Witness the Dead

A chilling thriller from Scotland’s hottest crime writer—based on actual events that terrorized Glasgow in the 1960s.

A message from the grave. A case still unsolved. A city haunted by its sins.

Scotland 1972. Glasgow is haunted by a murderer nicknamed Red Silk—a feared serial killer who hunts his victims in the city’s nightclubs. The case remains unsolved but Archibald Atto, later imprisoned for other murders, is thought to be guilty.

In modern-day Glasgow, DS Rachel Narey is called to a gruesome crime scene at the city’s Necropolis. The body of a young woman lies stretched out over a tomb. Her body bears a three-letter message from her killer.

Now retired, former detective Danny Neilson spots a link between the new murder and those he investigated in 1972—details that no copycat killer could have known about. But Atto is still behind bars. Must Danny face up to his fears that they never caught their man? Determined finally to crack the case, Danny, along with his nephew, police photographer Tony Winter, pays Atto a visit. But they soon discover that they are going to need the combined efforts of police forces past and present to bring a twisted killer to justice.