Scottish crime writer – and former Chronicle editor – Douglas Skelton has delved in the murky world of US crime fiction with his latest book.

The Janus Run, launched in Glasgow on Thursday, marks Douglas’s first work set outwith Scotland.

It has received positive critical reviews from fellow Scottish authors including Quintin Jardine, Ayrshire writer Michael J Malone and Denzil Meyrick.

Douglas describes it as “Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos” and said: “The Janus Run is the first book I’ve written that’s not set in Scotland.

“It is a chase thriller set in New York where a guy is framed for a murder that he didn’t commit.”

The book centres around protagonist Coleman Lang who sets out to clear his name after finding his girlfriend Gina dead in his New York City apartment.

However, untangling Gina’s past leaves Coleman with a deranged Italian hitman, an intuitive cop, two US Marshals and his ex-wife on his tail.

At the same time, he is trying to evade the clutches of the mysterious organisation known only as Janus.

Douglas added: “I get asked all the time where I got the idea from but I never know the answer.

“The opening came to me where this guy wakes up to find his girlfriend dead beside him.

“Another author had said to me ‘why don’t you write something that isn’t set in Scotland?’ so I did.

“I never know the ending, I don’t plan, I’m too lazy and impatient for that.

“ I just write and write and write and then the ending just comes.

“You then get the chance to fix anything in the early drafts and everything just tapers in nicely.”