📖 Book Review ~ A Death in Glasgow by Eva Macrae

Random House UK
Penguin Books UK
Cornerstone
8 January 2025
Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

She bought a return ticket. She never came back…

When Holly Campbell’s body is found on the train tracks at Glasgow Central, police quickly rule it a suicide.

She’d had a troubled past. She’d tried before.

But Sergeant May Mackay can’t let one detail go. If Holly never wanted to come home, why did she buy a return ticket?

Driven by her own haunting loss and a promise to Holly’s grieving mother, May is determined to solve the mystery.

But the deeper she digs, the more sinister the truth becomes.

Someone is hiding a terrible secret. And they’ll do whatever it takes to keep it buried.

Even if it means silencing May for good.

📖My Review..

Holly Campbell’s mother is distraught by the violent death of her teenage daughter and appeals to Sergeant May Mackay to do all she can to determine just why Holly landed on the train tracks at Glasgow Central Station. With so many twists and turns this well written and fast paced crime novel certainly hits the ground running and doesn’t let go of the tension until the whole of this complex crime drama has played out.

As it’s the start of what I hope is a new crime series there is a certain amount of scene setting and Sergeant Mackay’s own complex lifestyle certainly adds a very poignant dynamic to the story. However, it is Mackay’s tenacity to get into the very heart of the crime, leaving no stone unturned, in her quest for justice for Holly, and peace of mind for Holly’s grieving mother. Meanwhile as the story progresses May Mackay makes some very powerful enemies amongst the organised crime gangs who prey on the weak and vulnerable of Glasgow’s underbelly. I am sure we’ll get to know more about this corrupt gangland world in future hard hitting crime stories.

Gritty and powerful, A Death In Glasgow is a great introduction to Sergeant May Mackay and I hope to see more of her in future stories.

☕️Best Read With: : A tepid coffee and a hasty sandwich 

About the Author

Eva Macrae is the author of A Death in Glasgow, a thrilling police procedural set in Glasgow which is publishing in January 2026. Having been born in Glasgow, Eva is a former newspaper photographer turned crime