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.

Alias Emma

Ava Glass is a pseudonym but she does, nevertheless, have a website.  Christi Daugherty (her real name) also has one. There are already two sequels published in the series: The Traitor and The Trap.
The review and plot summary from Library Journal are more than adequate. 

"Glass (the pseudonym for an already internationally best-selling novelist) introduces Emma Makepeace, a new-era British spy whose quintessentially English alias facilitates blending into London, the most surveilled city in Europe. In the last two weeks, four government-protected Russian scientists were publicly assassinated with the efficiency and audacity of the Russian military spy agency GRU. The message: GRU knows the locations of dissidents in London and can strike with impunity. Unless the Agency intervenes, GRU will attack another set of scientists, planning to kidnap their son, Michael, to draw them out of hiding. Emma must make contact with Michael, convince him to accept protection, and deliver him to Agency headquarters--no easy task. Once on the run, this duo must cross London unseen by the Ring of Steel of CCTV cameras, now in the hands of GRU hackers. For 12 hours, Emma leads Michael through alleys, sewer tunnels, and back channels that don't appear in any guide book. The 12-hour time line propels the narrative. VERDICT Perfect for a single-sitting read, Glass's thriller (the first in a planned series) is an adrenaline-fueled tour of clandestine London. What's next for Emma Makepeace? More, please."

Publishers Weekly calls the book a "superb debut" and concludes their review by saying, "Intense, cinematic action propels this terrific old-fashioned thriller neatly brought up to date. Glass is off to an impressive start." The Washington Post praises it as "a fast-paced thriller in the spirit of Ian Fleming, with a very modern twist." The Guardian concurs. "Emma is an appealing character, smart and resourceful, and Glass deftly works her backstory into this high-octane, warp-speed thriller without missing a beat. Suspend disbelief and enjoy."

2034: A Novel of the Next World War

This speculative fiction novel is written by noteworthy co-authors. "Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.) spent more than thirty years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded US Southern Command, overseeing military operations through[out] Latin America." Elliot Ackerman's "books have been nominated for the National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart."They clearly have a formidable background in military strategy and operations at the highest levels, making this a "chillingly authentic" and "disturbingly plausible" story of arrogance and miscalculation that leads to irreparable outcomes. 

Publishers Weekly offers this summary review. "American war ships in the disputed waters of the South China Sea come upon an incapacitated trawler carrying advanced Chinese technology. The plane of a Marine pilot testing new stealth capability is remotely hijacked and delivered into Iranian hands. A Chinese defense attaché on assignment in the U.S. executes a plan to decimate the American Navy and cripple the nation’s cyber infrastructure. A U.S. deputy national security adviser at odds with his superiors must use his ethnic connections to negotiate a peace, even as an ever-escalating series of attacks engulfs American and Chinese cities in nuclear fire. The authors do a fine job depicting the human cost of geopolitical conflict, though they avoid the hardware emphasis of most military thrillers..."

Kirkus suggests that "This compelling thriller should be required reading for our national leaders and translated into Mandarin." And, to top it all off, the authors have written a sequel, 2054.

The Mars House

I thoroughly enjoyed this speculative/ science fiction set on the planet Mars in the 6th-generation colony of Tharsis.  Author Natasha Pulley does an outstanding job of creating a new world, a new world order, and new human beings. After decades of living on a planet with gravity only a third of planet earth's, the population has grown significantly taller. When most of the original colonies from various countries on earth are wiped out in an early catastrophe, the emerging survivors were the Chinese, and so Mandarin is the official language of the colony, although many do speak English. Power has become concentrated in the hands of the "great houses," in particular, the house of Gale and the house of Song. The Consul who runs the colony is from the latter and one of our main characters is Senator Gale. Climate refugees from all parts of earth are fleeing to Tharsis and this, not surprisingly, creates a distinct us vs. them mentality among the Tharsians. These incomers are called Earthstrong and are forced to wear a metal cage that limits their movements as, due to their greater strength from living in earth's gravity, they can easily break bones or kill the long-term colonists by accident. The refugees live in poor housing and have no rights as citizens and are eligible only for the hardest and most dangerous work. Should they decide to "naturalize," they gain all the rights of citizenship--if they survive. At the very least, the process is disabling, leaving many in wheelchairs or with brain damage. Senator Gale is campaigning for the Consul position on a "forced naturalization" platform, which would require all immigrants to undergo the process. 

Our protagonist, "January [Stirling], once a principal dancer for the London Royal Ballet, is now a factory worker and refugee in Tharsis...When a live interview between Gale and January proves disastrous for both, Gale presents January with a solution: accept an in-name-only marriage with them to bolster their election, and January can live his life as a full citizen without naturalization. January accepts and finds that the person he married is not the xenophobic horror he thought" (Library Journal). Their review goes on to conclude that the book is "Exquisitely layered and entertaining..."

Publishers Weekly says, "...Pulley introduces some truly complex ethical and political questions. Even better, she refuses to offer black-and-white answers, and never loses sight of her characters' empathy and humanity. The worldbuilding is carefully considered, linguistically nuanced, and technologically fascinating. The unlikely love story between January and Gale, who, like all Natural Martians, is genderless, is the cherry on top. Their romance is touching in its simplicity--stripped of all the politics and advanced technologies involved, they are two people who find themselves drawn closer together as they realize that, though their opinions may differ, their core belief in human decency is the same. With dark humor and a gift for making the complex accessible, Pulley gives readers much food for thought" 

Kirkus adds that author Pulley "... explore[s] topics of political interest today: climate change, immigration, gender, political corruption." and concludes that the book is "Full of charming details and gender-bending gallantry, this imaginative thriller is a pleasure to read."