Enough dialect that it could probably do with a glossary of terms, I guessed from context that Thrapple meant throat but it could have been made clearer.
It's the story that starts with a prostitute dying and continues through the mean streets of Leith parish in Edinburgh where Inspector McLevy plies his beat as the first detective

A minor spoiler: I was a little put off by the Serpent and his abilities but then I remembered Richard Mansfield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mansfield

based on history it sometimes plays fast and loose with facts but was an interesting read. ( )

Not quite what I expected. I'd heard later series of the radio show but not this although it is supposed to be an adaptation. This is more of a Victorian political conspiracy saga than the street detective story that I remember. The familiar characters are all there but there is a solid strand concentrating on Gladstone, Disraeli, Victoria, and a senior fictional political figure. There's a degree of the whodunnit but it's not as strong as it would be in a drawing room mystery.

A Financial Times review wrote 'McLevy is a sort of Victorian Morse with a heart, prowling the mean wynds and tenements of the endless fascinating city. David Ashton impeccably evokes Edinburgh so vividly that you can feel the cold in your bones and the menace of the Old Town's steep cobbles and dark corners'.

I'm not sure I would go as far as the Victorian Morse bit, but James McLevy as recreated by David Ashton is certainly an interesting character. Ashton's recreation of Victorian Edinburgh makes me glad those times have passed. The plot of SHADOW OF A SERPENT is a complex one and contains some authentic-feeling portrayals of Disraeli, Gladstone and Queen Victoria. Someone is out to prevent William Gladstone from becoming Prime Minister at any cost. Ripper-like murders of prostitutes have begun on Edinburgh streets.

This is the debut title of a series that looks as if it will be popular particularly with those who enjoy crime fiction with a historical setting.
Fantastic Fiction lists
Inspector McLevy Mystery
1. The Shadow of the Serpent (2006)
2. Fall from Grace (2007)
3. A Trick of the Light (2009)
4. Nor Will He Sleep (2013)
5. The Painted Lady (2013)
End of the Line (2011)

I think SHADOW OF THE SERPENT has some of the problems of debut title: the plot is at times too tortuous and a little dark. The historical details at times take over, putting the crime fiction into the background. There a few threads that seem to me to go unresolved. ( )

This is a murder mystery set in mid and late Victorian Edinburgh and featuring the Queen, Disraeli and Gladstone and his family. While these would seem to provide the elements for an interesting read, I couldn't get on with it in practice. The fictional characters are uniformly unlikeable and the writing style rather opaque. It was beginning to feel just not worth the effort to wade through and I have given up around half way through. 2.5/5 ( )

"Inspector McLevy of the Detective" is a striking addition to the cast of Edinburgh crime fighters, and he shares a lot of the "thrawn" nature of Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus. However, McLevy plies his investigative career in Victorian Edinburgh, a city of dark closes and alleys, particularly in Leith which is where McLevy's patch lies. A thriving port, Leith has a lurid and vibrant night life catering to the needs and desires of foreign and domestic sailors and dockers.
The novel opens with the discovery of a brutally murdered corpse - a working girl who has been felled with an axe. The lugubrious McLevy is one of the first officers on the scene, accompanied by the long-suffering Constable Mulholland, and the sheer brutality of the attacks lends then additional vigour in their determination to identify and capture the culprit.
McLevy is reminded of a similarly ghastly murder some thirty years ago , when he was a new constable accompanying his mentor, Sergeant Cameron, and we are given several flashbacks to earlier phases of McLevy's life and career. The first suspect is the victim's ponce (or "pounce" as the Leith vernacular has it), a characteristically unwholesome wretch. However, subsequent evidence suggests that the killer might actually be a gentleman.
At the same time, former Prime Minister William Gladstone is in Edinburgh making speeches for the imminent general election in which he will be standing for the Midlothian constituency. Amazingly, a solid body of circumstantial evidence starts to emerge connecting Gladstone to the crime, and McLevy is determined to challenge him.
Meanwhile Gladstone's successor as Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli (now ennobled as Lord Beaconsfield) is on the Isle of Wight, staying at Osborne House with Queen Victoria, united in their hatred of Gladstone and their fear that he might secure a return to power.
Ashton manages these various threads adeptly, and weaves an innovative and engaging story out of them, with a skilful denouement.
All in all a very welcome addition to the Edinburgh crime noir oeuvre. ( )