Gordon Ferris

LONGLISTED FOR THEAKSTONS OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR CRIME READERS ASSOCIATION DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY AWARD A fast-paced, gritty and atmospheric crime novel set on the tough streets of Glasgow, 1946. Glasgow, 1946. The last time Douglas Brodie came home it was 1942 and he was a dashing young warrior in a kilt. Now, the war is over but victory's wine has soured and Brodie's back in Scotland to try and save childhood friend Hugh Donovan from the gallows. Everyone thought Hugh was dead, shot down in the war. Perhaps it would have been kinder if he had been killed. The man who returns from the war is unrecognizable: mutilated, horribly burned. Hugh keeps his own company, only venturing out for heroin to deaden the pain of his wounds. When a local boy is found raped and murdered, there is only one suspect. Hugh claims he's innocent but a mountain of evidence says otherwise. Despite the hideousness of the crime, ex-policeman Brodie feels compelled to try and help his one-time friend. Working with advocate Samantha Campbell, Brodie trawls the mean streets of the Gorbals and the green hills of western Scotland in their search for the truth. What they find is an unholy alliance of troublesome priests, corrupt coppers and Glasgow's deadliest razor gang, happy to slaughter to protect their dark and dirty secrets. As time runs out for the condemned man, the murder tally of innocents starts to climb. When Sam Campbell disappears, it's the last straw for Brodie, and he reverts to his wartime role as a trained killer. It's them or him... The Hanging Shed is the word-of-mouth hit that is leaving its fellow thrillers in its wake. - Guardian

The Hanging Shed

He's dead. So says his own newspaper, the Glasgow Gazette: Douglas Brodie, 25 January 1912-20 July 1947 ... Just four weeks before, a senior banker was kidnapped. Brodie delivered the ransom money on the instructions of the abducted man's wife, but the drop went disastrously wrong. Brodie was coshed in the kidnappers' den. He woke with a gun in his hand next to a very dead banker with a bullet in his head ... The case against Brodie is watertight: the bullet comes from his own revolver, the banker's wife denies knowing him, and his pockets are stuffed with ransom notes. In an apparent act of desperation, Brodie cheats justice by committing suicide in his prison cell. Could this be the sordid end for a distinguished ex-copper, decorated soldier and man of parts?

Gallowglass

As Glasgow is buried under snow, a killer is on the loose and a deadly secret threatens to take Brodie to the edge of sanityIt's 1947 and the worst winter in memory: Glasgow is buried in snow, killers stalk the streets, and Douglas Brodie's past is engulfing him. It starts small. The Jewish community in Glasgow asks Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman turned journalist, to solve a series of burglaries. The police don't care and Brodie needs the cash. Brodie solves the crime but the thief is found dead, butchered by the owner of the house he was robbing. When the householder in turn is murdered, the whole community is in uproar—and Brodie's simple case of theft disintegrates into chaos. Into the mayhem strides Danny McRae—Brodie's old sparring partner from when they policed Glasgow's mean streets. Does Danny bring with him the seeds of redemption or retribution? As the murder tally mounts, Brodie discovers tainted gold and a blood-stained trail back to the concentration camps. Back to the horrors that haunt his dreams. Glasgow is overflowing with Jewish refugees. But have their persecutors pursued them? And who will be next to die?

Pilgrim Soul

Summer in Glasgow, when the temper bubbles and the tenement windows bounce back the light, when lust boils up and tempers fray. The second installment in the Douglas Brodie series. Glasgow's melting. The temperature is rising and so is the murder rate. Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman, ex-soldier, and now newest reporter on the Glasgow Gazette, has no shortage of material for his crime column. But even Brodie baulks at his latest subject: a rapist who has been tarred and feathered by a balaclava-clad group. Brodie soon discovers a link between this horrific act and a series of brutal beatings. As violence spreads and the body count rises, Brodie and advocate Samantha Campbell are entangled in a web of deception and savagery. Brodie is swamped with stories for the Gazette. But how long before he and Sam become the headline?

Bitter Water

Danny McRae, struggling private detective, and Eve Copeland, ambitious crime reporter, are a partnership made in heaven - until Eve disappears. Danny battles black marketeers, double agents and assassins in 1940s London and Berlin, realising Eve is not what she seemed. Soon he is no longer sure who the good guys are.

The Unquiet Heart

The second Danny McRae thriller finds him in a perfect partnership—gang-busters by day, lovers by night. What could go wrong?Danny McRae is a private detective scraping a living in ration-card London. Eve Copeland, crime reporter, is looking for new angles to save her career. It's an alliance made in heaven—until Eve disappears, a contact dies violently, and an old adversary presents McRae with some unpalatable truths. His desperate search for his lover draws him into a web of black marketeers, double agents, and assassins, and hurls him into the shattered remains of Berlin, where terrorism and espionage foreshadow the bleakness of the Cold War. And McRae begins to lose sight of the thin line between good and evil.

Shortlisted for the 2012 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Ferris is a writer of real authority, immersing the reader into his nightmare world with a brand of scabrous writing reminiscent of William McIlvanney's Laidlaw... everything speaks of an original voice. - Independent Glasgow's melting. The temperature is rising and so is the murder rate. Douglas Brodie, ex-policeman, ex-soldier and now newest reporter on the Glasgow Gazette, has no shortage of material for his crime column. But even Brodie baulks at his latest subject: a rapist who has been tarred and feathered by a balaclava-clad group. Brodie soon discovers a link between this horrific act and a series of brutal beatings. As violence spreads and the body count rises, Brodie and advocate Samantha Campbell are entangled in a web of deception and savagery. Brodie is swamped with stories for the Gazette. But how long before he and Sam become the headline?

1946: The war's over. But there are no medals for Danny McRae. Just amnesia and blackouts; twin handicaps for a private investigator with a filthy rich client on the hook for murder. Danny's blackouts mean that hours, sometimes days, are a complete blank. So when news of a brutal killer stalking London's red light district start to stir grisly memories, Danny is terrified about what he might discover if he delves deeper into his fractured mind. As the two bloody sagas collide and interweave, Danny finds himself running for his life across the bomb-ravaged city. The only escape is through that gap in his memory... Will his past catch up with him before his enemies? And which would be worse?

Truth Dare Kill

Douglas Brodie is dead. The Glasgow Gazette announced the tragic death on 26 June 1947 of their chief crime reporter. Just three weeks before, life was rosy. After a tumultuous winter chasing war criminals across Glasgow, Douglas Brodie was revelling in the quiet life. His relationship with advocate Samantha Campbell was blossoming and he'd put the reins on his impulsiveness. Hope and promise filled the tranquil summer air. A day later, Brodie was arrested for the kidnap and murder of Scotland's top banker. The case against Brodie is watertight: caught with a gun in his hand next to a man with a bullet in the head - from Brodie's own revolver. He has no alibi. No witnesses. Despite Samantha's best efforts, Brodie faces the gallows. Is this the sordid end for a distinguished ex-copper, decorated soldier and man of parts?

With the war over former SOE, turned private investigator, Danny McRae struggles with the after effects of a head injury, while trying to solve a murder case involving his client.

Gordon Ferris

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