Why have I grouped these two authors together? There are differences between them and, in the case of Craig Russell in particular, the differences are quite pronounced as he has quite a wide-ranging repertoire. Gordon Ferris has also written in different subject areas but I am looking at them together as there are some quite substantial similarities between them and if you like the books that Gordon Ferris has written about post-war Britain in general and post-war Glasgow in particular, you should like the books Craig Russell has written about post-war Glasgow.
They are both Scottish and, to be honest, I can’t remember exactly how I came across them although I have a feeling that it was through reading reviews of their latest books and being drawn to the nature of the subject matter. I really liked both of them on first read and went on to devour a number of their other books very quickly afterwards. They both tick a lot of boxes for me, not least because I would class them as ‘Tartan Noir’ but also because they fit neatly into the detective fiction genre and feature interesting characters who are either unconventional policemen or private detectives. I was also drawn to the fact that the background to the stories was post-war Glasgow/London, a period that I was not very familiar with. The period is also significant as the death penalty was still around and that gives an added twist to the subject matter which, like so much of the genre, features a fair amount of murder!
So, what do we have here? Two principal characters from Gordon Ferris and one from Craig Russell and, as I said, some similarities between them. First of all, with Ferris, Douglas Brodie, former detective now a journalist based in Glasgow, and Danny McRae, a Scottish private detective based in London although he also appears in Glasgow from time to time. For Craig Russell, the main man is Lennox (only one name) and he is a Canadian private eye based in Glasgow. All three have served with some distinction in the Second World War and they all have their demons to deal with as a consequence of that service.
The stories are probably what you would expect, largely featuring gangsters and corrupt police but they are enjoyable and absorbing and well worth a read on their own. However, I found the three characters really good value and what made the books even more interesting was the setting in post war Glasgow/London and the environment, in other words, what it was like living in these times. Both Ferris and Russell give exceptional attention to detail and their research has been really thorough to the extent that you start to feel you’re actually living there at that time.
Just for interest and information, both of them have written other series of books but, with one exception, I haven’t read them. The one I have tried is by Craig Russell and is in a series featuring Jan Fabel who is the Head of the Murder Commission in Hamburg. I enjoyed it and it was a good read but I definitely preferred the Lennox books and I would really like to see some more as I would from Gordon Ferris with Douglas Brodie and Danny McRae. Give them a try!