgow would have been in far greater danger. The Real Taggarts examines the lives of Glasgow's post-war crimebusters and is based on exhaustive research which has uncovered new and previously unpublished material, including the personal papers of key police officers which have never before been in the public domain. Many of these officers became legends in the Force: Joe Beattie, who worked on the Bible John investigation; Tom Goodall, Glasgow's Maigret, who battled against an unprecedented rise in violent crime in the city; Gilbert McIlwrick, the 'Quiet Man of the Force', who had to deal with five murders and a huge bank robbery in a single week. The Real Taggarts is a fascinating insight into the men whose job it was to keep Glasgow safe and the remarkable contribution they made, much of which has never before been revealed.

Devil's Knock

Devil's Knock
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2015-06-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1910324515

The Davie McCall saga returns in Devil's Knock. Davie McCall has darkness inside him. A darkness that haunts him, but also helps him do despicable things to those trying to cause him and his friends harm. When Dickie Himes is killed in a club owned by the Jarvis clan, it sparks a chain of events that Davie knows can only lead to widespread gang war on the streets of mid- 90s Glasgow. The police are falling over themselves to solve the crime, but when justice is so easily bought or corrupted, Davie needs to take matters into his own hands. Davie has to contend with the ghosts of those he has failed, a persistent Hollywood actor and a scruffy dog with no name. When he finds a target on his back, will Davie be able to suppress the darkness inside him and refuse to kill... Or will the devil s knock be too tempting?

Crow Bait

Crow Bait
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2014-09-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1910324310

They'll all be crow bait by the time I'm finished...Jail was hell for Davie McCall. Ten years down the line, freedom's no picnic either. It's 1990, there are new kings in the West of Scotland underworld, and Glasgow is awash with drugs. Davie can handle himself. What he can't handle is the memory of his mother's death at the hand of his sadistic father. Or the darkness his father implanted deep in his own psyche. Or the nightmares...Now his father is back in town and after blood, ready to waste anyone who stops him hacking out a piece of the action. There are people in his way. And Davie is one of them. Tense, dark and nerve-wracking... a highly effective thriller. THE HERALD This is crime fiction of the strongest quality. CRIMESQUAD.COM A gory and razor-sharp crime novel from the start, Douglas Skelton's Crow Bait moves at breakneck speed like a getaway car on the dark streets of Glasgow. THE SKINNY Skelton has been hiding from his talent for long enough. High time he shared it with the rest of us. QUINTIN JARDINE PRAISE for Blood City The city's dark underbelly complete with knives, razors, guns and gangs... DAILY MAIL You follow the plot like an eager dog, nose turning this way and that, not catching every single clue but quivering as you lunge towards a blood-splattered denouement. DAILY EXPRESS The Glasgow of this period is a great, gritty setting for a crime story, and Skelton's non-fiction work stands him in good stead... he's taken well to fiction... the unexpected twists keep coming. THE HERALD

Open Wounds

Open Wounds
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2016-03-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1910324809

Davie McCall is tired. Tired of violence, tired of the Life. He's always managed to stay detached from the brutal nature of his line of work, but recently he has caught himself enjoying it. In the final instalment in the Davie McCall series old friends clash and long buried secrets are unearthed as McCall investigates a brutal five-year-old crime. Davie wants out, but the underbelly of Glasgow is all he has ever known. Will what he learns about his old ally Big Rab McClymont be enough to get him out of the Life? And could the mysterious woman who just moved in upstairs be just what he needs?

Blood City

Blood City
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2013-09-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1909912530

Glasgow's mean streets just got meaner. Can Davie McCall survive? Meet Davie McCall. Beaten, bloody... brutal. Irrevocably damaged by the barbaric regime of an abusive father, and haunted by memories of his mother's murder, there is a darkness inside him. Enter Joe the Tailor. A sophisticated crimelord with morals, he might be the only man in the city Davie can trust. But then the bodies begin to mount...In 1980s Glasgow, the criminal underworld is about to splinter. Battle lines are drawn, and the gap between friend and enemy blurs as criminals and police alike are caught in a net of lies, murder and revenge that will change the city forever. Scotland's foremost true-crime author. THE SCOTSMAN The city's dark underbelly complete with knives, razors, guns and gangs... DAILY MAIL You follow the plot like an eager dog, nose turning this way and that, not catching every single clue but quivering as you lunge towards a blood-splattered denouement. DAILY EXPRESS The Glasgow of this period is a great, gritty setting for a crime story, and Skelton's non-fiction work stands him in good stead... he's taken well to fiction... the unexpected twists keep coming. THE HERALD

Glasgow in 1901

Glasgow in 1901
Author: James Hamilton Muir
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1901
Genre: Glasgow (Scotland)
ISBN:

Tag - You're Dead

Tag - You're Dead
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Saraband
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2017-04-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1910192732

Maverick investigator Dominic Queste is on the trail of missing butcher Sam Price. But he soon uncovers links to a killer with a taste for games. What began as a simple favour for his girlfriend quickly descends into a battle for survival against an enemy who has no qualms about turning victims into prime cuts. Amidst a twisted game of cat and mouse, suspicious coppers, vicious crooks and a seemingly random burglary, Queste has to keep his wits about him. Or he might just find himself on the butcher’s block.

The Janus Run

The Janus Run
Author: Douglas Skelton
Publisher: Saraband
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2022-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1915089387

"Bullet-ridden, bold, brilliant." Neil Broadfoot When Coleman Lang finds his girlfriend Gina dead in his New York City apartment, he thinks nothing could be worse... until he becomes the prime suspect. Desperate to uncover the truth and clear his name, Coleman hits the streets. But there's a deranged Italian hitman, an intuitive cop, two US Marshals, and his ex-wife all on his tail. And trying to piece together Gina's murky past without dredging up his own seems impossible. Worse, the closer he gets to Gina's killer, the harder it is to evade the clutches of the mysterious organisation known only as Janus – from which he'd long since believed himself free. Packed with plot twists, suspense and an explosive climax, The Janus Run is an edge-of-the-seat, breathtaking thriller – NYC noir at its finest. "A breakneck New York thriller - I can't wait to read the next one." Mason Cross "A natural successor to Ed McBain, Douglas Skelton gives us a sharp and thrilling ride – a brilliant read." Michael J Malone "A defining work by our finest emerging crime fiction talent." Quintin Jardine "Ludlum meets Grisham in this fast-paced, fast-talking New York City thriller. Fascinating and utterly compelling." Denzil Meyrick "Pacy, great characters, twisted enough to keep me guessing." Alex Gray "Skelton really delivers with The Janus Run : the pace is relentless, the sense of place authentic, a story that draws you in and won't let go till the final page." Craig Russell "What do you get if you mix a deep-cover agent, a witness protected mob member, a psychotic killer and more action than you can pull a trigger at? Welcome to the wonderful, high speed, rollercoaster planet that is Douglas Skelton's The Janus Run ." Gordon Brown "Bullet-ridden, bold, brilliant, The Janus Run hits its stride on the first page and hurtles to its conclusion with the speed of a runaway subway. Utterly unmissable." Neil Broadfoot "This is brilliant-black-diamond hard writing ... brutal and enthralling. You never know where the next bullet is coming from. You'd better hang on tight for this one." Mark Leggatt "It's a cracker. A pacy thrill-ride of a book with an authentic NYC setting, whip-smart dialogue and a cast of memorable characters. Think Goodfellas meets The Bourne Identity. Skelton's best yet." Lisa Gray "Dynamite... authentically brutal, powerfully plotted and perfectly executed." Chapter In My Life crime fiction blog "A book that sinks its teeth into its readers like a Rottweiler and simply never lets go: the main difference being that this is an extremely enjoyable experience." Undiscovered Scotland "Fabulous... Well written, full of tension and suspense, it caught my imagination immediately and kept me hooked all the way through." Amanda Gillies, crime fiction reviewer