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A stylish, atmospheric detective story with shades of the Gothic – from the author of the award-winning cult classic The Cutting Room
SHORTLISTED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE
'Superb' The Times Crime Book of the Month
'A hardboiled gem' Guardian
'I doubt I'll read a better book this year' Val McDermid
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?
Well-wrought . . . The specificity and style of Welsh's prose - peppered with such fine Scottish words as 'bawface', 'coorie' and 'shoogly' - the depth of her characterisation and depiction of place, her gallows humour and her compassion all make The Second Cut a superb piece of work
One of the most enjoyable mysteries I've read this year, The Second Cut had me from the word go. Rilke's world feels rife with possibilities for dark doings - and Welsh's writing is fresh, funny, fearless and fun
— JOSEPH KNOX
Superbly drawn and exquisitely written, the story moves at an exceptional pace: this is modern Glasgow at its most compelling with a contradictory
Richly layered, gloriously carnal, bursting with patter and irresistibly seductive
— CHRIS BROOKMYRE
Bleak, witty, unfailingly compassionate and beautifully written all at the same time . . . a lightly fictionalised love letter to Glasgow
Getting another look behind the curtain at Rilke's world was a squalid thrill. Louise Welsh reclaims her crown as the queen of Glasgow's grubby glamour
— KIRSTIN INNES
If writing a sequel to a bona fide Scottish classic weighed heavily on Louise Welsh you'd never know. The Second Cut grips from the very opening pages. The Glasgow it portrays is seamy but humane, its cast of characters flawed but endearing. The whole thing is compelling, immersive and brimming with life. A great achievement
— GRAEME MACRAE BURNET
The Cutting Room fixes itself among a formidable modern pantheon that includes the novels of Ian McEwan and A.L. Kennedy
Astonishingly this is a first novel, catapulting Welsh straight into the superstar league, while establishing Rilke as a true original
A remarkable first novel
Praise for The Cutting Room: One of the most intriguing, assured and unputdownable debuts to come out of Scotland in recent years . . . A stunning work of fiction
Welsh upturns tropes and adds depth, seedy detail and Gothic lyricism to the page-turner framework
I doubt I'll read a better book this year. Dark, funny and humane, Louise Welsh tells the stories that nobody else dares
A searing reading experience . . . highly entertaining
The Second Cut is as blackly comic as it is squalid and Welsh balances all the storylines with ease
Louise Welsh is an award-winning author of nine novels. The Cutting Room, her debut novel, won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award and the Saltire First Book of The Year Award. In 2018, she was named the Most Inspiring Saltire First Book Award winner by public vote. She is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.
@louisewelsh00