Books
Evil is just one floor away in a pacey read
Setting aside associations of Edinburgh’s cobbled streets with one ‘Boy Wizard’, Anthony O’Neill has crafted a rather more sinister reality. ‘In Edinburgh, evil is just one floor away,’ he writes. Protagonist Cat Thomas relocates to the capital’s Dean Village to flee death threats related to her job as a fraud investigator, only to find that…
Read MoreA travelogue of Britain’s most notorious climb on Skye
Simon Ingram is not alone in his fascination with the mighty Cuillin, but this breeze-block-sized tome is a veritable paean to the Skye mountain ridge that sits among the clouds. Broken into three sections – ascent, traverse, and descent – it is primarily a travelogue of Ingram’s own battle to conquer Britain’s most notorious climb.…
Read MoreSeminal Scots work given audiobook treatment
Over many years, people have asked writer Billy Kay why he had not recorded an audio version of his classic book Scots: The Mither Tongue. Knowing what a huge undertaking it would be, he always cited time and other commitments as the main reasons. The Covid lockdown changed everything, so he finally decided to commit…
Read MoreWalter 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…
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