‘Glasgow Kiss’ by Alex Gray
Published by Sphere,  February 2009.  ISBN: 978-1-84744-194-2

Scotland seems to be a popular country and Glasgow a popular city to inspire crime writers.  So there is a formidable group of  authors for Alex Gray to join and ,  as the cover of Glasgow Kiss  claims,  she "more than holds her own against " this exalted company.  A real Glasgow Kiss, for the uninitiated,  is a boxer's term to describe the noise made when a boxer's head crunches the bone in an opponent's nose.  This is only one example of the rich vocabulary and pronunciation that brings the Glasgow background to life in Gray's books. 

Like A Small Weeping, an earlier book by Gray with a similar setting and plot,  Glasgow Kiss gives an accurate and fascinating description of people,  places and occupations in Glasgow especially,  but also in the neighbouring towns and islands which are a part of Scotland's charm.  Both the books I have read and have already quoted,  deal with the Glasgow Police Force,  particularly with Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer and his wife Maggie,  who teaches English at the local high school,  also important are a psychologist profiler from Glasgow University,  Solomon Brightman,  and his friend/partner Rosie, a pathologist.  Both books also have the main theme of a serial killer who targets young women.  Glasgow Kiss has other themes as well as that of a serial killer who is murdering women in their late teens or early twenties who are,  or have been associated with Muirpark Svchool where Maggie teaches.  There is also the mystery of a toddler who was snatched and carried off in the street by a woman in a car,  an accusation of rape by a pupil against the master who teaches Religious  Instruction at the school and a disfuctional family with a drunken violent father.  These are set against a background giving a detailed description of school life.

The strands,  with their relevant characters in the story, are clearly and well introduced,  so there are no problems in following the various plots and each is satisfactorily and separately resolved at the end of the book.  It would be difficult,  perhaps impossible,  to spot the serial killer,  but a second glance through the book shows that the clues are there but I doubt if they give much away.  I found this an easy, enjoyable book to read and my immediate reaction was to look for another book by the same author.

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Rosemary Brown