Order of William McIlvanney Books
William McIlvanney was a Scottish crime author who was known as “the godfather of tartan noir”. He was best known for writing the Laidlaw series of crime novels. However, he also wrote the autobiographical novel, Docherty in 1975 that won him the Whitbread prize.
McIlvanney was born in the Ayrshire town of Kilmarnoc. He grew up in the area with three siblings before going on to study English at Glasgow University. He published his first novel in 1966, but took on a career as a schoolteacher around the same time. He would publish his second novel two years later, but he did not have the commercial success that would come to him later.
Publication Order of Jack Laidlaw Books
(with Ian Rankin)
| Laidlaw | (1977) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Papers of Tony Veitch | (1983) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Strange Loyalties | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Dark Remains | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Dark Remains is a prequel. | ||
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Remedy is None | (1966) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| A Gift From Nessus | (1968) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Docherty | (1975) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Big Man | (1985) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| In Through the Head | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| The Kiln | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Weekend | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
| Shades of Grey | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Poems/Short Story Collections
| The Longships In Harbour | (1970) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Landscapes & Figures | (1973) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| These Words | (1984) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Walking Wounded | (1989) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
| Surviving the Shipwreck | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com |
Publication Order of Saltire Books
| The Artist and Nationality | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Dreaming Scotland | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Nevertheless | (2014) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Second Wind | (2015) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
| Ploughing the City | (2021) | Description / Buy at Amazon.com | ||
+ Show All Books in this Series | ||||
Publication Order of Anthologies
If You Like William McIlvanney Books, You’ll Love…
Laidlaw is the first book in the series of books about Detective Jack Laidlow. He is a Scotsman through and through, and the series is set in Glasgow where he works as a Detective Inspector for the Glasgow police. Laidlaw is a unique character in that he’s married with three kids and he loves philosophy. However, he can be contradictory as he’s violent and hates violence, and he believes in fidelity despite being unfaithful. In this book, a young woman is found brutally murdered on the streets of Glasgow and Laidlaw is the only one who can possibly catch her killer.
One of McIlvanney’s most praised novels is Docherty that tells the story of a Scottish miner as he fights for a better life for his son. The story takes place at the dawn of the twentieth century as Conn Docherty is born into the world. The boy comes from a family of no money, but his father decides that day that his son’s life will be different than his own and he’ll do whatever it takes to make it so.
