Scotland has been a proudly independent country for centuries. But success has now turned sour. Malcolm Mackay's remarkable novel of crime and corruption is set in a brooding, rain-swept Scottish city that is compellingly different from the one we think we know. The Scottish city of Challaid is a corruption-riddled place where people frequently go off the radar. So when PC Vinny Reno discovers his ex-wife, Freya, has disappeared, he turns to private detectives Darian Ross and Sholto Douglas.  Their search will lead them to a collision between Freya and a wealthy banking family. But it also leads to more questions. What does Freya's disappearance have to do with a year-old murder case? What is the involvement of a young man who never leaves his house? As they dig deeper into the past, Darian and Sholto realise they must stand against the most powerful people in the city if they are to unearth the truth...

The breathtaking, devastating second novel in the acclaimed Glasgow Trilogy, a Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year.How does a gunman retire? Frank MacLeod was the best at what he does. Thoughtful. Efficient. Ruthless. But with his health failing him, how long before he's no longer of use to his employers?A new job. A target. But something is about to go horribly wrong. And up-and-coming hitman Calum MacLean will be called upon to pick up the pieces.Most gunmen say goodbye to the world with a bang. Frank's still here. No longer in his prime, certainly. But with decades of experience at the top of his profession. Underestimating such a man could prove to be deadly.

The independent kingdom of Scotland flourished until the beginning of the last century. Its great trading port of Challaid, in the north west of the country, sent ships around the world and its merchants and bankers grew rich on their empire in Central America. But Scotland is not what it was, and the docks of Challaid are almost silent. The huge infrastructure projects collapsed, like the dangerous railway tunnels under the city. And above ground the networks of power and corruption are all that survive of Challaid's glorious past. Darian Ross is a young private investigator whose father, an ex cop, is in prison for murder. He takes on a case brought to him by a charismatic woman, Maeve Campbell. Her partner has been stabbed; the police are not very curious about the death of a man who laundered money for the city's criminals. Ross is drawn by his innate sense of justice and his fascination with Campbell into a world in which no-one can be trusted.

The stunning conclusion to Malcolm Mackay's lauded Glasgow Trilogy returns readers to the city's underworld: a place of dark motives, dangerous allegiances and sudden, tragic ends.It begins with two deaths: a money-man and a police informant. Deaths that offer a unique opportunity to a man like Calum MacLean. A hit man who has finally had enough of killing.Calum plans an unprecedented escape just as his employers need him the most. Glasgow's biggest criminal organizations are gearing up for a final, fatal confrontation.The panic over Calum's abrupt disappearance may finally give Detective Michael Fisher the chance he need to close the case of a lifetime. But first, he must track down a man who has become a master of disappearance. A man who has staked his life on staying in the shadows.