Coming Up

The beginning of a new year is a funny thing; we're determined to make changes, but the dark, dreich days often discourage rather than inspire. It's true, though, that whatever time of the year, books will always entertain and inspire. And as 2026 has been designated the National Year of Reading, there's going to be a big push across the UK to get as many people as possible reading for pleasure. As ever, BooksfromScotland will be here to keep recommending the best Scottish books, making that pleasure accessible to all. In this issue we have a fabulous mix of books being released in the first quarter of 2026 - page-turning mysteries, epic fantasies, brilliant poetry, inspirational nature writing, entertaining children's books and much more! So read on, and treat yourselves!

The Cut Up & The Shadows and the Dust

David Robinson Reviews

David Robinson shows his appreciation for original and compelling characterisation in crime fiction.

The Cut Up By Louise Welsh Published by Canongate

To The Shades Descend and The Shadows and the Dust By Allan Gaw Published by Polygon

Sometimes, if they’re in a particularly diffident mood, you’ll hear crime writers say that theirs are the easiest novels of all to write. At the very least, they’ll say that about the opening chapters. Most, after all, start off with a body being found, then a detective has to be summoned, then the pathologist has to explain how death happened, then there’ll be a few suspects and hey, before you know it, you’re halfway through your first draft.

Yet if you actually study crime fiction, you’ll get a rather different story. If, for example, you are lucky enough to be taught by Louise Welsh on the MLitt course in creative writing at Glasgow University, she’ll teach you that crime fiction is never just about the crime. Other things – character, place, originality – matter at least as much, if not more. And as she shows in her latest novel, she practises what she preaches.

True enough, The Cut Up begins with the discovery of a dead body. But after that, just count the original ways in which Welsh subverts the genre. This all starts with the man who discovers the body. Tell me, for example, how many gay Glaswegian auctioneers you have already come across as lead characters in crime fiction. No? Me neither. Welsh’s Rilke is such a one-off that he can even get by without needing a first name.

Then there’s the mode of death. In The Cut Up, this is by means of a hatpin through the eyeball. Trawling through every novel known to Chat GPT, this seems to be quite original, although it does have a category fo...

A Death in Glasgow by Eva MacRae

A Death in Glasgow is an addictive new addition to the Glasgow crime fiction canon. This extract sets the scene for our detective, the tormented Sergeant May Mackay.

A Death in Glasgow By Eva MacRae Published by Century

Holly knows she’s being followed. The baseball cap pulled down, hood up, face shadowed, but she knows. She keeps craning back over her shoulder, pretending to be on the phone. Maybe that’ll make them back off. But there’s no one she can call. Nobody will believe her; else they’ll say it’s her own fault.

Along Union Street, the pubs are emptying into the cold neon night. Shapes come barrelling into her, forcing her off the icy pavement into the path of buses and Deliveroo bikes.

Haw, hen, watch where you’re going.

The temperature’s plummeted. With her big coat on and her legs pumping like pistons, her hair’s sticking to...

A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford

‘Teenage protagonists have a special place in fiction, offering a view from the no-man’s land between childhood innocence and adult selfhood.’

The Delusions by Jenni Fagan

‘As a writer you dip in and out of the eternal every time you write.’

Poochie Pete and His Very Big Feet by Dougie Payne

‘Oh mate, your paws are like a dinner plate.’

Symphonic by Jim Crumley

‘Everest is … was … should be … a sacred mountain.’

Saltswept: A Q & A with Katalina Watt

‘I’ve always been obsessed with folkore around the sea and I think coming from two island nations – Britain and the Philippines, I’m interested in places where the economy and history is entwined with …

All At Sea by Jonathan Whitelaw

‘One of the requirements of being a crime writer, you get to do horrible things to and in places you love!’

Secret Agent Nessie by Gary Chudleigh and Laura Howell

‘”I had a lot of fun writing for Jelly in particular,’ says Lego comics author Gary Chudleigh. ‘I took reference from every wee Glaswegian angry grandpa I knew.”‘

Dàn nam Ban by Ceitidh Chambeul

‘Bho thùs tha i air d’ aithneachadh – / d’ ainm daonnan air blas a bilean. From the beginning she knew you – / your name ever on her lips.’

The Wise Witch of Orkney by Anna Craig

‘Elspet turns her thoughts to what lies ahead but her foresight fails her; this is a situation beyond her imagining, the future shrouded in thick haar.’

Original Sins by Linda Duncan McLaughlin

‘As a child I had wondered, of course, why I was so different. Why I hadn’t inherited the boldness, the temper, the sheer brawliness of my mother’s boisterous family. Or the dark good looks and humour …

Common Ground: A Q & A with Elissa Soave

‘I’ve always been interested in how community works, what makes a good community, and how is it that some people find themselves outside the community.’

Devour Everything by Sarah Stewart

I want to make you good things. / To simmer and fold / until cream and sugar clot / into caramel

The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier

‘It cried again, loud enough to shake the ferns at Kensa’s waist and call her towards it, towards Elowen, towards nothing she had ever seen before.’

In Search of Gems by Kenneth Steven

‘It still amazes me that these magnificent shells grow in a river. Never mind whether they have pear …
Winterbourne by Elisabeth Wolf

‘The Coopers stared at each other for a second, two seconds. ‘It’s a sign—’ said Cooper.’
David Robinson Reviews: From Scotland with Love by Fred Bridgland

‘There are so many unsung heroes in Fred’s book that I almost lose count.’
Winter Round Up of New Scots and Gaelic Books

‘what would happen if someone really scrieved in thir ane langwij / didn’t turn on their mouth lit i …
David Robinson Reviews: Blurred Faces by Allan Radcliffe

‘Radcliffe writes with an enviably economical and engaging style.’
Alfred Buckham: Daredevil Photographer

‘ALFRED BUCKHAM (1879–1956) was a daredevil photographer. A maverick of early aviation, he created h …