Cross Purpose
by Claire MacLeary
Longlisted for the 2017 McIlvanney Award for Scottish Crime Book of the Year
Two Women, One Quest, Grave Consequences.
When Maggie Laird's disgraced ex-cop husband suddenly dies, her humdrum suburban life is turned upside down. With the bills mounting, she takes on his struggling detective agency, enlisting the help of neighbour 'Big Wilma'. And so an unlikely partnership is born.
But the discovery of a crudely mutilated body soon raises the stakes... and Maggie and Wilma are drawn into an unknown world of Aberdeen's sink estates, clandestine childminding and dodgy dealers.
Cross Purpose is surprising, gritty, sometimes darkly humorous – a tale combining police corruption, gangs and murder with a paean to friendship, loyalty and how 'women of a certain age' can beat the odds.
"The dialogue is fantastic. The development of the characters [is] well done... It takes great...