The Cutting Room (Canons)

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I'm pretty sure that, if you didn't know that Welsh was female, you'd be convinced the author was a We see a transvestite being filmed in a bar, grinning and displaying receded gums and nicotine-stained teeth. Rilke is a great character because he fits right into the noir novels of the 50s, and yet his character is much more modern (and gay! Welsh seems far more interested in writing about her hard-drinking, grizzled protagonist, Rilke, and his motley assortment of friends and colleagues, than she does in developing the mystery. He becomes obsessed by the photographs and the story hidden within, finding himself caught up with the Glasgow underworld and struggling to stay afloat.

The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh | Waterstones The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh | Waterstones

I'll need to take a look around before I can give you a preliminary estimate of how long it'll take.FROM THE PUBLISHER - When Rilke, a dissolute and promiscuous auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of seemingly violent photographs, he feels compelled to unearth more about the deceased owner who coveted them. Usually you get a feel for the person who used to live in the house you're clearing - little things, style, a mode of living. Later, she connects these possibilities to the more contemporary political issue of human smuggling and the prostitution and rape of Eastern European women. Naturally Rilke can't resist a very good look around and in amongst the very impressive collection of exclusive erotica, he finds a cache of photographs.

The Cutting Room Series by Louise Welsh - Goodreads

Louise Welsh: 'The thing about genre is conventions you can muck about with … crime is not elevated, we all feel we can read it' ". Indeed, when Rilke does have to go to one of the parties Jojo frequented, it is a melange and morass of limbs, pot bellies, tattoos and a simmering sense that not everyone is participating voluntarily. The Cutting Room is a dark, sharp-edged story, following Rilke, the cadaverous 43 year old gay employee of a failing auction house whose behavior defines risky. I enjoyed every moment of this book, although I am relieved not to have met any of its shady characters in real life.

And while it lacks some of the urgency or focus of a more dedicated mystery, while its main character isn't a great detective (in fact, he is downright lousy at detection), I still managed to enjoy it thoroughly. I don't read mystery novels as much as I used to, but when I was young they were my bread and butter: Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were some of the first series I can remember devouring by myself; later I graduated to the real good stuff: Agatha Christie. While the young woman would rather be out in the field chasing stories, her good looks make her job in front of the camera easy.

Louise Welsh, review: Squalid, sardonic and The Second Cut, Louise Welsh, review: Squalid, sardonic and

Wonderful things are possible with first-person narration, and nothing pleases me more than when an author manages to create a narrator who just speaks to you. Ultimately THE CUTTING ROOM is a fascinating book - part morality tale, part crime fiction, part character study, vaguely Gothic, grotty and steeped in a sense of place and people. In a way his lifestyle exemplifies the novel as a whole, as he gets the offer to clear a house by a lady who's brother has just died.All of the supporting characters are drawn as vividly as the Rilke and again, there are some things to like and some things to loathe about many of them. Commuters disappeared into the sudden mist, some reappearing on the other side, others taking the glowing caterpillar tunnel that leads beneath the river and disappearing from view. Anyway, The Cutting Room climaxes with the auction of McKindless' estate and a revelation that sends Rilke's plans spiralling out of control. The kitchen was on two levels, scullery on the lower level where I could make out an open door leading to the garden. Any detective protagonists worth their salt know this and try to involve us, en route, in the fabric of their lives.

Louise Welsh - Wikipedia Louise Welsh - Wikipedia

I prefer to stay where someone might hear me scream,” he responds, choosing Glasgow’s “petrol fumes and windblown litter tossed by rain”. She wants him to dispose of her dead brother's accumulated belongings, and Rilke thinks he's found the good stuff that every auctioneer hankers after: the hoary collectibles and antique evidence of gracious living.

I loved Louise Welsh’s historical novella, Tamburlaine Must Die, but I found this thriller set in the seedy world of Glaswegian antiques dealerships distinctly un-thrilling. What follows is a compulsive journey of discovery, decadence, and deviousness, steered in part by Rilke's gay promiscuity and inquisitive nature.