When local lawyer Max Abercrombie is gunned down in cold blood, the historic town of Linlithgow, is shocked by its first assassination in five hundred years. The teenage son of master thief Chic Kelly looks as guilty as a puppy in a puddle. Defence lawyer, Robbie Munro, Max’s childhood friend, is persuaded by Archie McPhee, gangster-turned-born-again-Christian, to act in the lad’s defence – after all, things may not be quite what they seem. As Robbie investigates he discovers a link between his friend’s murder and that of a High Court judge several years previously. The closer he gets to the truth, the more the bodies pile up.

Duty Man is the second in a series of smart, fast-moving, crime novels by Scottish criminal defence lawyer, William McIntyre, featuring an engagingly head-strong protagonist and exploiting the kind of authentic court-room, prison and procedural details that stem from years of first-hand experience. The action is centred around the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow in West Lothian, roaming roams over the Larger Central Belt of Scotland.

Follow the trials and tribulations of Scots criminal lawyer Robbie Munro as he heads up his fledgling law firm in the Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. Assisted by a keen, if inconveniently ethical, legal trainee and a formidable secretary, Robbie joins battle in the fight for truth and justice - hoping truth and justice don’t win too often or Munro & Co. will be out of business.

Relatively Guilty

Credit may be crunching all around but crime is booming and to add to busy caseload come instructions in a homicide. A policeman with a caved-in skull, his young wife found clutching the blood-stained murder weapon; it all looks pretty open and shut until Robbie detects the faint whiff of a defence and closes in on a witness who might cast a precious doubt on proceedings.

So why is it, the nearer he gets to the truth and a possible acquittal, that Robbie’s murder client becomes more and more eager to opt for a life sentence?

In the midst of these hectic trial preparations, complications arise in Robbie’s personal life. His love life may not be DOA but it’s in a high dependency unit, his brother, a former soccer legend, has carelessly killed the daughter of a Glasgow gangster and has a price on his head while Robbie finds himself in the dock on a counterfeiting charge that looks set to end his career in the law.

If only his life were as simple as that of the folk of the Vendee where Robbie’s search for his elusive witness takes him and where, on the salt marshes of the Loire estuary, he hears the tale of the mythical Twinfish and suddenly everything seems a whole lot clearer.


Also available on Kindle: "Duty Man".