The April Dead (eBook)

Alan Parks worked in the music industry for over twenty years before turning to crime writing. His debut novel Bloody January was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, February’s Son was nominated for an Edgar Award and Bobby March Will Live Forever was picked as a The Times Best Book of the Year. The April Dead was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. He lives and works in Glasgow. The April Dead is the fourth Harry McCoy thriller.

Parks captures the feel of a city long vanished in a breathless and tense retro crime caper

A blistering plot, unforgettable characters and writing so sharp it's like it's been written with a knife . . . Detective McCoy is a true noir antihero and the perfect guide through the vice and violence of Glasgow's underbelly. Bloody January firmly sets Alan Parks in the same league as Ian Rankin and Louise Welsh

A thrilling debut from a very promising talent

Praise for the Harry McCoy series: Fascinating and dangerous . . . Parks has clearly studied the masters of tartan noir but has his own voice. He shows how, among the welter of violence, a spontaneous act of kindness can have just as great an impact

1970s Glasgow hewn from flesh and drawn in blood

Seriously good. It's brilliantly evocative of the 1970s in Glasgow (and I should know as I was there!). I loved Alan Parks' characters and I want to read a lot more of Detective Harry McCoy!

Gripping and violent, dark and satisfying. I flew through it

Bloody and brilliant. This smasher from Alan Parks is a reminder of how dark Glasgow used to be

Alan Parks has swiftly established himself as an exciting new voice in the world of tartan noir . . . Parks knows the city intimately, and this comes across effortlessly on the page

[McCoy] is a great character and his patch and period are vividly and skilfully portrayed. Denise Mina and Ian Rankin had better watch out

Pitch-black tartan noir, set in Seventies Glasgow . . . Compelling . . . With an emotional heart that's hard to ignore

Gripping and well-crafted

Draws the reader in with equal parts of twist and grit . . . It’s McCoy, though, who makes this series something special – he’s multi-layered and three-dimensional, with his own idiosyncratic work ethic . . . With this third instalment of the McCoy books, Parks has continued to build a series that no crime fan should miss: dangerous, thrilling, but with a kind voice to cut through the darkness

A brilliant debut. Taut, violent and as close as you'll get to 1970s Glasgow without a TARDIS. Parks is a natural successor to William McIIvanney

The latest star of Tartan noir — perhaps even a successor to the late, great William McIlvanney . . . Gripping, utterly authentic and nerve-jangling, this novel announces a fine new voice in crime writing

An old-school cop novel written with wit and economy . . . Think McIlvanney or Get Carter

A potent tale of death . . . Alan Parks's excellent first novel propels him into the top class of Scottish noir authors . . . Detective Harry McCoy . . . is so noir that he makes most other Scottish cops seem light grey