Meanwhile in Scotland ...

Stuart MacBride writes a gritty police procedural set in Aberdeen, Scotland. Tagged as "Tartan Noir" by the Rocky Mountain News, this three book series is off to a dark start. Detective Sargeant Logan MacRae has his ups and downs as he bounces between the squads of two Detective Inspectors, one a fat, candy munching brute and the other a lesbian hard-case whose hair looks a fright and who rips into everyone around her with fervor and frequency.

The stories bring to light the seamy side of Scottish culture and crime with healthy doses of sex, violence, crime, and punishment thrown in for good measure. MacBride can keep a story moving and he covers the police action with attention to detail and never turns away from the hideous and ugly.

I started at the end with Bloodshot (2007) and am proceding backwards to Dying Light (2006) and will finish where he started with Cold Granite (2005.) The earliest one was not in our collection so I have ordered the paperback edition.

MacBride has an interesting website with some photographs of Aberdeen and he runs a blog on the site. His blog reflects his tough-guy take as he struggles with Internet access and problems with his wireless access. The bit of Scottish inflection in the dialog is easy to navigate and not a problem.

There is an interview of MacBride at The Mystery Reader.