Book review

New novel puts bloodied but unbowed Scottish town at the heart of the plot

The proceedings kick off with the kind of jokey headline attributed to local papers the world over: Dead Body Found in Cemetery. But this isn’t a joke to the unfortunate Scott Birrell, found deceased just inside the gates of Greenock Cemetery, or, despite their eventual Not Proven verdict, to the two men accused of hitting him with a rock. Nor is it a joke to Davie Perdue, the homeless man who has been secretly living on its grounds, in the basement of the derelict Gatekeeper’s House. Having been noticed there on several occasions, he has become a person of interest to the police, and he wants to avoid attention.