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    February's Son
    The April Dead
    Bloody January
    Ebook series4 titles

    The Harry McCoy Thrillers Series

    By Alan Parks

    4/5

    ()

    About this series

    In this “fascinating and dangerous” Scottish noir, a detective scours Glasgow’s gritty streets for two missing teens in the wake of a rock star’s death (The Times, Book of the Month, UK).

    July 1973. The Glasgow drug trade is booming and Bobby March, the city’s own rock star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel. But even that tragedy competes for headlines with the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who’s gone missing. As Det. Harry McCoy knows only too well, every hour that goes by makes the Alice Kelly case more of a lost cause.

    Meanwhile, the niece of McCoy’s boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes missing, McCoy is asked—off the books—to find her. McCoy has a hunch that there’s a connection between these events. But time to prove it is running out, the papers are out for blood, and the department wants results fast. Justice must be served.

    The third novel in the acclaimed Harry McCoy series combines a “breathless and tense retro crime caper” with a pitch-perfect depiction of 1970s Glasgow—its music, hard men, political infighting, class divisions, and the moral questions at its heart (The Sun, UK).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateJan 1, 2013
    February's Son
    The April Dead
    Bloody January

    Titles in the series (4)

    • Bloody January
      Bloody January

      Bloody January

      Alan Parks
      4/5 - 9 ratings
      4/5 - 9 ratings

      A Glasgow detective goes up against a wealthy family whose corruption runs deep in this gritty noir series debut set in 1970s Scotland. Glasgow, 1973. As poverty and crime drag the city deeper into a heroin epidemic, fighting in the streets has become depressingly mundane. But when an eighteen-year-old boy shoots a young woman dead in broad daylight and then commits suicide, Det. Harry McCoy knows it can’t be a simple act of random violence. With a newbie partner in tow, McCoy hunts down leads through the underworld, all of which lead to a secret society run by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops. Among their inner circle, every nefarious predilection is catered to at the expense of society’s most vulnerable—including McCoy’s best friend from reformatory school, drug-tsar Stevie Cooper, and his on-off girlfriend, a prostitute named Janey. But with McCoy’s boss calling off the hounds, and his boss’ boss unleashing their own, the Dunlops seem to be untouchable. McCoy has other ideas. “Parks’ debut novel has an in-your-face immediacy that matches its protagonist. Compelling portraits of minor characters tucked into several scenes add texture and interest.” —Kirkus Reviews

      A Glasgow detective goes up against a wealthy family whose corruption runs deep in this gritty noir series debut set in 1970s Scotland. Glasgow, 1973. As poverty and crime drag the city deeper into a heroin epidemic, fighting in the streets has become depressingly mundane. But when an eighteen-year-old boy shoots a young woman dead in broad daylight and then commits suicide, Det. Harry McCoy knows it can’t be a simple act of random violence. With a newbie partner in tow, McCoy hunts down leads through the underworld, all of which lead to a secret society run by Glasgow’s wealthiest family, the Dunlops. Among their inner circle, every nefarious predilection is catered to at the expense of society’s most vulnerable—including McCoy’s best friend from reformatory school, drug-tsar Stevie Cooper, and his on-off girlfriend, a prostitute named Janey. But with McCoy’s boss calling off the hounds, and his boss’ boss unleashing their own, the Dunlops seem to be untouchable. McCoy has other ideas. “Parks’ debut novel has an in-your-face immediacy that matches its protagonist. Compelling portraits of minor characters tucked into several scenes add texture and interest.” —Kirkus Reviews

    • February's Son
      February's Son

      February's Son

      Alan Parks
      4/5 - 7 ratings
      4/5 - 7 ratings

      Finalist for the Edgar Award: “McCoy is so noir he makes most other Scottish cops seem light grey.” —The Times An up-and-coming footballer has met an untimely end—and in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, topped off with the words Bye Bye carved into his chest. Harry McCoy knows this kind of violence indicates a personal, passionate motive, and since the footballer’s future father-in-law is a notorious local gangster, that’s where Harry starts his investigation. The case will take him into the seamy, drug-drenched underworld of 1970s Glasgow, and into his own dark childhood memories, in this intense crime thriller from Alan Parks, considered in “the top class of Scottish noir authors” (The Times). “Dissects a city where cops and crooks depend on one another to maintain order.” —The Wall Street Journal “Riveting . . . The macabre and morally ambivalent February’s Son is not one that will be quickly or easily forgotten.” —The National “McCoy's Glasgow is a dark, brooding city, where the line between the police and the underworld is frequently blurred.” —Herald

      Finalist for the Edgar Award: “McCoy is so noir he makes most other Scottish cops seem light grey.” —The Times An up-and-coming footballer has met an untimely end—and in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, topped off with the words Bye Bye carved into his chest. Harry McCoy knows this kind of violence indicates a personal, passionate motive, and since the footballer’s future father-in-law is a notorious local gangster, that’s where Harry starts his investigation. The case will take him into the seamy, drug-drenched underworld of 1970s Glasgow, and into his own dark childhood memories, in this intense crime thriller from Alan Parks, considered in “the top class of Scottish noir authors” (The Times). “Dissects a city where cops and crooks depend on one another to maintain order.” —The Wall Street Journal “Riveting . . . The macabre and morally ambivalent February’s Son is not one that will be quickly or easily forgotten.” —The National “McCoy's Glasgow is a dark, brooding city, where the line between the police and the underworld is frequently blurred.” —Herald

    • The April Dead
      The April Dead

      The April Dead

      Alan Parks
      5/5 - 2 ratings
      5/5 - 2 ratings

      From an Edgar Award finalist: A cop tracks a shadowy, fanatical group in a “tightly plotted and fast-moving” noir mystery set in 1970s Glasgow (Publishers Weekly, starred review). When an American sailor from the Holy Loch Base goes missing, Harry McCoy is determined to find him. But as he investigates, a wave of bombings hits Glasgow. Soon McCoy realizes that the sailor may be part of a shadowy organization led by a dangerous fanatic, and committed to a very different kind of Scotland. A Scotland its members are prepared to kill for. Meanwhile Cooper, McCoy’s longtime criminal friend, is released from jail and is convinced he has a traitor in his midst. As allies become enemies, Cooper has to fight to maintain his position as crime kingpin. He needs something done, something illegal—and his old friend McCoy is the only one who can do it. As word begins to circulate on the streets that another, bigger explosion is being planned for Glasgow, McCoy battles corruption in his ranks in an attempt to save the city . . . “Lean, muscular prose . . . A full-bodied immersion into Glasgow’s gritty past.” —Kirkus Reviews “A series that no crime fan should miss.” —Scotsman “One of the best police thrillers of the last few years.” —Morning Star

      From an Edgar Award finalist: A cop tracks a shadowy, fanatical group in a “tightly plotted and fast-moving” noir mystery set in 1970s Glasgow (Publishers Weekly, starred review). When an American sailor from the Holy Loch Base goes missing, Harry McCoy is determined to find him. But as he investigates, a wave of bombings hits Glasgow. Soon McCoy realizes that the sailor may be part of a shadowy organization led by a dangerous fanatic, and committed to a very different kind of Scotland. A Scotland its members are prepared to kill for. Meanwhile Cooper, McCoy’s longtime criminal friend, is released from jail and is convinced he has a traitor in his midst. As allies become enemies, Cooper has to fight to maintain his position as crime kingpin. He needs something done, something illegal—and his old friend McCoy is the only one who can do it. As word begins to circulate on the streets that another, bigger explosion is being planned for Glasgow, McCoy battles corruption in his ranks in an attempt to save the city . . . “Lean, muscular prose . . . A full-bodied immersion into Glasgow’s gritty past.” —Kirkus Reviews “A series that no crime fan should miss.” —Scotsman “One of the best police thrillers of the last few years.” —Morning Star

    • Bobby March Will Live Forever
      Bobby March Will Live Forever

      Bobby March Will Live Forever

      Alan Parks
      4/5 - 2 ratings
      4/5 - 2 ratings

      In this “fascinating and dangerous” Scottish noir, a detective scours Glasgow’s gritty streets for two missing teens in the wake of a rock star’s death (The Times, Book of the Month, UK). July 1973. The Glasgow drug trade is booming and Bobby March, the city’s own rock star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel. But even that tragedy competes for headlines with the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who’s gone missing. As Det. Harry McCoy knows only too well, every hour that goes by makes the Alice Kelly case more of a lost cause. Meanwhile, the niece of McCoy’s boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes missing, McCoy is asked—off the books—to find her. McCoy has a hunch that there’s a connection between these events. But time to prove it is running out, the papers are out for blood, and the department wants results fast. Justice must be served. The third novel in the acclaimed Harry McCoy series combines a “breathless and tense retro crime caper” with a pitch-perfect depiction of 1970s Glasgow—its music, hard men, political infighting, class divisions, and the moral questions at its heart (The Sun, UK).

      In this “fascinating and dangerous” Scottish noir, a detective scours Glasgow’s gritty streets for two missing teens in the wake of a rock star’s death (The Times, Book of the Month, UK). July 1973. The Glasgow drug trade is booming and Bobby March, the city’s own rock star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel. But even that tragedy competes for headlines with the story of a thirteen-year-old girl who’s gone missing. As Det. Harry McCoy knows only too well, every hour that goes by makes the Alice Kelly case more of a lost cause. Meanwhile, the niece of McCoy’s boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes missing, McCoy is asked—off the books—to find her. McCoy has a hunch that there’s a connection between these events. But time to prove it is running out, the papers are out for blood, and the department wants results fast. Justice must be served. The third novel in the acclaimed Harry McCoy series combines a “breathless and tense retro crime caper” with a pitch-perfect depiction of 1970s Glasgow—its music, hard men, political infighting, class divisions, and the moral questions at its heart (The Sun, UK).

    Author

    Alan Parks

    Before beginning his writing career, Alan Parks was Creative Director at London Records and Warner Music, where he marketed and managed artists including All Saints, New Order, The Streets, Gnarls Barkley, and Cee Lo Green. His love of music, musician lore, and even the industry, comes through in his prize-winning mysteries, which are saturated with the atmosphere of the 1970s music scene, grubby and drug-addled as it often was. Parks’ debut novel, Bloody January, propelled him onto the international literary crime fiction circuit and won him praise, prizes, and success with readers. In 2022 the third book in the Harry McCoy series, Bobby March Will Live Forever, won the MWA Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. Parks was born in Scotland, earned an M.A. in Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, and still lives and works in the city he so vividly depicts in his Harry McCoy thrillers.

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