THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Praised by Wayne Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the greatest and most passionate players to ever play the game, Duncan Ferguson, or Big Dunc as he is known, is larger than life in every sense. Measuring a towering 6 feet 4 inches in height, from the moment the striker emerged in British football in the 1990s, he was front and back page news.

On the pitch, fans loved Duncan for his roguish charm, his thrilling goals and his total commitment in every game. Fighting tooth and nail, he was a born leader and took no prisoners. Like his rival Roy Keane, he played close to the limit, and often crossed it. Such as the time he was sentenced to 3 months in Glasgow’s toughest prison for headbutting an opponent – the first and only time a footballer has ever gone to jail for a crime committed on a football pitch.

In BIG DUNC: The Upfront Autobiography, Duncan reveals, for the first time, the full story: the truth about his experiences in prison, his partying with African princes and Liverpool gangsters, his fighting with burglars, his making and losing a fortune, and how he turned his life around through his beloved Everton F.C..

In the process, the book sheds light on one of football’s most charismatic but notorious and enigmatic hardmen. Duncan is now a coach and manager at Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C.. He is a pillar of the community in Merseyside, giving back to stricken children who share a similar tough upbringing to his own. Duncan’s book takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of humour, drama and redemption. Buckle up.

We can fix you.

It’s a promise that Betsy has heard far too many times. From the child psychologist, from her husband, and from the wellness trends that scream at her from her screen.

So far, it’s been a lie.

But this time, she believes it. Because Betsy has been offered a place at Carn – a luxurious, unorthodox retreat, where healing really is possible. At Carn, she discovers that her imperfections make her unique, not weak. She isn’t broken, just special.

All Betsy has to do is follow the rules . . .

DCI Jim Daley is charged with murder – and everyone saw him do it – in the gripping new thriller from the bestselling author Denzil Meyrick.

In the middle of the night in Kinloch, the phone rings…

Detective Sergeant Brian Scott answers. It’s a message from his old friend and partner, DCI Jim Daley, which chills him to the bone:

‘She’s dead, Brian. I couldn’t take it anymore – I killed her! You have to help.’

Daley has been arrested for murder, and everyone saw him do it. The police have all the evidence they need to put him behind bars for life, but Scott still believes he’s innocent.

Join Little Puffling on an adventure!

Little Puffling watches the other birds soaring high above the cliffs as they prepare to fly away in the autumn and worries if he will ever be ready to join them.

But Puffling’s mummy takes him on an adventure to see how all the other young animals take their first steps – from seals and otters to orcas and deer – during which he gains confidence to make his first flight, sure in the knowledge there is always someone there to help him on the way.

Scotland in 100 Buildings by architect Roger Emmerson is a captivating journey through the architectural marvels of Scotland, seen uniquely through Emmerson’s personal experiences. This isn’t a dry history or textbook – it’s a lively, intimate account where each building tells its own story. Emmerson has visited every site featured, offering first-hand insights that bring these places to life, from iconic landmarks to hidden gems. His reflections aim to inspire readers to explore for themselves, rather than simply inform, making this book easy to pick up at any page.

Ideal for architecture enthusiasts, travellers and locals alike, Scotland in 100 Buildings will appeal to anyone curious about Scotland’s diverse buildings and the personal tales they inspire. It’s perfect for those seeking an approachable and authentic look at Scotland’s architectural legacy.

The Lady of Hirta by W.C. Mackenzie is an engaging historical novel that offers a fresh and thrilling exploration of 18th-century Scotland through the mysterious story of Lady Rachel Grange.

Readers are immersed in the perspective of Reverend Ferchard Ross, minister of the Kirk of Scotland, as he sets out to uncover the truth behind Lady Rachel’s infamous kidnapping and the events that led her to be imprisoned on the secluded Hirta, the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago. The novel’s rich detail and atmospheric setting bring the isolated island to life, celebrating Scotland’s heritage with authenticity and reverence.

Fans of historical mysteries, psychological thrillers and tales of complex relationships will find The Lady of Hirta irresistible. The layered characters and morally ambiguous relationships offer a deep, thought-provoking reading experience, appealing to those interested in character-driven narratives that question social norms and justice. Through Ross’ eyes, readers experience the secrets, power struggles and betrayals that define Lady Grange’s life and her tumultuous marriage to Lord Grange.

With vivid landscapes, a carefully crafted plot and the exploration of human complexity, The Lady of Hirta promises to captivate lovers of historical fiction, Scottish culture and anyone seeking an evocative story that lingers long after the final page.

This captivating memoir plunges readers into the raw beauty and challenges of life on rugged moorland. Our narrator’s unflinching portrayal of daily hardships, from caring for eccentric animals (an epileptic hare, a needy duckling) to tackling a stubborn bull, makes for a heartfelt and often humorous exploration of rural solitude and determination.

Ideal for readers of nature writing, memoir lovers and fans of rural tales, this book will attract those drawn to the works of James Rebanks and Raynor Winn. It offers readers an immersive story of survival, humour and hope amid hardship – a perfect recommendation for anyone yearning for an evocative, authentic slice of British countryside life, where every day holds its own simple, profound wonder.

Inspired by an infamous real-life case, The Mourning Necklace is the unforgettable new feminist historical novel from the Women’s Prize-longlisted author of The Maiden, Kate Foster.

They said I would swing for the crime, and I did . . .

1724. In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Hanged for the murder of her newborn child, passers-by avert their eyes from her cheap coffin on its rickety cart.

But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door.

It is Maggie. She is alive.

Bruised and dazed, Maggie has little time for her family’s questions. All that matters to her is answering this one: will they hang her twice?

The mystery of St Kilda’s residents are all revealed in the epic conclusion to Karen Swan’s historical series set in Scotland.

Jayne Ferguson has always been a keeper of secrets, most especially her own . . .

If there’s one thing Jayne Ferguson has learnt in her life, it’s that every blessing comes with a curse. She married the most handsome man on the isle of St Kilda – but he’s a bully. She inherited her mother’s gift of second sight – but only ever foresees her fellow islanders’ deaths. She has learnt to keep to herself, treading in the shadows and shirking the highs for fear of the lows.

When a needless death strikes at the heart of her home, Jayne’s bad marriage becomes worse and she finds solace with an unlikely friend. Glimmers of happiness tantalise her, though there’s no possibility for anything more, especially once word comes of St Kilda’s evacuation.

But as the day draws near, tensions on the island rise. Secrets are being forced to the surface, passions and enmities erupting with equal violence. A man is killed, as Jayne knew he would be, and her closest friends Effie, Mhairi and Flora are each implicated.

On the mainland, the villagers scatter into new lives, hoping distance means refuge. But then Jayne has another of her dreams and she knows the past isn’t done with them yet.

What is the most unsayable thing you have ever wanted to say to your parents? For newly single food journalist Candice Chung, there’s been one thing on her mind lately: she has never told them, ‘I love you.’ Simple. Reasonable. If only her estranged Cantonese parents weren’t so allergic to the word ‘love’.

Still, she’s determined to tackle what’s left unsaid. To find a way to unscramble what her family has been trying to tell each other all along – not in Cantonese or English, but with food.

As Candice dives into the rituals of family dining, and her parents offer to join her at restaurants she’s due to review, she begins to unravel how a decade of silence and distance have shaped their relationship. Through shared meals and culinary adventures they begin to confront the unspoken, and to unpick what it means to show care when you come from a culture where saying ‘I love you’ isn’t the norm.

Set against the backdrop of a burgeoning new relationship, grasped-at date nights mid-pandemic and an uncertain future across seas, Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You is packed with heart, humour and those bright-hearted moments around a dinner table that bring us together.

Guinness world-record breaking adventurer Mollie Hughes has explored some of the wildest environments on earth, from the top of Mount Everest to the vast frozen wastes of Antarctica, where she skied solo from the edge of the continent to the South Pole in a journey of over 700 miles through storm-force winds, 8-day whiteouts and temperatures as low as -45C.

With reference to her all-extreme experiences, and backed with psychological research, Breathe encompasses tales of bravery, risk and pressure on an epic scale and expertly turns them into valuable lessons that can be applied to our everyday challenges. In doing so Mollie shows how we can unlock our potential, control emotion, overcome fear, cope with psychological pressure and understand the importance of silence and headspace.

In her late twenties, poet Jen Hadfield moved to Shetland to make a new life. Here, in a rugged constellation of islands known for their isolation and drama, she found a place teeming with life, where rare seabirds blow in on Atlantic gales, an ancient language thrives, and a close-knit community is the beating heart of an entire world.

In Storm Pegs, Hadfield transports us to the islands as a local, introducing us to the remote and beautiful archipelago where she has made her home, and shows us new ways of living at the edge.

A gangland slaying. A missing movie star. When an actor goes missing in Glasgow, the clue to his whereabouts could be in the film script itself.

In the dead of night, a man’s body is found strapped to a chair in Glasgow’s Elder Park, his identity unknown. Forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod thinks the violence displayed at the scene suggests a gangland feud. And, when the post-mortem uncovers a bullet engraved with a snake’s head in the man’s stomach, Rhona’s suspicions intensify.

Elsewhere in the city, a major Hollywood movie is being filmed, but production comes to a standstill when the lead actor vanishes without a trace. As the news spreads, DS Michael McNab senses a chilling connection between the two cases – a brutal organized-crime storyline playing out in real life on the streets of Glasgow.

With fact and fiction blurring, all Rhona and McNab know for sure is that there is a vendetta at work that must be paid in blood. Can the script of the movie lead them to the killer before its gruesome finale comes to pass?

A SHOCKING CRIME. A MAVERICK DETECTIVE.
A FINAL CHANCE TO EXPOSE THE TRUTH.

Ray Lennox is determined to escape his darkest days. The former inspector has left Edinburgh for a fresh start in Brighton. Soon, his fixations and addictions have been replaced with quiet evenings and a rigorous fitness regime.

Then Lennox meets Mathew Cardingworth, a rich and smooth-talking property developer. Their encounter reawakens memories that have haunted Lennox for decades.

Lennox has no choice – he must confront the events of his childhood. But as he is pulled into a world of violence and murder, he finds himself asking: what will he sacrifice to achieve resolution at last?

DI Shona Oliver watches in horror as her fellow officer is pronounced dead.

PC Hayley Campbell drowns during a triathlon race in the Solway Firth. The postmortem reveals drugs in Hayley’s system, perhaps self-administered performance enhancers. But a puncture wound in the back of her wetsuit suggests something darker.

Shona makes slow progress on the case. There are other demands on her attention. The death of her old boss brings Shona under scrutiny. And the drug-related death of a teen at a festival – one which Becca is attending – has Shona on-edge.

Multiple people had a reason to want Hayley dead. Can Shona keep her head above water long enough to work out which one?

The latest thrilling installment in the unputdownable police procedural series by Lynne McEwan. Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Ann Cleeves and Neil Lancaster.

Pen and Alice, childhood best friends from Toronto, are in their first year at the University of Edinburgh. Each has come to the city for her own reasons.

Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s – now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox – lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time . . .

Meanwhile Alice, an aspiring actor, sees university as her route to the West End and beyond. The star of this year’s theatre production, she’s making the most of the power she wields as an object of desire – until an affair with her tutor begins to slip from her control.

Witty, warm and wildly unputdownable, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus is at once a love story and an irresistible mystery, a celebration of female friendship, and a study of how looking back can help us move forward.

When Jane – smart, funny, fortyish – says she’s a school counsellor, people assume it’s all about exam stress. If only.

Her teenage clients include Vaishali, who hates the perfect curves that draw the attention of adult men; Fraser, who cares devotedly for his mother but hurts his girlfriend by confusing real life with porn; and George, a trans boy who suffers from acute anxiety.

Harbouring terrible secrets from her own youth, Jane struggles to contain the anger these stories arouse in her. It’s only when she starts counselling her colleague Kass, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse whose trauma is resurfacing, that her thoughts turn to revenge…

Moving, entertaining and revelatory, Words Fail Me not only shines a light on adolescent agonies, it’s also a gripping page-turner with a compelling mystery at its core – and a hair-raising climax

Once, Brann belonged to Raven. She flew high above the world and she was fearless. But Raven was destroyed by Dragon. Brann’s home is gone and her crew is missing.

Determined to find the truth, Brann heads north. But what she and her friends learn will change everything. What happened to Raven’s crew? And what is the secret Brann is hiding?

Rory the dragon and his best friend Flora share a love of flying and bicycles, so they are shocked when they discover a mountain of discarded bikes, and appalled when they realise that rust from that mountain is running into the dragon clan’s drinking and gardening water.

More and more children start discarding their old, sturdy bikes in favour of brightly-coloured, plastic, inflatable, single-use replacements which look great (they even sort-of fly) but pop easily and cause injuries on impact – facts which are of no concern to Evilyn the Entrepreneur.

It’s up to Rory and Flora to put an end to Evilyn’s schemes and repair and recycle all the damaged old bikes, before anyone gets seriously hurt.

If the Stars Are Lit is a speculative mystery exploring the implications of AI, memory, and loss.

When the starship ferrying her to Earth is gutted by an explosion, Joss Carsten is left alone and adrift, struggling to reestablish contact with humanity. But her health is fading fast, and her isolation is triggering painful hallucinations of Alice, her long-estranged wife.

In an act of self-preservation, the ship’s onboard system generates a gemel – a sentient holographic AI, born from Joss’s own psyche. The catch? This one is a ringer for Alice.

Now, trapped with an “Alice” who knows all her secrets, Joss must confront her old ghosts as they race to unravel the mystery behind the ship’s destruction.