They see everything. They hear everything. They know everything.

When a young police officer, Derek Sullivan, goes missing, the detective investigating his disappearance turns to criminologist Anna Scavolini - Derek's one-time university lecturer - for help. Haunted by the belief that she failed in her duty of care towards her former student, Anna finds herself drawn increasingly deeper into the investigation.

Meanwhile, Zoe Callahan - once Anna's best friend, now unhappily estranged - becomes preoccupied by unsettling rumours involving her old school. Uncovering a trail of evidence implicating the most powerful men in Scottish society in a scandal stretching back decades, she soon attracts the attention of sinister forces who don't look kindly on those who disturb the past...

A missing police officer, a highly coveted list of names, a fatal car crash on a rainswept night - what connects these seemingly unrelated threads? And who are the mysterious Shadow Men, whose very name strikes terror into the hearts of all who hear it?

A compulsive page-turner with a labyrinthine, multi-stranded plot, The Shadow Men is the third novel in the Anna Scavolini series, perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy.

Praise for M.R. Mackenzie

'Brings a fresh new voice to the field of Tartan Noir.' - James Oswald

'Writes with precision and passion.' - Caro Ramsay

'Splendidly written stuff.' - Barry Forshaw, Crime Time

'An immersive slow burn of a tale, peppered with disquieting fire-crackers of revelation.' - Morgan Cry

'Mackenzie has come up with something that defies easy definition and is truly original.' - Paul Burke, NB Magazine

'Up there with the best contemporary authors working today.' - David B. Lyons