These books are continuing to get better and better. Harry McCoy is a great lead character, flaws and all. His links with the Glasgow underworld through his lifelong friendship with Stevie Cooper give him added depth and help make the Glasgow background of the 70s even more colourful. This is a Glasgow I don't know but which I know was all too real. I can't wait to read more from McCoy, Wattie and DCI Murray. This story on its own has plenty of meat on the bones, with the added dead pop star story on the side. We see more of McCoy's shady ex Angie which takes the story down another path. All the strands are very well linked and point to more to come in further books. #netgalley #bobbymarchwillliveforever

I never do this!
“For a bit of excellent Tartan Noir”, said my Glaswegian pal, “try Alan Parks starting with Bloody January.” So, Paul’s recommendations being highly valued, I started with BLOODY JANUARY. A couple of weeks later, I had read all four of Park’s Harry McCoy novels back-to-back.

The third novel the series, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER, is set in August 1973 with Glasgow in the middle of a heatwave. A young girl has gone missing, a citywide manhunt in operation, but McCoy is shut out of the investigation run, as it is, by an old adversary in the force. Reduced to following up a series of small time bank robberies, McCoy also looks into the apparent overdose death of fading Glasgow rock star, Bobby March. This is possibly my favourite of the novels, with a fever-dream-like visit to ‘70s Belfast a highlight.

All four novels are well plotted mystery-thrillers, Alan Parks clearly knowing how to construct a story. But it is the characters and the setting, the atmosphere that sets these books apart. Parks’s Glasgow is a dark, bleak place populated by drug dealers, prostitutes, criminal gangs, the homeless, good and bad polis, police in the Glasgow vernacular. It feels authentic, as much a character in the stories as Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles or Lawrence Block’s New York.

It's the height of a heatwave in drugs fuelled seventies Glasgow, a thirteen year old girl is missing and all the polis are looking for her...all that is except for Detective Harry McCoy. Since his run in with the boss he has been given the lowly task of looking into the suspicious overdose of rock legend Bobby March, while his young partner Wattie is front and centre and looking for the young Alice Kelly. 
The drugs trade is growing in Glasgow and rival gangs are vying for power. As Harry gets pulled into the hunt for Alice, through his contacts in the local pubs and shebeens, Harry realises he's onto something. But has he got the energy or time to work it out before the heatwave breaks or before someone tries to stop him? 
This is the third Harry McCoy thriller and Alan Parks once again delves into gritty Glasgow showing his in depth knowledge of the city. The detailed descriptions of the poverty, closes and streets drops you right into the desperate cigarette  smoke filled and whisky fumed, sweaty locations of this oppressive July of 1973.

What John Rebus is to Edinburgh then so Harry McCoy is to Glasgow, Alan Parks has found a true anti-hero of the same ilk as Rebus maybe just a wee bit dirtier, younger but knows all the bad people that you need to know to survive. A girl goes missing, a rock star junkie kills himself but neither are what they seem. Well written and keeps the pace up from  first page till last

Who remembers drinking a nice cold pint in a pub?
Remember smoking in the pub, at work and even smoking rooms in hospitals?
Who remembers ordering a pint and a whisky chaser?
Who remembers driving a Vauxhall Viva or Ford Cortina?
Remember telephone boxes?
Remember packed out, sweaty, smoky, very loud rock band gigs?
Who can forget the horrific kneecappings and troubles in Northern Ireland!
All these things come together in this wonderful book and transport you back you Glasgow and Belfast in the 1960’s & 1970’s, with a large dose of dry humour and Scottish fried breakfasts thrown in too.
This book is the first time I have read anything by this author, which is sad as this is the third book in the Harry McCoy Thriller series so I definitely need to go back at some point and read the first two books, although having said that this book read well as a standalone as a lot of the background was clearly explained.
The first book I read this year was by Stuart MacBride and in February I got to discover another great author with both books getting 5 stars – 2021 could well be the year that the Scots fill their trophy cabinets.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Canongate and Alan Parks for providing me with an electronic review copy of the book prior to the paperback publication (out today) in return for a honest, unbiased review.
 #BobbyMarchWillLiveForever #NetGalley

Gritty noir in 1970s Glasgow. The setting is very evocative, but the book as a whole didn't do that much for me as the plot seemed to rely on a bunch of unlikely coincidences rather than actual detective work. I haven't read the first two in the series, so it's possible I'm missing something, but it seemed fairly standalone. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I know we’re only at book #3 but this series has quickly become a favourite. The time period, the setting, the characters…..all these elements add so much colour, atmosphere & personality to each instalment. Mix this distinctive vibe with compelling drama & you have a series that stands out in a crowded genre. 

It kicks off with a prologue that is the stuff of parents’ nightmares. Eleven year old Alice Kelly has disappeared without a trace. It seems like every cop in Glasgow is on the case…except Harry. He had a run-in years ago with the man who is temping as his boss & apparently he has a long memory. While colleague Wattie runs down clues, Harry is assigned a hopeless robbery case that is going cold. Then he takes a call from a local hotel & finds Bobby March.   

Contrary to the title, there’s zero chance of Bobby becoming immortal. At least not in the physical sense. What Harry finds instead is a sad cliché……an almost-was/has-been rock star in a cheap hotel room with a needle in his arm. Back in the day, Bobby came so close but eventually he was just another one hit wonder. In alternate chapters we go back & follow the arc of his career, from his first high to his last. 

In the present, his demise looks pretty straightforward but don’t worry. As usual, Harry has a buffet of problems. His boss may become a permanent fixture, the search for Alice has gone horribly sideways, his old boss needs a favour & old pal Cooper needs a babysitter. He’s like one of those circus performers who is in perpetual motion to keep their spinning plates in the air. 

The result is an entertaining & gripping read. The author’s style & story telling skills have been incredibly self assured from book #1 & that continues here. Characters appear on the page fully formed and come out swinging. At the centre of it all is Harry, a likeable & sympathetic guy who’s like a cross between Rebus & Bosch. But make no mistake…he is his own man. He may look the other way from time to time but his loyalty to Cooper is a testament to the personal tenets that drive his decisions. 

The pacing is bang on & for the first time in a while, I found myself happily immersed in a good story. The only thing missing is a soundtrack. The classic bands & songs mentioned in Bobby’s chapters had me head bobbing along to old favourites (yes, I am that old 🤨 )

By the time it’s all over, most of the threads are tied up & poor Harry has a few more scars to add to his collection. I just wanted to drag him off to a quiet pub somewhere & buy him a pint. Maybe 2. Here’s hoping he gets a nap in before “The April Dead” arrives.

Absolutely brilliant book and definitely not to be missed.
When I started to read this book (first book I have read about Harry McCoy) I thought it would be the Glaswegian equivalent of Edinburgh's John Rebus.  Some similarities but Harry, to me, is more of an anti-hero and seems to have more friends in the more dubious side of Glasgow than on the good side. Still.... that's what the book is about.
Very, very easy to get into the characters even though there are 3 or 4 interwoven storylines - one of which is Bobby March, covered primarily in a series of flashbacks - given he is dead at the start of the book!
After reading this book and really enjoying it I am sure that many will rate this 5 out of 5 but others may no be as impressed as I was.  Literary taste is very much based on subjective opinion and fortunately we are not all alike.
I wasn't quite certain how the book would end but for me the ending was as good as it could have been
Thoroughly recommended

Bobby March Will Live Forever by Alan Parks is brilliant. It starts off at a cracking pace and doesn’t let up until the last page, it has several overlapping plot threads which you struggle to see how they will get tied together, it has twists and turns and surprises and most of all it is dark. I loved it.

Harry McCoy is a rebellious detective at war with his ambitious senior officer and excluded from the search for a young girl who has been abducted. Instead he is diverted into two dead end cases, the overdose of rock musician Bobby March and a series of unsolved violent robberies – both lead to unexpected conclusions. Meanwhile his childhood friend, protector and Glasgow crime boss is spaced out on heroin and his empire is in danger of collapsing. How does this all work out? Well worth reading to see.

Alan Parks is a newish Scottish writer (at least to me), his Harry McCoy series will appeal to anyone who enjoys Rebus.

This is a really gritty crime story set in Glasgow in the 1970s.  Harry McCoy is a hardened detective, with some rather dubious 'friends'.   He comes over as a hard-bitten, cynical man in his 50s, actually we learn he is only 30!   

A young girl has gone missing and all the police are searching for her... except McCoy who has got on the wrong side of his superior officer, Raeburn, who is leading the investigation and uses the opportunity to sideline Harry to look at some cases he has failed to solve.  Raeburn has serious issues with McCoy, who he is convinced is trying to jeopardise his career.  Another senior officer wants Harry to find his neice who has gone missing, but wants him to do it unofficially.  Harry's efforts take him to the darker side of Glasgow and over to Northern Ireland in the times of the Troubles and bring him into serious personal danger.

A pacy and interesting story, set against the background of a violent city.  McCoy comes over as an interesting character, walking the line between being an honest copper but with one foot in the underworld.  I'd like to read more about him.

Thank you to NetGalley, Canongate and Black Thorn for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I never repeat the blurb. Another nostalgic and enjoyable case for our retro crew. Not quite as good as the first two, but I'm definitely going to read part 4.

Ah, the good old days when the polis could beat a confession oot ye and naebody cared. Alan Parks perfectly captures the mood of the era in "Bobby March Will Live Forever". The book is the third in the DI Harry McCoy series of gritty, Glaswegian '70s crime fiction but also works well as a standalone. Parks has superior powers of observation, breathing new life into the mundane. A brief exchange between McCoy and a taxi driver elicited an amused bark of recognition from this reader. I loved seeing Glasgow through the eyes of Parks' characters - the Barras, Govan's infamous Wine Alley and our dear departed Paddy's Market. I enjoyed the cultural references - Tufty Club, anyone? The plot also touches on the Troubles in Northern Ireland via a trip to Belfast. My favourite character was Iris, who has bigger balls than all of the men put together. A real nostalgia trip but I refuse to call it historical crime fiction because that makes me feel ancient! I would like to read the series from the beginning.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot - if that's what you're looking for, there are plenty of reviews like that out there already!

This is the first of the "Harry McCoy" series that I've read - but it didn't matter as this novel works just as well as a standalone, with plenty of background about the characters.

The multi-stranded plot is well conceived, and there are some well-rounded characters - you can visualise them - and their voices are authentic. The book is set in the 60s/70s, and the scene setting evoked the spirit of those times.

There is plenty of action, and - despite some violent scenes - this was a definite page turner for me.  

Looking forward to reading the next in the series (and plan to read the previous two novels also).

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Harry McCoy has been sidelined from the high profile investigation into the disappearance of a young girl at the beginning of Glasgow's Fair Fortnight, after a run in with a vindictive colleague.  The heat is soaring, tempers are flaring, the beer and whisky aren't helping.  McCoy is asked to investigate the disappearance of a well-connected teenager as a favour to a senior colleague, as well as his work looking into the apparent overdose of fading rock star Bobby March.  
Glasgow in the 1970s is drawn so carefully you can smell the sweat and the rubbish.  McCoy is complex and flawed, as are the people he deals with, to maintain order rather than the rule of law.  
There are some elements that didn't work so well for me, including the interweaving of cameos from known historical characters, but that's a minor thing in a book so well crafted.  
I hadn't realised that this is the third in a series (the first of which is in my 'to be read' pile).  I look forward to more!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this pre-publication. The story had promise and I did enjoy the overall scene but I did begin to get bogged down half way through. Sadly the end came quite abruptly with several loose ends just left which I found unfortunate. I don't think I would re-read this book at a later date but the title is true.

I realised that I had reviewed this book before. My review is below.

Brilliant. A gritty and dark story set in the early 1970s in Glasgow. Very well written with big believable characters. This is a great series. This book had me gripped from the start. It feels true to life and raw. 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Daily Mail described Alan Parks as the latest star of Tartan Noir! I fully agree!

I quickly immersed in the period detail, the intimate knowledge of a great sprawling city, and the music industry that played out as a meandering sub-plot. While covering several threads, the storyline wove beautifully together, with occasional connections and surprises. 

Detective Harry McCoy stole the limelight, with his back story, friendships and feuds, and the gritty attention to detail. The plot provoked many emotions, and despite a torrent of violence, an act of spontaneous kindness also lent a powerful counter-influence.

The book gripped me from start to finish, and I will be revisiting Alan Parks! 

Ian Rankin was always a favourite of mine, but now he has a rival! 

I highly recommend Bobby March Will Live Forever.

Felt I was reading a sequel as people would suddenly appear with no explanation, i, e Cooper!  I presumed he was someone our hero McCoy had grown up with or had experienced trouble with in the past, the same applied to Angela!    Also it took a while to get used to the dialect, could have done with translation notes perhaps?  However, it was a good story which kept me on my toes to the end.  Liked the character of McCoy and enjoyed the flashbacks to the beginning of the pop era with well known idols of the time making the occasional appearance!  Would I read another one?  Yes I think I would!

Police procedural set in Glasgow in the early 1970's. The main characters are DI Harry McCoy, his partner Wattie and childhood friend, gangster Cooper.  The plot is around three cases: the disappearance of 13 year old Alice Kelly, rock star Bobby March being found in a hotel after a massive overdose and a series of robberies. Feels very authentic with a realistic rather than positive ending. 

This is the first book I’ve read in the DI Harry McCoy series and can be read as a stand-alone.  McCoy is a likeable character who unlike some of his colleagues, cares about the truth, sometimes using unorthodox methods to uncover it and help the victims.

Bobby March Will Live Forever (2020)
By Alan Parks
Canongate, 320 pages.
★★★★

Have you read all of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache novels? Looking for something grittier until she writes another? Scottish author Alan Parks might be your cuppa. His is a hardboiled take on crime that’s more Raymond Chandler than Penny–especially if your Glasgow patter is up to snuff. 

In many ways, Parks’ detective, Harry McCoy, is the anti-Gamache. He has a drinking problem, is morose, has shady friends, acts on impulse rather than reason, is rough-tongued, and hasn’t had a girlfriend since Angela moved out two years ago. Like Gamache, though, he cares little about self-aggrandizement, remains incorruptible amidst cops on the take, and must wend his way around politicians who care more about appearances than truth. 

Bobby March Will Live Forever is the third installment of Parks’ Harry McCoy novels. It wouldn’t hurt to start with book one, though you can jump right into this one if you’d rather. It is set in 1973 (with flashes back to 1969-70), a time in which Glasgow is awash in drugs, casual violence, hippies, and hippie poseurs. If you’ve been to Glasgow in the past 30 years, you won’t recognize McCoy’s city: slums, dangerous alleyways, shebeens (unlicensed bars), hookers, and men with faces ruined by knife-wielders sending a message from crime bosses. That is, when they’re not corpses instead. 

If you think you’re having a tough few weeks, try Harry’s on for size. Alice Kelly, a 13-year-old girl, has gone missing. It’s the sort of thing Harry normally investigates but a rival, Bernie Raeburn, has been promoted and takes charge. Raeburn got his advance by being, as they say in Scotland, an arse-licker, and a corrupt one at that. Raeburn’s loathing for Harry is made manifest by handing him low-level assignments. McCoy knows Raeburn is incompetent, but he holds his tongue lest he hand Raeburn an excuse to fire him. 

The city is in the midst of a heart wave, that leaves Glaswegians sweating and reeling and the press and politicians are screaming for the polis (police) to find Alice. Alas, Harry has lesser fish to fry. He finds rock musician Bobby March dead with a syringe in his arm– a seemingly routine death for a once-promising guitarist whose fame bus left without him –and Harry is supposed to find a missing bag that Bobby’s father would like to have returned. He’s also given robbery files to investigate, which is not his métier and, as if he didn’t have enough to do, his former boss Hector Murray, asks him to look for his 15-year-old niece Laura. It’s off the record, as her father is the Deputy Head of the Glasgow Council and has parliamentary ambitions. 

Harry is a good detective because he has tons of underworld contacts, not the least of which is Stevie Cooper, a boyhood friend from the same downscale neighborhood. Stevie can now afford the trappings of bourgeois life –courtesy of drug dealing– but he keeps a full stable of thugs close at hand, including one who doubles as his gardener! Stevie owes Harry a few favors, as Harry helped him kick heroin. 

McCoy, with some help from younger colleague Douglas Watson (“Wattie’), must somehow make sense of all the madness going on around them. Before the dust settles, McCoy has brushes with a Bobby March fanboy, Angela, dope dealers, Wattie’s pushy girlfriend/reporter, a photographer who wants to document Glaswegian poverty, the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, the unwashed and the unhinged, and Raeburn. McCoy will also get the shite kicked out of him a few times. 

Alan Parks’ style has been described as “tartan noir,” a descriptor that’s both catchy and appropriate. Bobby March Will Live Forever is gritty, violent, and morally ambiguous. It may be too much so for those with mild dispositions, and it will certainly be so for those who like Agatha Christie-like resolutions where everything is tied with a neat bow at the end. Harry McCoy novels are more in the mold of deciding which battles you can win and which ones you probably can’t. Verisimilitude or surrender to nihilism? You decide.

Rob Weir

Wiktionary has a useful list of Scottish phrases and slang: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_Scottish_slang_and_jargon