The third book in the awards-listed Harcus & Laird seriesWhen Aberdeen housewife Debbie Milne abruptly vanishes without trace, leaving behind her two young children, husband Scott is too distraught to sit out the police's 72-hour window and await developments. He turns to local detective agency Harcus & Laird. Put off by previous "domestic" cases, Maggie Laird isn't keen, but is cajoled by partner Wilma Harcus into a covert operation. Together they comb through meagre scraps of information, eventually trawling the city's women's refuges and homeless squats, in spite of the deadly danger. Then a woman's body is discovered in a Dundee builder's skip. With the clock ticking and the police struggling to make identification, the race is on. Claire MacLeary fashions a surprising, gritty, fast-paced tale with the warmth and wisdom of 'women of a certain age'.Praise for the Harcus & Laird series: "Gripping." Good...

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 agency, enlisting the help of neighbour 'Big Wilma'. And so an unlikely partnership is born. But the discovery of a crudely mutilated body soon raises the stakes... and Maggie and Wilma are drawn into an unknown world of Aberdeen's sink estates, clandestine childminding and dodgy dealers. Cross Purpose is surprising, gritty, sometimes darkly humorous – a tale combining police corruption, gangs and murder with a paean to friendship, loyalty and how 'women of a certain age' can beat the odds. "The dialogue is fantastic. The development of the characters [is] well done... It takes great...

By the author of McIlvanney-prize-listed Cross Purpose"My husband is trying to kill me." A new client gets straight to the point, and this line of enquiry is a whole new ball game for Maggie Laird, who is desperately trying to rebuild her late husband's detective agency and clear his name. Her partner, "Big" Wilma, sees the case as a non-starter, but Maggie is drawn in.With her client's life on the line, Maggie must get to the ugly truth that lies behind Aberdeen's closed doors. But who knows what really goes on between husbands and wives? And will the agency's reputation – and Maggie and Wilma's friendship – remain intact? Burnout is the sequel to Cross Purpose, the McIlvanney Prize-longlisted debut that brought crime to Aberdeen.