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McCaig #2
The Shooting Gallery
Scottish crime fiction at its brutal best from Scotland's answer to Ted Lewis.
On a bleak, rainy autumn night, a sports car skids into the driveway of a hospital outside a small town near Glasgow. As it spins to a stop, the driver flees into the adjacent woods. In the passenger seat, the son of the town's most prominent citizen is dead of a heroin overdose.
Spurred by the trouble of death and the first known appearance of heroin in their community, the local police force, led by Superintendent McCaig, dive into the search for the pusher which uncovers many strange patterns — bitter love affairs, sexual deviations and addiction — all bound to a ruhtless pursuit of power and status within a rural community which has never before acknowledged that progress can bring evil in its wake as well as contentment.
On a bleak, rainy autumn night, a sports car skids into the driveway of a hospital outside a small town near Glasgow. As it spins to a stop, the driver flees into the adjacent woods. In the passenger seat, the son of the town's most prominent citizen is dead of a heroin overdose.
Spurred by the trouble of death and the first known appearance of heroin in their community, the local police force, led by Superintendent McCaig, dive into the search for the pusher which uncovers many strange patterns — bitter love affairs, sexual deviations and addiction — all bound to a ruhtless pursuit of power and status within a rural community which has never before acknowledged that progress can bring evil in its wake as well as contentment.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1972
18 people want to read
About the author
Hugh C. Rae
20 books4 followersHugh Crauford Rae, aka James Albany, Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Caroline Crosby, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar), Jessica Stirling (with Margaret M. Coghlan)
Hugh Crauford Rae was a son of Isobel and Robert Rae. His father was a riviter. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met his future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel The Shooting Gallery was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when The Wind from the Hills
Hugh Crauford Rae was a son of Isobel and Robert Rae. His father was a riviter. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met his future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel The Shooting Gallery was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when The Wind from the Hills
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 12, 2014
I don't think I can top the cover blurb, so I won't even try. The son of a local councillor is dead due to a heroin overdose, creating some upheaval in a small town outside Glasgow. The police investigation and search for the pusher unearths some bleak secrets and dissolving families, men who will do anything in their quest for power.
Pretty decent Scottish crime/police procedural. Has a number of memorable point-of-view characters and Rae did a fine job making them distinct and humane through heavy use of narrative omniscience, getting deep into their thoughts and emotions. The execution's a bit rusty but you can see why it was an Edgar Award nominee: there's a surprising of depth to this novel. Aside from the strong characterization there's good plotting and a harrowing climax. Worth looking into.
Full review found here.
Pretty decent Scottish crime/police procedural. Has a number of memorable point-of-view characters and Rae did a fine job making them distinct and humane through heavy use of narrative omniscience, getting deep into their thoughts and emotions. The execution's a bit rusty but you can see why it was an Edgar Award nominee: there's a surprising of depth to this novel. Aside from the strong characterization there's good plotting and a harrowing climax. Worth looking into.
Full review found here.
January 24, 2022
Not terrible by any means, just nothing special. I don't know why I picked it up, it cost me about a dollar. Stopped reading after about a third when I realized the pace was only slackening, while the decors were stale, mate. This the problem of reading to much literary fiction, your taste is irrevocably more impeccable and most books lack that special flavour.
Anyway, I didn't mind giving it try, you never know how good a book is going to be. If you still need your fix, read "Turned On: the Friede-Crenshaw Case" by Dick Schaap.
Anyway, I didn't mind giving it try, you never know how good a book is going to be. If you still need your fix, read "Turned On: the Friede-Crenshaw Case" by Dick Schaap.
January 4, 2015
This one’s published by 280 Steps, a resurrection from days gone by. The book came as something of a revelation and I’ve clearly been missing something in my choice of reading material in the past. It opens with the body of a young man being dumped at a bleakly set hospital in a small Scottish town. Superintendent McCaig and a team of police officers set about identifying the curious issues surrounding the case, one that is complicated by the victim’s connections to society and to local heroin suppliers. We get to see the story unfold from many angles as Rae uses his characters to enlighten. Each perspective is outlined in broad detail and also exposes the personal landscapes of those involved. This novel is a slow burn. Rae describes moods and scenes in great detail and chooses similes and imagery like a natural (He blobbed out the paint until the air bubbles told him it was all gone, then tossed the gnarled tube over his shoulder like a peasant appeasing the devil with a pinch of salt). One the one hand, this is a page-turner of sorts, on the other it’s a book to be savoured. The only downside to this one relates to the errors – some odd words appear from time-to-time and an issue with the occasional lack of opening speech marks was slightly disconcerting. I’ve already stocked up on a couple of other books by Mr Rae and look forward to taking them on later this year.
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January 11, 20153 books in 1, includes "Murgatreud's Empire"and "Binary". Not sure when I read this but guessing 1973
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January 16, 2019Synopsis: the son of a prominent citizen is delivered to the hospital dead of a heroin overdose. Superintendent McCaig searches for the pusher.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews