Louise Welsh Books In Order

Publication Order of Plague Times Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Loise Welsh
Loise Welsh is an English author of literature, fiction, mystery, and thrillers best known for her debut novel, The Cutting Room. This book earned several awards, including Robert Lois Stevenson Memorial Award and the Hawthomden Fellowship. Welsh now boasts of a good collection of best-selling mystery novels. Before going entirely into writing, she worked in a second-hand bookshop. Welsh now works as a radio broadcaster and writes shorts stories whenever she is not churning bestsellers.

The Cutting Room
The Cutting Room features Rilke, a gay auctioneer who enjoys casual sex, drinking, and smoking. Rilke chances upon a collection of disturbing books and photographs belonging to his latest client’s late brother. The older woman Rilke is working for wants these items destroyed, and she instructs him to do so. Instead of honoring this request, Rilke lets his curiosity get the better of him. Soon enough, he finds out why this elderly lady wants nothing to do with her late brother’s material. Rilke is particularly concerned about a woman in those photos who seems like she was murdered. Rilke starts to play detective and gets thrust into a dark underworld featuring seedy bars, transvestite clubs, and porn shops.

Join Rilke on his journey through a hidden city that comes with haunted characters with illicit urges and dark desires. Some of the individuals that Rilke encounters are respected members of society he would never have associated with this form of lifestyle. There are also the usual drug dealers, an amateur filmmaker and a woman who makes a living posing nude in front of a camera. So, what does Rilke discover about the man who owned the photos? Will Rilke’s dream of making a buck out of this become a reality? Who is the murdered woman, and why was she killed in the first place? Find the answers to these and much more in this intriguing read.

This book comes with well fleshed out characters and an intricate plot. The story also shows the dangers that come with obsessions and their abilities to drive the most visionary individuals into darkness. This is a different kind of mystery in that Rilke is an amateur detective, unlike the common stories that come with investigators who are trained for the job. While the puzzle pretty much solves itself, Rilke goes on one wild ride and interacts with all sorts of intriguing characters. The author focuses on one scene at a time while still maintaining the mystery as the primary plot to this story. Despite the happenings in the story, the flow is flawless, and the different scenes come together beautifully in the end.

The Cutting Room is an atmospheric thriller that is both moody and stylish. The story introduces you to the workings inside an auction house. If graphic situations, morally challenged characters, and crime stories are your kind of thing, you are surely going to love this book. The author will take you on a tour to shady businesses while letting out bits and pieces of information on the murdered woman’s mystery. Rilke’s casual approach to sex and the multiple partners he interacts with regularly. The pace here is fast, and the suspense will keep you turning the pages to the end.

A Lovely Way to Burn
A Lovely Way to Burn is the debut book in the Plague Times Trilogy series. The story starts with a pandemic that leaves a trail of deaths in its wake. Christened the Sweats, this plague is sweeping the world, and it has left London in a crisis. The available hospitals are filled, and bodies continue to pile daily. Despite all that is going around her, Stevie Flint is convinced that her boyfriend’s death was not a result of the disease or any other natural cause.
Thanks to the outbreak, London’s roads are gridlocked as people try to get away from the infection. Stevie, on the other hand, is going against the grain in search of the truth. Her journey takes her to the city, and every move she makes looks like a race against death. Stevie’s nightmare starts when her boyfriend fails to turn up for a date. When she decides to pick her belongings from Simon’s place, Stevie is shocked to find her boyfriend dead.

Things take an exciting twist when Stevie gets a letter written by Simon just before he died. In the letter, Simon instructs her to deliver a hidden laptop to a colleague. All this needs to be done secretly, as many people cannot be trusted. Is there more to the pandemic than meets the eye? Are Stevie’s suspicions about Simon’s death valid? If they are, who wanted the doctor dead, and why?

Stevie is an unlikely heroine who started as a journalist before becoming a presenter working for a trashy TV. 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. Being a presenter comes with its perks, not to mention the better pay. Stevie’s looks and job possibly explains why she is able to date Simon Sharkey, a flashy doctor who wants nothing but the finer things in life. While many dismiss Stevie, especially the male-dominated world she is thrust to, she comes out victorious in the end. The young woman forms many alliances along the way, but at some point, it is clear that she is on her own. Her determination sees her overcome the odds and uncover a few truths about her boyfriend’s death.
The plot comes with two threads, one following the devastating chaos and the other one focusing on Simon’s demise. The story is well told, and all the characters are quite intriguing. A Lovely Way to Burn a perfect choice if you are looking for a dystopian crime novel. The story comes with an admirable heroine and enough action. The story will draw you in from the first page, and you can expect to have a hard time putting the book down until you have read it to the end.