William HS McIntyre Books in Order

If you want the very start of Robbie Munro: Relatively Guilty → Duty Man → Sharp Practice
If you want family stakes with the legal drama: Last Will → Present Tense → Good News, Bad News
If you want a later run with bigger complications: Stitch Up → Fixed Odds
If you want to sample McIntyre beyond the main series: One Last Second Chance → Alex Munro's Whisky Tour

William HS McIntyre grew up in Linlithgow in central Scotland and went on to study law at the University of Edinburgh. For about four decades he worked as a criminal defence lawyer, much of that time with Russel + Aitken, one of Scotland's oldest law firms. That long spell in court, police stations, and client meetings gave him the material that would later feed his fiction.

He writes from the side of the courtroom most crime novels leave out.

Before the books, there was the day job. McIntyre has spoken about years spent dealing with unusual cases, difficult clients, and the daily scramble of defence work, where you are expected to be in two places at once and somehow keep a business, and a life, running at the same time. That pressure shows up all through his fiction, which is one reason the books feel so grounded.

Writing had to fit around everything else. He is a father of four, and for a long time he was building novels in the gaps left by work and family life. He first self-published some of the Robbie Munro books before later finding a wider publishing home, which gives his career a practical, sleeves-rolled-up shape that suits the books themselves.

His debut, Relatively Guilty, introduced readers to Scottish defence lawyer Robbie Munro, a man who is smart, capable, funny, and very often one bad decision away from disaster. From there came books like Duty Man, Sharp Practice, Killer Contract, Present Tense, Stitch Up, and Fixed Odds. Readers tend to come for the legal cases, but they stay for the messy family life, the dry humour, and the sense that Robbie is always trying to do the decent thing in a world that does not make decency easy.

The humour matters.

McIntyre's novels are not courtroom fantasies where a brilliant lawyer sweeps in and fixes everything. They are full of suspects, judges, old grudges, financial strain, awkward loyalties, and the uncomfortable gap between what the law says and what justice feels like. He has also said that much crime fiction is told from the police point of view, while his books look at the suspect's only real ally, the defence lawyer.

Place matters too. Linlithgow and the wider Scottish legal world are more than scenery in these books. The town, the courts, the pubs, the local tensions, and the rhythms of Scottish speech all help shape the stories. Even when the plots turn dark, there is usually a sharp line of wit running through them.

He has also written outside the main series, including the standalone One Last Second Chance and the whisky guide Alex Munro's Whisky Tour, which plays with the voice of Robbie's ex-police father. More recently, after retiring from legal practice, he has had more room to focus on writing and speaking. The Robbie Munro books have also attracted television interest, which makes sense. They have strong characters, a clear setting, and a built-in feel for conflict that comes from real experience rather than borrowed thriller gloss.