Edge of the Grave

Robbie Morrison, Scottish born and bred, wrote what was intended to be a series featuring protagonist Jimmy Dreghorn, a detective in a special squad of the Glasgow police department. To my knowledge, there is only one sequel, Cast a Cold Eye, nor could I find an author website. You can find information about him on Amazon and Wikipedia. I think the "Tartan noir" (Scottish authors) could give the "Scandi-noir" a run for its money in creating crime fiction; although, this book does, at least, offer glimpses of humor.  Set primarily in 1930's Glasgow, there are chapters that fill in Jimmy's background, both when he was a teen and when he was in WWI. His partner Archie McDaid,  is brawny and Dreghorn frequently refers to him as "Big Man," whereas Archie refers to his partner as "wee man." Jimmy is also the only police officer of Catholic upbringing in a force that is almost exclusively Protestant. It is a time when that still mattered and even the numerous and vicious gangs that rule the streets are either Catholic or Protestant. DI Dreghorn and Sgt. McDaid are part of a team specially picked by the new Chief Constable to address the rampant gang violence. When the book opens, they have been called to the scene of domestic abuse, with the wife beaten senseless and the small child murdered. The husband is loosely affiliated with one of the gangs and so Dreghorn and McDaid put pressure on the gang's leader, "King Billy," to help then find him. He agrees on the condition that Jimmy will look for Billy's sister who disappeared 20 years ago.

The pair are also the first on the scene when a body is pulled from the Clyde River near one of the shipyards that have been the foundation of Glasgow's economy; since the end of the Great War, many of the yards have been idled and many men are now out of work. The victim turns out to be the son-in-law of the owner of the largest shipyard in Glasgow and the wealthiest man in the City, Sir Iain Lockhart. Lockhart detested the man his daughter had married. "The deceased's widow, Isla, was Jimmy's doomed first love, and the investigation draws him back into his past, when he was a young boxer training under her father. Jimmy's instincts are dangerously muddied by complicated loyalties as the investigation reveals a criminal tangle of serial murder, blackmail, and child trafficking that bridges the gap between the gangland underworld and high society" (Booklist).

There is a very interesting Q & A with Robbie Morrison where he discusses the influences on his writing, and Morrison also provides a great "Author's Note" at the end of the book that indicates what is fact and what is fiction in this story.