In this scorching crime hook-up, number one bestseller Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of DI Laidlaw, Glasgow’s original gritty detective. If the truth’s in the shadows, get out of the light... Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he’s dead and it was no accident. He’s left behind his share of enemies, but who dealt the fatal blow? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.

Docherty is a survivor of an impoverished life of hardship in the Scottish town of Graithnock. Conn is the son in whom he invests all hope for a far different future. Docherty may dream of escape, but he emerges as an unelected leader. This novel won the 1975 Whitbread Award.