To The Shades Descend by Allan Gaw

Today we have the last, for now, of our Allan Gaw books featuring pathologist Dr Jack Cuthbert, To The Shades Descend. Many thanks to Kelly Lacey at Love Books Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my review copy. See below for my review and also for details of Allan's appearance at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival next weekend. 

The Blurb

The dead all have stories to tell.

Glasgow 1931

Visiting from London, Dr Jack Cuthbert unexpectedly finds himself at the centre of a horrifying crime. As an experienced pathologist, the local police call upon him to lead the forensic investigation and identify the victims of a bombing in the city. But this is no ordinary crime scene.

Cuthbert must navigate a political as well as a pathological minefield, with British fascists and the city's notorious razor gangs in the frame. To solve the case, Cuthbert needs to gather all the expertise he can from those around him. But, out of his usual surroundings and working with strangers, who can he trust?

My Review

It's great to read more on this series, I'm loving it. The characterisation, particularly of Jack Cuthbert, but throughout, is wonderful. So in depth, but without feeling heavy or clunky. The reader will crepe about these characters, feel their joy, feel their pain. And that's so important. 

In To The Shades Descend, Jack (an Edinburgh man but we'll forgive him) is visiting Glasgow, finding out about a possible career move. Whilst there he is called upon to work alongside the Glasgow police after a bomb explodes at a political event on Glasgow Green. It's a mess, with many dead, of all ages, and not all are intact. Jack has a huge job ahead of him, whilst working in unfamiliar surroundings with unfamiliar colleagues but he has to make it work...

Dr Jack Cuthbert is a tall, upright (in every sense) man, handsome and polite, charming when he needs to be. He's very efficient and thorough, and very, very good at his job. Most people like Jack but even those that don't, the majority respect him because he commands their respect. In Glasgow, he's astute enough to work out who the best people are to work with him on this case and sets up his own little team. That team features a woman police constable, working at a time when women weren't given much responsibility, so I loved that Cuthbert recognises her skills and gives her responsibility. But we also see the quieter, private side of Dr Jack Cuthbert, which is darker than his more public persona, haunted as he is by memories of the war and his own emotions and feelings. Ones he pushes down, tried not to acknowledge. 

This was difficult reading at times, the aftermath of the bombing was nasty and brutal and Cuthbert and his team have a lot to deal with. Identifying the victims is the most important thing, and one of those victims throws up an additional angle to the main investigation.  The inquiry itself is suitably twisty with lots of potential suspects, including members of a local gang, all leading to an unexpected denouement which Jack finds very difficult. 

To The Shades Descend is another great story, a satisfying mystery, and I enjoyed that it was in Glasgow, my adopted home. The author's pathology background and detailed research are evident through the detail. But for me, the most impressive part of this is the characterisation, particularly of Jack Cuthbert. Always the most important part of the story and it's bang on here. Loved it, looking forward to Jack's next outing. 


The Author

Allan Gaw is a Scot who lives and works near Glasgow. He studied medicine and is a pathologist by training but a writer by inclination. Having worked in the NHS and universities in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and the US, he now devotes his time to writing.

Most of his published work to date is non-fiction. These include textbooks and regular magazine articles on topics as diverse as the thalidomide story, the medical challenges of space travel and the medico-legal consequences of the Hillsborough disaster.

More recently, he has been writing short stories, novels and poetry. He has won the UK Classical Association Creative Writing Competition, the International Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize, the International Globe Soup 7-day Writing Challenge and was runner-up in the Glencairn Glass/Bloody Scotland Short Crime Fiction Competition. He has also had prose published in the literary journal, From Glasgow to Saturn and anthologies from the Edinburgh Literary Salon and Clan Destine Press in Australia. His poetry has been published by Dreich, Soor Ploom Press and Black Bough Poetry. His debut poetry collection, Love & Other Diseases, was published in 2023 by Seahorse Publications.

The Moon's More Feeble Fire is the second book in the Dr Jack Cuthbert Mystery series and has been longlisted for this year's McIlvanney Prize.

You can read more about him and his work at his website: https://researchet.wordpress.com/ .


Bloody Scotland Panel

Allan will be appearing at Bloody Scotland this year. You can book your tickets here.

We make a deep incision into the world of crime fiction and science fact as we talk forensics with three authors whose books deliver thrills, chills and blood-spattered spills.

A gangland slaying and a missing movie star are at the heart of Whispers of the Dead, the sensational new Rhona MacLeod thriller from Lin Anderson. Forensic criminologist Laughton Rees faces a race against time to stop a killer in Simon Toyne’s exhilarating new novel Dead Water. Allan Gaw’s pathologist Dr Jack Cuthbert runs the gauntlet between fascists and razor gangs in 1930s Glasgow in To the Shades Descend.

This event will be chaired by Professor James Grieve.