Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Last Will" by William McIntyre is the author's ninth outing for criminal defence lawyer Robbie Munro. Readers who have encountered Robbie Munro before will approach this latest book expecting fast-moving Tartan Noir, told with a lightness of tone and a lightness of touch; and they'll be expecting a well-crafted story with plenty of twists and turns and a satisfying ending that draws the strands together in a surprising way. They'll not be disappointed. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read that keeps you turning the page from the start to the very end.

Things have moved on in Robbie Munro's personal life since we last met him in "Good News, Bad News". He's discovered that he's the father of a young girl, a girl whose mother died after emigrating to Australia without telling her ex-boyfriend Robbie that she was pregnant. Robbie very much wants to provide a home for little Tina. The problem is that so does her maternal grandmother, who lives in a large house in Oban. Robbie finds himself caught up in the most important legal tussle of his life, as he tries to prove to the courts that he is the right person to bring Tina up as a single father. Yet the legal issues involved are far beyond his usual areas of expertise, and he has doubts about the solicitor he's engaged to advise him.

Robbie's life is made no easier when he is called on by his landlord, and noted West Lothian gangster, Jake Turpie, to help resolve an outstanding debt. As a result he finds himself landing right in the middle of a double murder investigation in which the police are certain that one of Turpie's men is the perpetrator. Can Robbie find a way through the web of lies and deceit that is being spun by Turpie and just about everyone else he encounters to discover what really happened? And even more importantly, can he devote the time he needs to resolving the murders, while still convincing the powers-that-be that he can be there to meet the needs of a four-year-old girl? Can you really balance interviewing recalcitrant witnesses with being able reliably to pick your daughter up from nursery on time? Even if you have friends, colleagues and relatives to help share the load? How many plates can one man keep spinning before some of them fall off their poles and smash? As Robbie gets ever more drawn into the world of drug-dealers and high fashion it becomes ever more obvious to the reader that some of the plates in his life are wobbling badly.