The Cost by Morgan Cry review: 'much that is ingenious, much that rings true'

On the surface this may seem like a standard Tartan Noir novel, but it’s much more than that, writes Allan Massie

Morgan Cry is also Gordon Brown, a founder of Scotland's crime writing festival Bloody Scotland, and a prolific author under both names. The Cost, a mysterious title for more than half the novel, is set in Fraserburgh, once one of Scotland's great fishing ports, now notorious for drug abuse and violent crime. It is, however, still a town of character, and one where the author spent holidays as a boy. I knew the Broch too, and its beach with fine sand and cold winds, as I once spent holidays with an aunt in Strichen and took the train there. So, even if The Cost hadn't been good, I would have read it with interest and a comfortable nostalgia. Happily it is good - a crime novel with an intricate plot, much that is ingenious, much that rings true - something not so often the case with crime fiction - and a persuasive energy. Admittedly, the plot is not always easy to follow, but this is usual enough and doesn't matter so long as one is interested to keep on reading.

Gordon Brown, aka Morgan Cry | Paul Reich

The first-person narrator - therefore the hero - has returned to his home town after a 30-year career as a policeman in Glasgow has ended discreditably, getting out indeed just before he would have been pushed, on account of his relations with a former colleague now doing time in Barlinie for a crime violent even by the common standards of Tartan Noir. Now back in Fraserbugh, where his much loved mother died mysteriously 30 years ago, he is working as a taxi driver for a very small firm, itself on the rocks with only one other driver, the proprietor, Doddy, being overweight and permanently pickled. Doddy's language is what is called "industrial"; Blake can speak that tongue too, but also correct English. It's a wonder any business survives.

Then Terry, a young girl, granddaughter of Blake's mother's best friend, comes to him for help. She works at a luxury hotel some miles out of tow and her friend, a Polish girl called Kristina , has disappeared without a word. Blake insists Terry must speak to the police. She is reluctant to do so and begs Blake to investigate the hotel. He agrees reluatantly, has a long talk with a young Polish barman, Tomas, their conversation being broken up by the housekeeper. The hotel is strange -a pot of tea hugely overpriced, no sign of other guests but some odd talk of a annexe. Then Tomas too disappears. It is very fishy business. That's enough of the plot, which also has Doddy and a disagreeable, violent and drunken client being engaged in some disturbing business.

This brief outline of what sets the story going may make it seem very much standard Tartan Noir; happily, however, it's much better than that. There is what the genre often lacks, a certain humanity and some genuine feeling. Blake is a more interesting character than the run-of-the-mill Cop with a somewhat unsavoury Past. Blake retains a general decency. He's a hard man when he needs to be, but he actually rings true, is a credible and convincing character. Consequently what seemed at first to be a typical Hard Man story with a somewhat bizarre plot becomes something more.

Morgan Cry is a splendid storyteller. Over the years I have found that the second half of crime novels not only usually defies credibility but is, often, frankly boring. Not so this one. I read it with ever-deepening interest and enjoyment. Then the evocation of Fraserburgh is very pleasing and we are aware of the credible, if damaged, life beyond the conventional crime stuff. Moreover there is kindness and humour here too. Though much is bizarre, the strength of the main characters, notably Blake and Terry's grandmother rings pleasingly true. This is a novel which offers a picture of real life, not just conventional thrills or horror.

The Cost, by Morgan Cry, Severn House, £21.99