Published by Sphere, 13 March 2014.
ISBN:
978-1-84744-567-4
An explosion in the countryside near Glasgow draws Detective Superintendent
William Lorimer into contact with MI6 over a threat to the Commonwealth Games,
due to take place in 2014. But he has
other worries: the behaviour of his beautiful, red-haired teenage-sweetheart
whose husband has died on his watch, and the death of a young black woman
marked with a strange Celtic tattoo ...
This novel opens with a
lyrical description of the Scottish countryside in spring, and, in keeping with
the book’s title, Gray plays with the idea of birds throughout. DS Lorimer and his wife Maggie have worked
their way through difficulties to being people you enjoy spending time with: a
restful older couple, each dedicated to work – I enjoyed the glimpes of
Maggie’s classroom world. Because his
involvement with the case of the dead husband means Lorimer can’t be in charge,
you see more of his emotional side, as well as the reactions of Maggie, to the
cuckoo in their nest. The fear and
bewilderment of Asa, the African girl kidnapped from her village, draws you
into her story too, and you’re kept wondering how she’s going to mesh into the
plot overall. Among the police, we follow
both DI Wilson and his new recruit daughter Kirsty investigating the murders,
while Lorimer himself focuses on the terrorist threat. The plot moves quickly between strands, the
Glasgow setting is a real presence in the book, and the euphoria and pride in
the crucial Commonwealth Games plausibly evoked – it must have felt strange
writing a book set just in the future in this way! However the expected influx of visitors links
the city to the wider world in an unexpected and sinister way ... Although this
is well through the Lorimer series, it reads as a stand-alone, and wouldn’t
spoil earlier books, so the reader can enjoy it, then go back.
A keep-you-reading police
procedural with strong emotional involvement in the characters. Highly recommended.
-------
Reviewer: Marsali
Taylor
Alex Gray born
27 May 1950, Glasgow,
is a Scottish crime writer. She was brought up in the Craigbank area of Glasgow and attended
Hutchesons' Grammar School. She studied English and Philosophy at Strathclyde University and worked for a period in
the Department of Heaklth & Social
Security before training as an English teacher. In 1976 she lived in Rhodesia for three months, during which time she
got married, and she and her husband returned to Scotland. She continued teaching
until the 1990s, when she gave the profession up and began to write full-time.
Alex is a member of the Femmes Fatales crime writing trio, together with
Alanna Knight and Lin Anderson .She has published six novels, all set around
Glasgow and featuring the character of Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer and
his psychological profiler Solomon Brightman, the earlier novels being
published by Canongate and later books by Little Brown. She has also written
several magazine articles.
www.alex-gray.com/
Marsali Taylor grew
up near Edinburgh,
and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time
teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two
Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by
history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as
a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys
exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group. Marsali also does a regular monthly column
for the Mystery People e-zine.
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