The Times: Crime Books of the Year (BOTY)'I doubt I'll read a better book this year' Val McDermid'Compelling, immersive and brimming with life' Graeme Macrae...

The Times: Crime Books of the Year (BOTY)

'I doubt I'll read a better book this year' Val McDermid
'Compelling, immersive and brimming with life' Graeme Macrae Burnet

Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead.

Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs - is that the reason the police won't investigate? And if Rilke doesn't find out what happened to Jojo, who will?

Thrilling and atmospheric, The Second Cut delves into the dark side of twenty-first century Glasgow. Twenty years on from his appearance in The Cutting Room, Rilke is still walking a moral tightrope between good and bad, saint and sinner.