Summary

William McIlvanney changed the face of crime fiction when he created DI Laidlaw, the original brooding Glasgow cop.

William McIlvanney changed the face of crime fiction when he created DI Laidlaw, the original brooding Glasgow cop. He wrote three Laidlaw books and, as recently discovered, left one handwritten manuscript tantalisingly unfinished when he passed away in December 2015. In the early 1980s one young fan, Ian Rankin, took Laidlaw as inspiration for his own detective, John Rebus. Now, Rankin is back to finish what McIlvanney started. The Dark Remains, the story of Laidlaw's first case, is written by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin.