William McIlvanney is credited with being the founder the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors such as Denise Mina, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, all of whom cite him as an influence an and inspiration. The Laidlaw trilogy “changed the face of Scottish fiction." His Docherty won the Whitbread Award for Fiction. Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch both gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association. Strange Loyalties won the Glasgow Herald’s People’s Prize.

This third book in the series begins with Jack Laidlaw’s despair and anger at his brother’s death in a banal road accident. His questions as to the dynamics of his bother’s death lead to larger questions about the nature of pain and injustice about meaning of his own life. Laidlaw is determined to learn more about the circumstances surrounding Scott Laidlaw’s death. His investigations will lead to a confrontation with his own past and a harrowing journey into the dark Glasgow underworld.