Ian Rankin’s Tribute to William McIlvanney

In some ways, the prequel to the Laidlaw series, The Dark Remains, is Ian Rankin’s tribute to William McIlvanney. At the request of McIlvanney’s widow, Ian Rankin completed the manuscript that McIlvanney never had the chance to finish. But, there’s so much more to the story. Rankin tells that story in “McIlvanney and Me: Ian Rankin Remembers the Man Who Created Tartan Noir”, an article you can read at CrimeReads. Here’s the link. https://bit.ly/3h7W7HS

And, here’s the link to the Web Store if you would like to order a copy of The Dark Remains. https://bit.ly/3ySf5rN

Check out the description of The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin.

In this scorching prequel, New York Times best-selling author Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of DC Jack Laidlaw, Glasgow’s original gritty detective.

Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong kind of people. When his body is found in an alley behind a pub that is known to be under the protective wing of a local crime boss, the fragile equilibrium that has been keeping Glasgow relatively safe for months is shattered. Besides a distraught family and any number of powerful friends, Carter has left behind his fair share of enemies. So who is responsible for his death?

DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks Carter’s death up to the usual rivalries, but Laidlaw knows it can’t be that simple. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, he needs to find Carter’s killer before the whole city explodes.

William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw books changed the face of crime fiction. When he died in 2015, he left half a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case. Ian Rankin has finished what McIlvanney started. Here, in The Dark Remains, these two iconic authors bring to life the criminal world of 1970s Glasgow, and Laidlaw’s relentless quest for truth.

“Fantastic—like witnessing Scottish noir’s Big Bang creation in the company of its greatest living exponent… Like Maradona and Messi playing in the same team.”—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers


Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first novel The Flood was published in 1986, while his first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses, was published in 1987. The Rebus series is now translated into twenty-two languages and the books are bestsellers on several continents. Ian has received an OBE for services to literature. He is also the winner of an Edgar Award and the recipient of a Gold Dagger for fiction and the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.