2013 police procedural mystery, tartan noir, second in the Ash
Henderson series. The serial killer known as "The Inside Man" stopped
eight years ago; now he seems to have come back. Ash Henderson, stuck
in prison until the criminal underboss he annoyed chooses to let him
die, is hauled out as part of a power play.
The returning serial killer and the cop who almost caught them
last time is of course a cliché of police fiction, and that's no less
true of tartan noir. But MacBride realises this and runs with it: his
Oldcastle does have more serial killers than a town of its size should
(just as all these places do), but the locals realise it. On the other
hand, cleaning up the various chemical waste dumps that might be
causing that would cost actual money, so nobody does it. The place is
blatantly dysfunctional, and that is the joy of it—and when our heroes
finally triumph, it's not only over the criminals, it's over their
supposed allies in the police too.
Everyone seems to be a bit more functional this time round. Henderson
in the first book was juggling incompatible commitments; he's seen
where that got him (prison), and he's determined to cut off that
problem at the psychotic root. Dr Alice McDonald is still trying to
ignore the bad stuff that's part of her job, but she's also coming to
terms with it. Meanwhile the team Ash has been drafted into is one of
three that of course will be cooperating and sharing information…
and the killer is still out there too.
There's a lot of death, and black humour, and I'm glad to see MacBride
isn't just repeating his effects but rather continues to develop as a
writer.