To Die In June is the sixth book in the Harry McCoy series by British author, Alan Parks. In late May 1975, DI Harry McCoy and DS Douglas Watson are seconded to Possil station under a credible pretext, but Harry is actually there to look for evidence of corruption: too many successful Post Office robberies that CI Hector Murray suspects have Police involvement.

While he’s there, Harry’s childhood friend, local crime boss Stevie Cooper decides to expand his territory into Possil, currently Archie Andrews’s domain. Harry understands that means another gang war but, in Cooper’s debt, accepts his own role in providing information to Cooper as a fact of life.

While he waits and watches, Harry’s interest is piqued when a distraught mother claims her nine-year-old son is missing, only to have the search called off when her husband, the pastor of the Church of Christ’s Suffering, declares there is no son: his wife has mental health issues after her miscarriage. An item Harry later finds has him sceptical…

Also distracting him are the deaths of several “down-and-outs” called to his attention by young Gerry Lewis, who believes they have been poisoned. Wattie, pathologist Phyllis Gilroy and CI Murray are all unconvinced. As Wattie puts it: “People nobody cares about being murdered. All according to some guy who may or may not be touched. McCoy to the rescue”, but Harry’s father, Alec fits into the demographic, which has him concerned.

The torture and bashing murder of an old small-time crook and tout is baffling: it’s clear the perpetrator was after information, but what could this old man possibly have known? Before he and Wattie can question the man’s sister, she ends up in a coma, but some clever detective work provides a clue.

Parks easily conveys his setting, and that being mid-seventies underworld Glasgow, it necessitates graphic descriptions of violence, liberal use of expletives, and hard drinking. His plot takes plenty of twists and turns, and not a few red herrings distract the reader from the truth. He presents Harry with some curly dilemmas that take a bit of thinking to sort out, and Parks keeps his protagonist a bit stunned at his good luck to be dating beautiful actress, Margo Lindsay. As usual, Wattie is frustrated by Harry’s reticence.

Most of the story takes place over about three weeks, and before the final resolution there is arson at a chop-shop garage, the bombing of a luxury car, the smashing up of two pubs, the discovery of a puzzling birth certificate, and a not-inconsiderable body count. Harry’s uncertain future will have fans eagerly anticipating the July title in this excellent gritty Glasgow noir series.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate.