Crucial Black by Colin Garrow

A brace of corpses. A bone-crunching machine. A new recruit.

Now employed by an Inverness organised crime gang, former petty thief Relic Black is teamed up with hitman Ali McKay, the man he almost killed a few weeks earlier. As the team tidy up
the loose ends after the shooting, gang member and bent cop DI McKenzie must
investigate the disappearance of two people, knowing Relic and Ali have already
disposed of the bodies.

Meanwhile, Rebecca’s unpopular colleague DI Swinney, suspects her of
involvement in the shooting. Knowing one of the bodies currently taking up
space in the mortuary remains anonymous, he discovers the man’s identity. Can
Swinney uncover the truth, dig the dirt on McKenzie and regain his former
status with the DCI, or will the gang step in to stop him?

Warning – strong language and adult situations throughout.

Crucial Black is book #2 in the Relic Black
Thriller series set in Inverness, Scotland.

NB book #2 is not a standalone – the series must be read in order.

Over the last few years, there has been a move to build upon some of the pioneers of so-called “tartan noir” and the international success of the genre has seen a variety of regional variations spring up.

Inverness, with its highland locations, its tourism draw and its mix of city with genuine rurality on its
doorstep has featured in several of these types of novels before. ‘Terminal Black’, Colin Garrow’s 2020 novel introduced into the city the jauntily-named character Relic Black and, here, the low level criminal returns in book 2 of the series, out of his depth and in with the big dogs.

Garrow has something of the JD Kirk about his work. The vernacular is street-based, the action suitably  bloody and the narrative shot through with Scots, both in humour and language. He also does pace: there is no hanging aboot for any of the characters here.

The character of DI Swinney has also taken on something of a contemporary resonance with recent Scottish political events as well. Something which can only be in Garrow’s favour promotion and sales-wise.

Not for the faint of heart – I’d advise readers to take the warning note seriously – this is a novel which packs a punch and, for those of us based up here and who know the area – reads like a
map of the city.

Well worth your time!

Purchase Link

AMAZON https://geni.us/gXeQFS

SMASHWORDS https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1345380

Author Bio –

Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has
worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer,
drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally
masqueraded as a pirate.

His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including SN
Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, Word Bohemia, Every Day Fiction, The Grind, A3
Review, 1,000 Words, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. He currently lives in a
humble cottage in Northeast Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and
the occasional song.

He also makes rather nice vegan cakes.

Social Media Links –

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