Craig Russell (1) (1956–)

After the Empire Exhibition robbery in 1938, the leader of the gang responsible disappeared from the face of the earth. Flash forward 18 years later, and his remains have been dredged up from the bottom of the Clyde. But are they really his? His daughters, Isa and Violet, are not so sure, and they ask Lennox to get to the truth of the matter. Naturally, this will land Lennox in the world of the Three Kings, the gang leaders who divide the city of Glasgow between them. And Lennox had been show more hoping to steer his private enquiry business to more aboveboard cases…

This was another great book in the series. Lennox continues to be wry and self-reflective, even when he’s surrounded by violence. Of the first three books in the series, this one made me laugh out loud the most at his one-liners and observations. Glasgow in the 1950s continues to be evoked well, and the ending of this book is perfect. I had previously read Dead Men and Broken Hearts (I read series out of order, what can I say), so it will be interesting to re-read it with the knowledge I now have of Lennox, and to see how it follows on from The Deep Dark Sleep. show less

It's 1956 in Glasgow, and enquiry agent Charles Lennox has been tasked with tracking a potentially wayward husband. But this case becomes more complicated than it initially seems, with consequences at higher political and lower criminal levels than he would like. Especially when he's trying to return to a more straight-and-narrow version of himself.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The setting of Glasgow in the 1950s was what drew me in, and the fact that Lennox is a Canadian makes it (for this show more Canadian) even better. His voice is consistently amusing without being a smartass, matter-of-fact and also fanciful when he chooses to be, and most importantly not afraid to admit his mistakes. In this way he reminded me a bit of Lew Archer, less spiky than Marlowe and less hard-nosed than Sam Spade. He's been hardened by life but not completely, and it is a pleasure to follow him through these pages and hope he gets his life sorted out.

Some quotes to illustrate Lennox's voice (and Canadianness):

"an American accent that was so cod you could have hauled it up in a trawler net."

"the majesty of the Glaswegian vowel, flatter and broader than the Saskatchewan prairie."

"a face that looked like he'd used it to beat someone to death."

"I'm a Canadian. We make Boy Scouts and Quakers look like ne'er-do-wells."

This is the fourth book in the series and as such may be best read in order if you're the sort who likes to follow the characters' backstories in chronological order over the course of a series. show less

Glasgow, 1953. Lennox, an expatriate Canadian in Scotland, is a private investigator skimming the edges of the underworld. Not that he doesn’t try to have standards: he declines the opportunity to take on the case of mobster Tam McGahern’s death, even when Tam’s brother Frankie is the one attempting to “persuade” him. But the case gets him in his clutches, and he finds himself embroiled in the affairs of all three of the Three Kings who run Glasgow’s criminal classes.

I picked show more this up for the setting; books set in Glasgow are catnip for me. Even better is the fact that Lennox is Canadian, a Kennebecasis kid, hailing from New Brunswick. This combination of setting and character is a winning one. Lennox has a few personal struggles: physical and mental injuries from the Second World War have left him a very different person, one whom he finds occasionally repulsive. For this reason I liken this series somewhat to Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer books, although this one is definitely more violent, or at least more squishily violent.

Recommended if you like hardboiled detective novels set or written in the first half of the 20th century, or if you like Scottish noir. show less

Definitely my favorite horror read of the year. Russell seamlessly blends horror, mystery, pulp noir and the history of Hollywood filmmaking as he spins his tale about the creation and downfall of 'the greatest horror movie ever made' and the search for its rumored sole remaining copy. His intermingling of real and imagined characters and events makes it easy to forget that you are reading a novel, at least that's what I hoped it was.