"Professor Liam McIlvanney, the son of novelist William McIlvanney, was born in Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, and studied at Glasgow and Oxford Universities. After ten years lecturing in Scottish and Irish literature at the University of Aberdeen, he moved to Dunedin in New Zealand to teach at the University of Otago. He lectures in Scottish literature, culture and history, and on Irish-Scottish literary connections, and holds the Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies chair at the University."

WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO is set in Glasgow, but there is a hat tip to New Zealand in that Gerry Conway's partner, and mother of his beloved youngest boy, is a New Zealander. Which country she returns to when things get dangerous for anybody too close to Conway. The second book in the series, Conway is a newspaper reporter in a world where newspapers are increasingly marginalised. In a country that is about to host the Commonwealth Games, vote on their independence and in the middle of a brutal gangland conflict. He's a loving father to his youngest son, and the two boys from his first marriage. He's a good friend to his ex-wife, and he's a caring man, despite being more than a bit jaded about the state of the world.

There is a fabulous sense of place and character in this book. Conway is quintessentially Scottish and an old newspaper man. His time in the wilderness in PR seems like a bad dream every time he looks back, even though his return to the Tribune has him marked down on the pecking order and wondering about his future. Everyone who plays a part in this story makes sense, even the dead man, who seems to manage to maintain his influence long after death. Conway is dedicated, determined and single-minded in chasing down the truth about Moir's death, even though every revelation seems to suggest that he didn't know his old friend as well as he thought.

Woven into the believable scenario of an investigative journalist, investigating, WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO looks at the question of influence, and money. The fight for survival for newspapers, for journalists and for politicians all coincide with the fight for survival of the gangs. Justifications, reasons and ultimate aims might be slightly different, but there's something chillingly similar about motivations, and even methods in some places.

Nicely balanced between character, place, plot and pace, WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO is a fast-paced thriller. Well written, this book takes a believable scenario and fleshes it out into the underbelly of a society whilst simultaneously looking at the loss of influence of newspapers and the way that communities can be pulled apart by economic circumstances. WHERE THE DEAD MEN GO is the follow up to ALL THE COLOURS OF THE TOWN, but it works even if you've not read the earlier book.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-where-dead-men-go-liam-mcilvanney ( )

Thrilling Thriller

This is the second in Liam McIIvanney’s Conway mysteries and this is a fine example of what a crime thriller should be about. There is a wonderful pulsating pace throughout the book as the Glasgow underworld and all that brings weaves its way through the pages of the novel.

Gerry Conway is the Political Editor of the Sunday Tribune after an enforced absence due to his previous role as the Crime Editor and bringing down a politician and a Gangland Godfather. He looks with some jealousy at his friend and colleague Martin Moir who now holds that job. It is not until he starts to worry about why he has not seen his friend for a few days that things start falling in to place, and when he is found dead it is Gerry who is pressing the police for action, as he runs a counter investigation.

While doing the two jobs of politics and crime while investigating his friends death that brings him in to contact with the leaders of rival crime mobs, which brings him to contact with the leadership of Glasgow City Council. At the same time we are brought in to contact with a lot of “Glasgow baggage”, sectarian football support, the split up of the rival gangs, the UVF and UDA, eastern European prostitutes and heroin.

Like all investigative crime journalists this brings him to the attention of all the major players in crime and politics, which always seem entwined, which in turn always means a funeral or two. Conway is so concerned about his own safety and the protection of his own family he has to watch as his partner goes to her parents in New Zealand and his ex-wife’s husband accepts a job in Aberdeen.

This is a wonderful crime thriller which sees the death of a major crime lord by the son of another at the end of the book. But the thrill of this crime novel is in everything that builds to the ending like a crescendo of thunder and lightening. This is a wonderful crime read and well worth reading, as it brings to life the gritty underworld of Glasgow and how some need that underworld belly to survive in their own jobs. While at the same time that criminal underbelly is trying to legitimise the ways in which it makes money, and launders the rest of their own cash.

Great read it – get it as soon as you can. ( )