Books
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction finalists unveiled
The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which celebrates outstanding historical novels published in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, has announced its 2022 longlist. Thirteen novels are in contention for the £25,000 prize, with settings spanning from the 8th century BC up to the 1960s, and from all four nations of the United Kingdom…
Read MoreNew crime thriller gets ready for release
A Scots crimewriter’s latest novel is set to be released next month. The Blood Tide by Neil Lancaster, who lives in the Scottish Highlands, is publishing in hardback on March 31 with HQ Digital. This is the second stunning thriller in the incredible DS Max Craigie series – the first, Dead Man’s Grave, was longlisted…
Read MoreA real life adventure story that sounds like a movie
Do you fancy abseiling into an erupting volcano? Living off two sea slugs and a crab for a week? How about being locked in a bunker for ten days without so much as a sliver of daylight? Me neither. These impossibly testing environments may seem fit for Tom Cruise’s next Hollywood blockbuster, but in reality…
Read MoreA celebration of countryside mysteries
John Wright clearly knows his stuff and his knowledge and enthusiasm come across clearly in this thoroughly engaging book. A Spotters Guide to Countryside Mysteries will add to any time spent rurally or just outside, whether it be woods, fields or coast. It asks and answers questions that you probably never thought of until you…
Read MoreSpooks and scares from all over Scotland
It’s perhaps not surprising that a country with a history as long and often bloody as Scotland’s, is home to a raft of myths and legends centred around things that go bump in the night. This collection of spooky tales gathered by Alistair Kerr focuses on the vivid imaginations of some of the country’s best…
Read MoreBake Off winner Peter’s cookbook comes up a treat
The Great British Bake Off is a seemingly unstoppable phenomenon. There’s something intrinsically British in its appeal and the good cop, bad cop judging formula that was Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood seems to have transitioned nicely with the programme’s change to Channel Four and with Prue Leith’s slightly less good cop taking the reins.…
Read MoreScots playwright Rona Munro adapts her TV script
One of Scotland’s most acclaimed playwrights has been brought to book. The multiple award-winning Rona Munro has written numerous productions for stage, including Dirt Under The Carpet, Bold Girls, and Frankenstein. Some of her most famous stage work is the history cycle The James Plays, James I, James II, and James III, which were first…
Read MoreA gripping thriller from author Craig Robertson
Loneliness is a killer and it’s Grace McGill’s job to clean up the mess when a dead body has lain undiscovered for weeks or even months. This fascinating thriller had me hooked from the first chapter. Robertson is well-kent for his crime writing, so it’s little wonder that the vivid descriptions of the scenes of…
Read MoreThe perfect companion for munro baggers
Following on from his 1995 book The Munro Phenomenon, Andrew Dempster has written this updated tale of the mountains for a new generation of baggers. In doing so he brings to light the latest achievements in climbing them all and looks back to discover a little-known man who was a key player in the creation…
Read MoreA memoir of a life spent fishing on the River Tweed
An evocative account of one man’s life spent fishing on the Tweed is being released this spring, a story of family, tradition, conservation and the Scottish countryside. Andrew Douglas-Home’s memoir recounts a lifetime’s fishing, from Connemara on the Irish West coast to the Test in Hampshire, from the Don in Aberdeenshire to the Wye, but…
Read More