DC Ernie Bright is dead. A good cop gone bad? The evidence indicates he was leading a hidden life; his true nature concealed by his professional reputation. And now he's paid the ultimate price.
But not everyone believes that one of Tayside Constabulary's longest serving detectives was working both sides of the law.
One of those looking to vindicate the dead copper is Bright's protege, private investigator J McNee. He's long been aware that Bright has secrets, but he also knows a cover-up when he sees one.
As the evidence piles up and McNee makes enemies both in the police and in Dundee's criminal underworld, he soon realises that justice and the law are not always the same, and that even good people can make bad decisions.
The third J McNee mystery finds the Dundonian detective forced to co-operate with an old nemesis when his mentor is murdered, in a terrifying conspiracy that will change McNee’s world forever…
DC Ernie Bright is dead. A good cop gone bad? The evidence indicates he was leading a hidden life; his true nature concealed by his professional reputation. And now he’s paid the ultimate price.
But not everyone believes that one of Tayside Constabulary’s longest serving detectives was working both sides of the law.
One of those looking to vindicate the dead copper is Bright’s protege, private investigator J McNee. He’s long been aware that Bright has secrets, but he also knows a cover-up when he sees one.
As the evidence piles up and McNee makes enemies both in the police and in Dundee’s criminal underworld, he soon realises that justice and the law are not always the same, and that even good people can make bad decisions.
Dark, violent and psychologically gripping, the third in the critically acclaimed J McNee series marks a turning point in the life of the dour, Dundonian private eye…
This edition is the author’s preferred text, revised and updated in 2020 with a new introduction by the author.
Praise for Russel D McLean and Father Confessor
“Carving out a place for himself in the blossoming world of Scottish crime writing, McLean writes with bite and casts Dundee in a light that suits this type of thriller in which trust and loyalty are very slippery concepts.” The Herald (arts magazine, 22 September 2012)
“McLean has created a sympathetic yet flawed character who tries to do the right thing and sometimes hits the mark but, more often than not, doesn’t (as he comments himself, ‘so many people I knew seemed to wind up dead’). Loyalties count in his world; loyalty to friends and more particularly to family. If you’re after a dark slice of Dundee noir then you can’t go far wrong with this” Shots Magazine
“…grabs you by the throat… and doesn’t let go until you reach the climax.” Undiscovered Scotland
“[McNee is] a complex, contradictory character… there’s enough darkness in him to run a good while yet.” Crime Fiction Lover
