Undiscovered Scotland

 

"What a tangled web we weave...". Just about everyone you meet outwith the forces of the law in Bill Daly's "Black Mail" is hiding something from someone. Simon Ramsay is a businessman being blackmailed. Laura is his mistress (and his sister-in-law), whose husband will react very badly if he sees photos of Simon and her in bed together, and whose father is Simon's boss. Perhaps the most honest character we meet is Billy McAteer, savagely scarred while serving in the Army in Northern Ireland, and just out of prison. Everyone knows exactly where they stand with Billy. He is a straightforward psychopath prepared to maim or kill when the whim takes him, or when his employer asks him to. And right now, his employer is Laura's husband. Yet it is to McAteer who Laura turns for help dealing with the blackmailer. And then the web really does get tangled...

"Black Mail" stands as the first in what will become a series of Glasgow-based crime novels featuring Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Anderson, a man who was on the point of retirement when a drunk driver created a vacancy only Charlie could fill. Despite the misgivings of his wife and daughter, and despite the post reporting to a man Charlie despises, he couldn't pass up the chance of a long-awaited promotion. Charlie's bag-carrier is Detective Sergeant Tony O'Sullivan, and the two find themselves trying to resolve what appears to be a gangland killing as events in Glasgow spiral ever more deeply out of control.

Bill Daly's first excursion into what might be called traditional Tartan Noir is a thoroughly enjoyable book that keeps you turning the page right to the end. Especially pleasing is the way the author manages your expectations as you progress through the book. The story unfolds in a way that leaves the reader believing they know exactly what's happened, and why, and the enjoyment comes from knowing that you know more than the police do for much of the book. Or, at least, you think you do. Slowly the realisation dawns that nothing is as simple or straightforward as it seems - not even Billy McAteer - and this opens the way for some very satisfying twists and turns as the book approaches its climax.