Laidlaw

Bud Lawson has reported his 18 year old daughter as missing to DI Jack Laidlaw, even though she has only been gone overnight.  Lawson has a temper on him and is known to the police.  Laidlaw calmly tells him to go home and wait.  She may show up yet.  Unfortunately she later showed up dead.

Bud wants only one thing, and that is to get his hands on the person who did this to Jennifer.

DC Harkness is assigned to work with Laidlaw, but the pair will be outside of the main investigation.  Harkness' job will also be to liaise with DI Milligan, who is in charge of the investigation.  The first person they want to speak to is Harry Rayburn, owner of the place Jennifer was last seen.  After meeting Rayburn, they feel that he is hiding something.

Laidlaw and Harkness meet up with one of the kingpins of the Glaswegian crime world, John Rhodes, and ask him to help in finding the perpetrator of the crime.  What they don't know is that one of Bud Lawson's friends has already asked for the same thing.

Laidlaw gets the truth out of Jennifer's friend, Sarah.  They weren't where she had said they had been, Jennifer was actually with a guy.

Meantime, Harry Rayburn is attempting to protect the culprit for reasons of his own, while his silent partner, Matt Mason, is out to fix things, and not the way Harry wants them fixed.  Rhodes is also on the hunt for the culprit.  As Laidlaw and Harkness gain their information, they get closer to their quarry.  Who will get there first?

Author William McIlvanney has put together a thrilling murder mystery set in Glasgow.  Right from the get go, the reader knows who the murderer is, however we don't know how or whether he will be caught.  A very good read.