Help tracking down novel/writer

Usual story.. browsing books in an airport lounge, came across one I quite fancied, didn't buy it and now can't for the life of me remember what it was..

I was browsing about November 2005.. The book was a collection of fictional stories (3?) about London (?) underworld characters.. probably they were originally three separate novels brought together into a special edition.. The character in the opening pages seemed to be a "heavy" of some sort and I seem to recall mention being made of him using a blow torch (or something equally grizzly)..

Maybe set in modern times, may be older..

Got the impression the books were gritty.. probably "dark".. also got the impression the writer had a few novels published..

any suggestions..? sorry I can't give you much to go on...

Could it have been something by Neil Gaiman? What you wrote reminds me of Neverwhere, but that's not three books.

Hi thanks ever so much for the tip..

Unfortunately, I don't think it was Neil Gaiman..

From what I read on the web about him and his works I suspect that the book I was looking at was more gritty, real world type stuff.. (I read an opening extract from Neverwhere)..

Maybe more David Peace/Jake Arnott-like

I haven't read the trilogy mentioned below, but since it fits most of your criteria, I wondered if i might be the one. W. Jane Rogers

Title: The Blowtorch Trilogy

Author: Read, Mark Brandon "Chopper"

Publisher: Floradale / Sly Ink
ISBN-10: 0957912188
ISBN-13: 9780957912182
Year Published: 2003
Series: Chopper
Binding: Paperback

Three Chopper classics in one volume:
Chopper 5: Pulp Faction.
Chopper 6: No Tears for a Tough Guy.
Chopper 7: The Singing Defective.
Crime fiction writers, from bored academics to Bondi butchers, have tried writing about the underworld. Only one has researched it with a gun in his hand.

"I always knew fiction was his go…I've read his police statements…" - Inspector Rod Porter.

I don't see it in the text but it is the the touchstones so perhaps it was in a deleted message bu it sounds like The Long Firm by Jake Arnott might be it.

The Long Firm is great. Mark Strong did an incredible job in the tv mini-series based on the book.