TO DIE IN JUNE

On the mean streets of Glasgow, crime never takes a holiday.

DI Harry McCoy’s sixth compelling mystery begins with an emergency call to a squalid crime scene where Jamie MacLeod, who’s unhoused, lies dead and missing a shoe. In short order, another similar corpse is discovered, nudging Harry to the grim assumption that Glasgow is harboring a serial killer targeting the down and out. Nor is this the only series of crimes that Harry and partner Douglas “Wattie” Watson must tackle in the six-week span from late May to early July 1975. He’s assigned to a new station house in an undercover assignment to probe corruption there. His concern for a man named Jumbo, who’s taken a job as the bodyguard to Paul Cooper, a crime boss’ son who’s also Harry’s longtime friend, signals that he may be softening. It’s complicated. Further complications arrive in the case of Judith West, who’s frantic over the disappearance of her 9-year-old son, Michael. Strangely, it appears that no son exists; Judith’s clergyman husband verifies their childlessness and confesses his worry over Judith’s behavior. Harry’s not so sure. After Judith dies by suicide, Harry uncharacteristically attends her funeral, where a gray feeling settles over him and remains. Parks’ gritty, panoramic novel particularly rewards series fans by deepening the stories of several returning characters. At the end, weary Harry contemplates his future. Could this be his final case?

Sharp and bracing Scottish noir, with a streak of dark nostalgia.