Procurator fiscal Maddy Shannon awakens in her West End Glasgow flat to a hangover and several mysteries, starting with who is the strange man in her bed? Shortly after discovering the man’s identity, Maddy learns that his boss, a successful defence lawyer, was met a gruesome end in his posh Merchant City office.

With a bad reputation for getting too close to her cases, Maddy tries to stand back from this one. But as the murders continue, and Maddy herself receives a disturbing message, she realises too close is unavoidable, and winds up in a race against the measured malevolence of an unknown killer.

Maddy’s unorthodox meetings with Detective Inspector Alan Coulter further complicate an increasingly unmanageable case whose roots may go back to one Maddy failed to win. The suspects pile up until they finally topple.

Chris Dolan’s follow-up to Potter’s Field is at once frightening and funny, earthy and insightful. It’s a love poem to Glasgow, a technicolour rendering of a city whose beauty lies in its many contradictory qualities. Right now, you can save on both by buying the bundle.

Reviews

“Lies of the Land is utterly engrossing. Maddy is engagingly sexy and beautifully flawed. The characters are utterly believable and rooted in their cultures and class. Had me hooked right until the end. A humdinger of a story with Glasgow at its heart.” — David Hayman

"This is versatile Scottish writer Chris Dolan's second crime novel — the first, Potter's Field, also featured Maddy Shannon. It's fair to say it didn't take him long to get the hang of it. The action moves at a decent clip and contains some neat surprises. ... There can't be many niches left in Tartan Noir but Dolan has found one. The strongest and most interesting personalities after Maddy are also women — two environmental activists from the east end. Gallus females dragging dullard males around Glasgow while trying to point them in the right direction may even be a metaphor for our times." — Harry McGrath, The Herald

"A sharply drawn heroine, brutal violence with a shot of dark humor — this is classic Tartan noir." — Publishers Weekly

"Glasgow is as much a character — and as contradictory a mix of light and dark — as Dolan's very human heroine in this complex sequel to Potter's Field." — Kirkus Reviews