The big man, paperback/william mcilvanney

The big man is Dan Scoular, a legend of physical prowess in a decaying Ayrshire mining community.

When a bare-knuckle fight offers both money and a purpose, he finds it turns into a monumental struggle to keep his heritage and integrity intact.

About the Author William McIlvanney s first novel, Remedy is None , won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and with Docherty he won the Whitbread Award for Fiction.

Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch both gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers Association.

Strange Loyalties , the third in the Detective Laidlaw trilogy, won the Glasgow Heralds Peoples Prize.

He died in December 2015.