Lies of the Land

Second in the series of Maddy Shannon mysteries, Lies of the Land is an intriguing crime novel in which the central character, a procurator fiscal in Glasgow, struggles to uncover a devious killer with a link to her past. Glasgow is the other protagonist in this stylish mystery.

Procurator fiscal Maddy Shannon awakens in her West End Glasgow flat to a hangover and several mysteries, starting with who is the strange man in her bed? Shortly after discovering the man's identity, Maddy learns that his boss, a successful defence lawyer, was met a gruesome end in his posh Merchant City office. With a bad reputation for getting too close to her cases, Maddy tries to stand back from this one. But as the murders continue, and Maddy herself receives a disturbing message, she realises too close is unavoidable, and winds up in a race against the measured malevolence of an unknown killer. Maddy's unorthodox meetings with Detective Inspector Alan Coulter further complicate an increasingly unmanageable case whose roots may go back to one Maddy failed to win. The suspects pile up until they finally topple. Chris Dolan's follow-up to Potter's Field is at once frightening and funny, earthy and insightful. It's a love poem to Glasgow, a technicolour rendering of a city whose beauty lies in its many contradictory qualities.