In Shadow

by Gordon Lawrie

An asexual Edinburgh Call Centre worker takes advantage of the fact that no one notices them to further ambitions as a crime reporter and investigator.

By day, Sam Cooke and Edinburgh flatmate Rachelle work as 'Customer Services Officers' pretending to work in call centres but actually working from home. But whereas Rachelle is obsessed with sex, and 'horizontal exercise', Sam is asexual and gender-neutral – and goes unnoticed by everyone. Sam also has ambitions to be a crime reporter, and a series of events present unexpected opportunities. Sam also develops a working relationship with a dishevelled police detective sergeant, 'DS Andrew', which proves mutually beneficial.

This book is a bit of an experiment. Also, all net profits will be donated to contacts in Ukraine to be passed on to assist locals rendered homeless by the Russian invasion.

172 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2025

About the author

Born in 1952, Gordon Lawrie taught Modern Studies - that's politics in Scotland - for 36 years in an Edinburgh secondary school, writing occasionally for educational magazines or in political science journals. Then he saw the light... and tried his hand at writing a novel or two, coming up with Four Old Geezers And A Valkyrie at the turn of 2012. Since then, he's written three further novels, the latest of which is The Midnight Visitor(2022).

Today he lives in Edinburgh city centre. Although the stories are not autobiographical, he's in danger of turning into the rather sad central character in Four Old Geezers...

2023 sees the arrival of Grace Notes, a collection of twenty short stories.

Reviews

[Etgoma Etgoma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible collection of extraordinary, witty, and hearty mysteries and crime-solving, a true gift for me as an a-gender asexual person who can hardly find their own reflection in modern literature. The character building is what hooked me from the first page: one simply CAN'T know who the main character is, a man, a woman, someone in between... Neither name nor their demeanour gives that away, and so the reader is always in the dark, suspended in the gravity of their own conventions and prejudices. It gives a levitating effect to the plot. And so much freedom.

Dr Cooke's partners are also picturesque and vivid. Their roommate, for example, is worth a book of her own! And the police officer who helps them make this world a little bit safe and fair adds a lovely contrast and a pinch of humour to the story. I love how Gordon Lawrie builds such different and yet complementary characters and then puts them all in one pot.

The crimes Dr Cooke solves are also unusual and let the reader unravel a lot about life in Edinburgh. I learned many tiny peculiarities about Scotland, the way of life so different from Ukraine and yet, miraculously, the same. The book is dedicated to a Ukrainian and sends all the money it earns to the people suffering through the worst hardship one can imagine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Reading this, I had my heart stopped. How can some people be so cruel and others so kind?

[Don Tassone · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This book is an experiment,” the author writes in his preface. “Whether I succeed or not is for you, the reader, to decide.”

For me, it worked and worked well. Through these nine linked short stories, we follow the adventures of two memorable characters: Sam and his polar-opposite flatmate Rachelle. Through them, we are invited to explore the fluid contours of sexuality. As a result, we are expanded, and that is, to me, the point of good storytelling.

In Shadow is well written, highly enjoyable and strongly recommended for anyone who likes contemporary short fiction — and a good, old-fashioned mystery.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

Sam Cooke from In Shadow is asexual!

https://www.tumblr.com/aspeccharacter...