Lennox, un detective que podría ser el hijo del mismísimo de Philip Marlowe, --cínico por fuera pero con un corazón de oro— vuelve a las calles de Glasgow para resolver un caso que no pinta nada bien para él.
Cuando el corredor de apuestas ilegales y criador galgos Calderilla MacFarlane aparece con la cabeza machacada en su estudio, más de uno empieza a levantar un dedo acusador. Sin embargo, Lennox tiene una coartada sólida como el oro: ha pasado la noche con la hija de MacFarlane. Esto, lejos de ayudar, inevitablemente provoca que Lennox se vea envuelto en la búsqueda del asesino de MacFarlane y que descubra los otros muchos negocios turbios que el corredor de apuestas tenía. Algunos de ellos con Willie Sneddon, uno de los Tres Reyes del lumpen criminal de Glasgow. Y con éste más vale no meterse si uno no quiere acabar tiñendo la alfombra de casa con un brillante tono 0 negativo…

In this second book in the Lennox series, Lennox undertakes to solve the murder of a bookie whose daughter he was romancing (on the very night of the murder, in fact). At the same time, he receives a missing-persons case: singer Sheila Gainsborough is worried about her missing brother, who had some seamy underworld friends. These cases end up being connected, but how they are connected is what the reader has to find out!

This installment of the series was maybe a bit lighter in tone than the first installment. Sure there’s organized crime and a great deal of violence, but Lennox is able to show some of the kinder side of his personality, the Kennebecasis Kid shining through the self that was damaged in the war. The character of Lennox has me on his side as he wades through the postwar life in Glasgow. On to the next installment. ( )

This is a great series with some laugh out loud lines. I read the first three out of order. Didn't matter a whole lot except for the relationship with his landlady. Fun snow storm reading. ( )

Lennox is an ex-Canadian soldier who has ended up in Glasgow after the second World War. He's now a private eye and often does rather shady work for the criminal element in Glasgow.
In this story, he's looking into two mysteries--one, a missing young man who may have been involved in some shady dealings. The other job is looking into what looks like intimidation of a fighter one of the "kings" of Glasgow's underworld has an interest in.
This is a well-written, atmospheric story with a great sense of time and place.
It is also extremely well narrated. ( )

The Long Glasgow Kiss by Craig Russell is the second book featuring P.I. Lennox, a Canadian that didn’t leave when the war was over, instead he set up shop in Glasgow and runs a fine line in his investigations between staying on the side of the law or drifting into shady areas. 1950’s Glasgow is pictured as a rather seedy and dark place, run by the Three Kings of Crime with whom Lennox often has to both work for and balance between. Lennox is a tough guy, with a smart mouth that more often than not lands him in trouble.

As much as I enjoy the twist and turns of the plot, I did find this one ran a little long and took too much time for it to come together. Then at the end when all the pieces were finally meshing, it felt rushed, as if the author simply wanted to finish and get on to something else. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the glimpses we are given of Glasgow in the fifties, still feeling the affect and deprivations of the war.


Into this story of boxing and missing persons, the author also manages a storyline about how heroin is finding it’s way westward to America, implying that this is the beginning of an international market being developed for these drugs. Like Glasgow and Lennox itself these books are sharp and tough and I am hoping the author is able to pull all the ingredients together and vault this series up into the ranks of other great tartan-noir series by the likes of Rankin and McBride. ( )