Alan Parks continues to deliver gritty, historical crime fiction with the sixth in his Harry McCoy series To Die in June. Once again Parks brings the streets of Glasgow in the 1970s to vivid, grimy, corrupt life as he centres his narrative around a slightly compromised but somehow still morally upright policeman.
When To Die in June opens, McCoy and his offsider have been moved to a small local station, actually also McCoy’s first posting. They are there ostensibly while a restructure is occurring but really to get behind a series of post office robberies that seem to have been facilitated by the local police. But before long there are complications. A couple of deaths of local alcoholics starts to look like the work of a serial killer and with McCoy realises that his father, one of the many living on the street, may be in danger. There is also a strange Christian cult-like sect and a potentially missing child. And then, to make matters worse, McCoy’s childhood friend and gangster Cooper leans on McCoy to help him with a hostile, violent takeover of the territory from the ruling gang.
Parks once again delivers dark but pitch perfect Tartan Noir. As always, as bad as people seem, there is always room for readers to discover they are worse. McCoy continues to be the perfect guide to the mean streets of 1970s Glasgow, from the squats and dark alleys to swanky award ceremonies on the arm of his movie-star girlfriend. And as any good series, while it can be read as a stand-alone, the complications build from events and decisions made in previous books. And the resolution is likely to reverberate at least into the next book, which cannot come soon enough.
To Die in June by Alan Parks
$42.95 AUD
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