The Good Son

In McLean's uneven debut, PI J. McNee, a former Dundee cop, still bears the physical and emotional scars from the car accident that killed his fiancée nine months earlier. When a local farmer, James Robertson, discovers the body of his estranged brother, Daniel, an apparent suicide, McNee reluctantly takes the case. Even though the pair hadn't spoken in 30 years, James can't believe Daniel killed himself. As McNee starts digging, he discovers that Daniel worked as a heavy for Gordon Egg, an ex-gangster turned club owner in London's seedy Soho district. When a woman claiming to know Daniel arrives in Dundee, followed by two vicious thugs with ties to Egg's empire, McNee realizes he may have stepped into something bigger than he can handle. McLean relies too heavily on American noir clichés—the tortured investigator, lost loves, crime bosses and their femme fatales—and never puts his distinctive stamp on the formula, despite the moody Scottish setting. (Dec.)