This book seemed to have such promise but after I started I could barely understand the reader – that was work just figuring out what they all said. (There’s really too much of that in today’s audio books – those characters don’t sound like that in my mind when I read text.)  Then the story itself is kind of twisty and the point of view goes back and forth between the the cops and some of the voices of a few of the victims. 

The Quaker
By Liam McIverney
Read by Angus King 11h 2m
Rating – B?/ serial murder/ procedural 

It takes place in Glasgow between 1968-1970 and although this is a “based on the real story” novel,  McIverney’s Glasgow feels more like something of the mid-19th century. There’s a Jack-the-Ripper feel to parts of it. 

It’s dark, for sure. And it’s loaded with suspense. But sad to say, the accent of the narrator was very difficult for me to adjust to and I missed a lot.  Sigh …   I might try again some day but at this point I’m tired of working so hard with that accent.  I got the gist of it. 

This is the historical source of the base story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_John

And this is from Amazon – 

It is 1969 and Glasgow is in the grip of the worst winter in decades yet it is something else that has Glaswegians on edge: a serial killer is at large. The brutality of The Quaker‘s latest murder― a young woman snatched from a nightclub, her body dumped like trash in the back of a cold-water tenement ― has left the city trembling with fear. The assassin leaves no clues and the police investigation seems to be going nowhere. 

Duncan McCormick, a talented young detective from the Highlands, is brought into the investigation to identify where, exactly, it’s gone wrong. An outsider with troubling secrets of his own, DI McCormack has few friends in his adopted city and a lot to prove. His arrival is met with anger and distrust by cops who are desperate to nail a suspect. When they identify a petty thief as the man seen leaving the building where the Quaker’s last victim was found, they decide they’ve found their serial killer. But McCormack isn’t convinced.

From ruined backstreets, to deserted public parks, and down into the dark heart of Glasgow, McCormack follows a trail of secrets that will change the city―and his life―forever.

 ****