Fixed Odds (Robbie Munro Book Five) by William McIntyre

Read July 2019. Published 4th July 2019 by Sandstone Press.

Serial housebreaker and junkie, George 'Genghis' McCann has got himself int a spot of bother, after it all started with a dog....
He has broken into the 'wrong' house and taken an assortment of someone else's property, which has led to him being arrested and held on remand.

After a drunken plea from Shannon, Genghis' junkie girlfriend, Scottish defence lawyer Robbie Munro finds himself mixed up in a case surrounding a missing masterpiece - part of the loot Genghis liberated from the break-in.

 Robbie soon discovers that this is no ordinary case of housebreaking, especially when Genghis is released without charge, after the owner of the property tells the police that nothing is missing.
When Genghis is mysteriously found murdered and Shannon is arrested, Robbie is forced to try to locate the "missing" property and he is shocked when he finds out how much part of the haul may actually be worth.
Someone desperately wants the painting back - enough to start killing for it.

Meanwhile, Robbie has been talked into taking on the case of the arrogant, professional snooker player Oscar 'The Showman' Bowman, by his  ex-footballer brother Malky. Bowman, a devout Morman, has been charged with betting fraud, but is not very forthcoming when it comes to building a defence case. Robbie is forced to be creative in an attempt to win the case, particularly when he learns Malky has signed him up on a no-win-no-fee basis.

Robbie could really do with the rewards promised by finding the lost masterpiece and winning the Bowman case. His coffers have not exactly been running over lately and with a second baby on the way, he is as keen as can be to make sure the odds are running in his favour.

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This is my first Robbie Munro book, but it is easy to read as a stand-alone and is a lot of fun.

It offers a fine mix of investigative thriller and courtroom drama, with plenty of dark humour thrown in - especially when it comes to Robbie's domestic affairs. There are some great characters in his close-knit family and his secretary Grace Mary takes none of his nonsense!

I really enjoyed he way that the courtroom element of the book runs alongside the twisty thriller part, with the family drama always in the background. This shows Robbie off as a more complex character than a simple thriller would do, and offers a lot more depth to the story. There is a kind of grittiness and humour about it that reminds me of the older style cops and robbers dramas, which I found very appealing.

Robbie gets himself in some terrible fixes, which he has to employ some trickery and underhand dealing to extricate himself from, but his heart is very much in the right place, and he makes good in the end. This makes him very endearing - who want a goody-two-shoes after all!

I thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of Robbie Munro and am quite keen to go back and read the earlier books in the series, to fill in some back-story.

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Author Bio:
William McIntyre is a partner in Scotland’s oldest law firm Russel + Aitken, specialising in criminal defence. He has been instructed in many interesting and high-profile cases over the years and now turns fact into fiction with his Robbie Munro legal thrillers. He is married with four sons.