Contraband imprint: 16 books

From the publisher of Graeme Macrae Burnet's His Bloody Project, the first in a new series of distinctive, standalone crime stories, each with a literary bent. In 1950s London, a literary agent finds fame when he secretly steals a young woman's brilliant novel manuscript and publishes it under...

A helping hand? Or the grip of a murderer? A Glasgow student is found dead in a city-centre alley, kickstarting a trail of brutality that drives DI Ray McBain to the very edge, staring into the abyss… The victim’s family and friends are all under suspicion, and McBain has to untangle a sordid...

"A terrific read." Martina Cole Kenny O'Neill, a villain with a conscience, returns in a hard-hitting thriller of exploitation, corruption and criminal gangs. When Kenny's cousin, Ian, comes to the aid of a fellow ex-squaddie in a heap of trouble, he gets caught up in the vicious...

"Funny and brutal, heartfelt and compelling" Craig Robertson. Even though he’s a successful criminal, Kenny O’Neill - Glasgow's answer to Tony Soprano - is angry. Not only has his high-class escort girlfriend just been attacked, but his father is reaching out to him from the past - despite...

"A high-octane read." - Maxim Jakubowski Meet Jen. She works in a bookshop and likes the odd glass of Prosecco... oh, and she's about to be branded The Most Dangerous Woman in Scotland. Jen Carter is a failed writer with a rubbish boyfriend, Ed. That is, until she accidentally...

“Absolutely brilliant. A quick-witted and vastly entertaining novel that takes Douglas Skelton into the crime fiction big league.” Alex Gray “If you like your humour black and your detective novels hard boiled, The Dead Don’t Boogie is a cut above the rest.” Theresa Talbot “A white-knuckle,...

"Original and witty and goes like stink." -- Greg Loftin, director, Saxon. Cool media man Root Wilson almost has it all - the London radio show, the movie deal, the dream girl. But when deceased film director Philip Hegley reappears on the scene, Root turns detective. As he searches...

Shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year Award 2015. "Riveting." - Peter May. Ten million Twitter followers. One killer. Bryce Horrigan, a Brit made good in America, makes a living rubbing people up the wrong way. He revels in antagonising guests on his TV talk show, and...

In China, have things really changed for the post-Tiananmen generation? Hong Kong, 2012. Dimitri Johnson discovers that he is a dead man walking. Stunned by his doctor’s prognosis, he nevertheless makes his ritual annual pilgrimage to the candlelight vigil for the victims of the Tiananmen...

Longlisted for the 2017 McIlvanney Award for Scottish Crime Book of the Year Two Women, One Quest, Grave Consequences. When Maggie Laird's disgraced ex-cop husband suddenly dies, her humdrum suburban life is turned upside down. With the bills mounting, she takes on his struggling detective...

Maverick investigator Dominic Queste is on the trail of missing butcher Sam Price. But he soon uncovers links to a killer with a taste for games. What began as a simple favour for his girlfriend quickly descends into a battle for survival against an enemy who has no qualms about turning victims...

By the author of McIlvanney-prize-listed Cross Purpose. "My husband is trying to kill me": a new client gets straight to the point. This is a whole new ball game for Maggie Laird, who is trying to rebuild her late husband's detective agency and clear his name. Her partner, "Big"...

Families Can Be Murder His family believes he’s dead. The police believe he’s dead. But Ray Scobie, a killer who can’t feel pain, doesn’t die so easily. Betrayed by his own father, near-fatally wounded and lying in hospital as ‘John Doe’, Ray wants payback against his family – who just...

Max Rushmore is re-hired by the CIA to return to Moscow and investigate the death of a beautiful nuclear waste disposal expert. But Max, who can drink even the Russians under the table, soon uncovers all sorts of inconsistencies: could it even be that she is not dead at all? So begins a game...