The Second Cut

Louise Welsh

The Second Cut by Louise Welsh (Paperback ISBN 9781838850890) book cover

Available as Paperback, Downloadable audio, eBook

A stylish, atmospheric detective story with shades of the Gothic from the author of the award-winning cult classic The Cutting Room

THE TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

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?


“I doubt I’ll read a better book this year. Dark, funny and humane, Louise Welsh tells the stories that nobody else dares”
Val Mcdermid

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“Complex and very atmospheric, with plenty of sardonic humour and sharp observations about injustice, like its predecessor this is a hardboiled gem”
guardian

“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”
the Times

“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”
daily Mail


Louise Welsh

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