By Jane Hamilton
Contributor
Former police officers often struggle with life after the force, stripped of the authority and identity that come with the job.
In his latest novel, The Cost, Scottish author Gordon Brown explores these challenges through the eyes of Blake Glover, a retired Glasgow constable who relocates to Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire and takes up taxi driving.
It’s a career path familiar to many ex-officers.
Brown, whose father Morgan Brown was a police constable in Glasgow during the 1960s and ’70s, drew inspiration from his father’s career, though he emphasises that the Tartan Noir novel – penned under the pseudonym Morgan Cry – remains a work of fiction.
“The book draws on my dad, his time in the police – albeit he was a constable in much earlier years than Blake – and the struggles that some officers face when they leave the force,” Brown says.
“My father was in the police his whole career, but he never looked for promotion, maybe because he had four boys to raise, or maybe he just liked being on the beat.”
Brown’s father passed away in 1983 at the age of 48, not long after retiring from the force due to ill health – though his death was unrelated. He served his entire career as a beat constable, often working in Glasgow’s notoriously tough A Division, which included areas like the Barras.
“I’ve not got many photos of my dad, but the one I most remember is him in the middle of what looks like a riot somewhere in central Glasgow – that kind of summed up his life in the police for me,” Brown recalls.
“He was bringing up four boys, all within seven years of each other, on a very tight budget. Money was tight; police pay was poor back then. He was almost permanently on shifts and, as such, I rarely saw him growing up.
“It felt unfair at the time, knowing he was out protecting other people, but the rewards for that, monetarily, were low.”
“It looks to the aftermath of a long career when you are stripped of the authority that a police warrant card gives you and have to find a new career”
After completing his national service in Aden, a British colony in what is now Yemen, Brown’s father moved to Glasgow to start a new life.
But born and raised in Fraserburgh, a place the family returned to for every childhood holiday, he never quite let go of the idea of returning.
“I always felt my dad wanted to go back home to Fraserburgh at some point, although my mum would’ve been less than keen,” Brown says.
“In the police, he was also a firearms officer though the role wasn’t like today’s.
“He was on call if needed, because he had firearms training from the Army. And when he eventually left the force, like many others, he turned to taxi driving.”
That lived experience threads into The Cost, in which Blake – a Glasgow constable for 30 years – heads to Fraserburgh and takes up driving a taxi, returning to a place he hasn’t visited since childhood.
“It looks to the aftermath of a long career when you are stripped of the authority that a police warrant card gives you and have to find a new career.
“It’s not surprising that many police end up in security or taxis – they are used to dealing with the public and keeping things, including themselves, safe.”
Though inspired by his father’s experience, Brown’s approach to writing crime fiction is far from procedural.
“I’m not a writer who focuses on police procedure, most of my books are from the general public’s or criminal’s point of view,” he says.
“I’m a big fan of dropping my main character into an ‘alien’ world and seeing how they fare.”
Still, Brown wanted to ensure accuracy where it mattered. For The Cost, he collaborated with John Corrigan QPM, former assistant chief constable of Strathclyde Police and Scotland’s first head of counter terrorism.
“John was great at fact-checking the sections involving police procedures, although, like all authors, I did take a few liberties,” Brown admits.
The author grew up in Simshill, Glasgow, a neighbourhood known for its high population of police families.
“Strangely, my dad wasn’t one to talk about the police much,” he says.
“It was very much a separate world that he inhabited and not one he was keen to chat about, except with other police colleagues. Simshill was choc-a-bloc with officers. [Crime author] William McIlvanney gave [fictional detective Jack] Laidlaw a home there for that very reason.
“Many officers moved there after the police homes were sold off, so we were surrounded by uniforms. My dad was in A Division and that’s where Blake works in the book.
“I always got the impression there was an unwritten code back in the day, especially in places like the Barras. Maybe the odd eye was turned, but it kept a kind of peace.
“Still, it was a hard time in Glasgow: gangs, power cuts, three-day weeks, inflation. Being on the beat must have been brutal.”
That tension between past and present seeps into Blake’s character.
“He’s world-weary, jaded from the job, and frustrated because now he’s treated as ‘one of them’ rather than ‘one of us’,” Brown says.
Growing up surrounded by police, Brown admits he was somewhat blasé about the job.
“I don’t think the work police did then was ever properly appreciated”
Author Gordon Brown
“We lived and breathed it, I never got into much trouble, but I can see why some police kids might. My dad was inherently suspicious. It was in his DNA. Lying to him was not on, he could sniff out a porkie at a hundred miles.”
That legacy of suspicion, of being constantly lied to by the public, finds its way into the themes of the novel.
“My dad was quite strict, and my one regret is that he died before I ever got a real chance to talk to him on an adult-to-adult level,” Brown adds.
“I don’t think the work police did then was ever properly appreciated. He dealt with some awful people in his day, he never said who, but it was clear some days were bad. And back then, there was little to no counselling support.”
Despite its deeply personal roots, Brown is clear that The Cost is first and foremost a story designed to engage.
“It has to entertain. If the book doesn’t draw readers in, they won’t stick with it.
“But at the same time, there’s a lot of personal history in there. The 14-year-old version of Blake is based on my own childhood memories of Fraserburgh.”
Ultimately, The Cost is about reinvention.
“Blake is in his early sixties, leaving behind the only career he’s ever known,” Brown says.
“I’d like readers to take away the idea that it’s never too late to start fresh.”
The Cost was published by Severn House in April, and the sequel, The Fracture, will be published on November 4, 2025