When a teenage boy shoots a young woman dead in the middle of a busy Glasgow street and then commits suicide, Detective Harry McCoy is sure of one thing. It wasn’t a random act of violence. With his new partner in tow, McCoy uses his underworld network to lead the investigation but soon runs up against a secret society led by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops. McCoy’s boss doesn’t want him to investigate. The Dunlops seem untouchable. But McCoy has other ideas . . . My final review of 2017 needed to be something a little bit special, and the good news is that Bloody January by Alan Parks is exactly that. Time for an old school crime novel set during the 1970s in a city with a notorious reputation for violence. I’ve long since held the belief that the best detectives are the ones who are a complete shambles as a human being. Harry McCoy is no exception. He has a childhood friend who is a psychopathic gangster (more on him in a minute), a relationship with alcohol and recreational drugs that borders on a problem, and an easy-going attitude towards organised crime. Peel back the layers and you...