Vermin – William A Graham
Meet Allan Linton … a detective with a difference.
It’s not exactly L.A. But dead bodies are the same wherever they turn up.
Allan Linton became a private detective by pure chance. He may not follow the rules, but he always gets the job done. Until he’s hired to track down a missing girl.
All he’s got to go on is an old photo and the help – and hindrance – of the city’s biggest drug dealer and his eccentric associate Niddrie.
Linton’s investigation yields no trace of Tina Lamont. He’s ready to throw in the towel – after all, some people want to be missing. But when a dead body turns up in London, it’s clear there’s something sinister going on. And now others are on Tina’s trail …
Tina ran away for a reason – and that reason will stop at nothing to find her.
I received a review copy of Vermin through Netgalley. My thanks to Black & White Publishing.
Vermin was published in July 2018 and is set in Dundee, a city which I feel is under-represented in Scottish crime fiction. Vermin is also a cracking story about a private detective which I really, really enjoyed. Allan Linton is the lead character and he is nicely depicted by the author as Linton comes across as friendly, decent, honourable and focussed. He has a teenage daughter who stays with her mother, an ex-wife who Linton clearly adored but their marriage wasn’t to be sustained. The family squabbles and his relationship with his daughter make Linton an engaging character to follow.
He is approached to find a missing girl called Tina Lamont (this may not be her real name) and although Linton is in Dundee his client is not sure if Tina (maybe Tina) is from Dundee. An old photograph given to Linton to assist in his search shows her in school uniform but the uniform is not one Linton recognises from Dundee or the surrounding area. He will have his work cut out but he will have the assistance of Niddrie (drug dealer and and amusingly oddball character who brightens up every scene he is in).
The investigation is well paced and narrative switches nicely between the crimes Linton is investigating and Linton’s personal life as he juggles daughter, ex-wife and a potential new love interest. As is often the way with Scottish crime fiction there is plenty of dry and wry humour on show and the reading is still fun when the narrative slows between the action scenes.
When a dead body turns up during the course of the investigation Linton and Niddrie realise there are more interested parties trying to locate Tina – stakes are raised and events take an unexpected turn.
Vermin was a book plucked at random from the TBR and I am now calling it an inspired choice – I really enjoyed this one.
Vermin is published by Black and White Publishing and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vermin-Bill-Graham/dp/1785301985/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=vermin+william+graham&qid=1616103026&s=books&sr=1-1