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I was surprised when I got an email saying that my wish for Cast a Cold Eye had been granted. I honestly don’t remember wishing for it on NetGalley, and I also don’t usually read historical police mysteries. But since I had pushed that button and it was granted, I downloaded the book. Now that I’ve read it, I was pretty impressed with what I read.
Cast a Cold Eye is a slow book. But it is not one of those taking forever to get to the next scene of the book. It is slow in the way that the author takes his time with the murder storyline and the secondary storylines in the book. He takes his time building everything up. I liked it because it allowed me to fully understand what was going on in Glasgow, how that affected people (including Jimmy), and how it related to the storyline.
Cast a Cold Eye is the second book in the Jimmy Dreghorn series. It can be read as a standalone. There are references to the first book sprinkled throughout this one, but—and I stress this—those references did not take over the main storyline.
The main storyline in Cast a Cold Eye is the murders of four seemingly unrelated people and the police investigation into them. I was caught by surprise when the author mentioned forensics being used. I didn’t know that people in the 1930s used forensics (I do want to note it was only for the bullets). I enjoyed seeing Jimmy and Archie’s investigation into those murders. I was a little surprised at the connection between the murdered people. I was even more astonished at why those people were killed. What I wasn’t surprised by was who did it. The author didn’t keep that secret. The person was named several times during the book.
Some more minor storylines feed into the main storyline. The most major of those secondary storylines was the one with Ellen, Strachan, their investigation, and their attempted murder. This storyline is connected to the main one, but the author doesn’t reveal how until almost the end of the book. I was shocked at who tried to kill them, and I was surprised by why once Jimmy got that person’s confession. Ellen and Strachan’s relationship is also the main focus of this storyline. Strachan was obsessed with her, and the events immediately leading up to their attack were proof of that. Of course, I do like how Jimmy took care of that.
I liked Jimmy. He was a former boxer and ex-solider who became a police officer. He did his best to uphold the law in Glasgow. His and Archie’s methods were brutal (dunking a suspect in horse manure to get him to talk is one example), but they got results. He and Archie also had one of the best bookish bromances that I have read to date.
The book had many memorable secondary characters, but the two Special Branch operatives, the priest and the female magistrate, stood out the most. The author also connected those individuals directly to the murders and the events that led up to them years before.
The mystery angle of Cast a Cold Eye was wonderfully written. As I stated above, the author did reveal who was behind three of the murders. The reason why those men were murdered was horrific. Why was it terrible? Because of what they did. I didn’t blame that person for wanting vengeance. But, there was one other murder and an attempted murder of two police officers that were not tied to that person. I wasn’t shocked at who was behind the first murder. But the person behind the attempted murder did surprise me. There were also two innocent people in this whole mess. One was severely hurt by the person who tried to kill Strachan. The other person, unfortunately, was going to pay for who this person was related to and their crimes (which was a shame).
The end of Cast a Cold Eye left me wanting more. I wanted to learn more about Jimmy, see more of Archie, and see if there was going to be a resolution to the beef between Jimmy and Strachan and if Elle was going to be collateral.
I want to add that the author did write a note and explain that he did take liberties with places and items.