The Long Knives

Our summary description

As Independent Scottish booksellers, we write all of our descriptions personally, we hope you enjoy this one.

In Edinburgh, Detective Inspector Ray Lennox is called to a crime scene that leaves little room for sympathy. Ritchie Gulliver, a powerful MP known for his cruelty and corruption, has been murdered in a deserted Leith warehouse. Brutalised and left to bleed, his death shocks even those who believed he had earned plenty of enemies.

As Lennox investigates, the list of suspects grows uncomfortably long. Gulliver’s career was built on exploitation and offence, leaving behind corporate rivals, political adversaries and communities he deliberately harmed. Everyone has a motive, and no one is untouched by the damage he caused.

With further attacks unfolding and public anger simmering, Lennox is forced to confront his own conflicted reactions to the case. Justice demands detachment, but the line between victim and villain becomes increasingly blurred.

Set against the raw streets of Edinburgh, this is a dark, uncompromising crime novel that interrogates power, accountability and the cost of looking away, while asking who truly suffers when violence finally answers corruption.