THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Burns Night, January 2000. In the early days of the new millennium, two burnt-out cars are discovered on a barren glen on the isle of Mull. Inside them, only teeth and bones.
Meanwhile, Ivor Punch is busy policing a protest when he meets a strange visitor purporting to be Robert Louis Stevenson, who speaks of an island that appears only twice a century. As smoke fills the air and bodies are discovered, Sergeant Punch searches for the crux of the mystery by looking to the past.
Amid peculiar forces at play, a freshly moored ferry full of curious characters and a Burns Night play to set the evening alight, he needs to decipher what is real or imagined – before the island falls into chaos.
The second book in The Mull Mysteries series from multi-award-winning author and musician, Colin MacIntyre, aka Mull Historical Society. And this time, for Sgt Ivor Punch, it’s personal.

The volume begins with the shaky foundation of the Stewart dynasty during the reign of Robert II (1371-1390) and traces its development to the demise at the Battle of Sauchieburn of James III (1460-1488) together with his exalted vision of Stewart kingship. The author shows how and why the period is dominated by the growth of royal power and the concomitant eclipse of the regional aristocratic supremacies that had dominated fourteenth-century Scotland. His vivid accounts of the changing religious, economic, social and cultural life of the fifteenth century kingdom are woven into and around the central political narrative.

A tale of exile, memory, and the call of the north

When a mutiny shatters a remote whaling settlement in Greenland, a handful of survivors are cast into an unforgiving world. Among them are a young girl, her brother, and the teacher who refuses to abandon them. Torn from their home and scattered across continents, their lives are bound by a single, haunting question: what does it mean to belong when the place that made you no longer exists?

From the frozen edges of Greenland to the storm-lashed coasts of Scotland and the salons of Denmark, The Running Wolf follows generations shaped by loyalty, loss, and the echoes of forgotten music. It is a story of those who run — and those who return — to reclaim what the past tried to erase.

Embrace the benefits of batch cooking with Batch from Scratch, the essential companion to the hit Channel 4 series.

Written by Suzanne Mulholland (aka The Batch Lady), this interactive planner features a comprehensive 28-day meal plan and a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes as seen on TV. Discover the joy of following a structured weekly batching routine with ease.

It includes a customisable meal planner, encouraging readers to adapt their batching to fit their family’s needs. With the ability to write directly into the book, readers will feel as though The Batch Lady herself has stepped into their kitchen to lend a hand.

With a 15-page introduction covering the fundamentals of batch cooking, you’ll learn everything from shopping and prepping to freezing and storage techniques. Ideal for busy families, solo diners, or anyone looking to bring more structure and ease to mealtimes. This is the ultimate method for cooking when you don’t like cooking.

Everybody says it is a dog’s life, but Sparky and George both knew that was just rubbish. Dogs were soooo silly, always running around after their humans, doing what they were told, chasing things, and BRINGING THEM BACK! Why on earth would you want to do that?

Whereas being a cat was the absolute very best.

Tasty treats, lots of nap’s AND the whole wide world was just waiting to be explored on the other side of the cat flap.

Full of adventure, ingenuous inventions, new friends, and some scary encounters, join Sparky and George as they take their first steps on an adventure that will change their lives forever.

Alan shares this exuberantly funny story of the imagined adventures of his two cats, Sparky and George, as they journey out through the cat flap and into the big bad world.

In the early 1960s, in the course of recording a Dunfermline mill building that was scheduled for demolition, surveyors discovered an incredible collection of over 800 glass plate negatives. Taken between the late 1860s and 1919, the photographs are a remarkable record of a bygone era, ranging from black houses in the Western Isles and Highland homes in the shadow of Ben Nevis, to remote castles in Argyll and busy harbour views in Fife.

The photographs are the work of Erskine Beveridge (1851-1920), a wealthy Dunfermline industrialist – and enthusiastic historian and archaeologist – who would become one of the finest amateur photographers of his generation. Fascinated by landscapes, boats, buildings and archaeological monuments, Beveridge’s images are not just fine, well composed representations of their subjects, but also convey a sense of what made Scotland’s places meaningful to him.

With a biographical introduction by Lesley Ferguson, this stunning volume highlights one of the nation’s earliest and most remarkable photographic collections.

Knapdale, Argyll. A place of beauty, tranquillity… and murder

When newly promoted DI Anna Vaughan is called to a case in remote Knapdale, on the Argyll coast, she welcomes the chance to escape her life in Glasgow – more specifically the mother-in-law from hell…

Ellen McIver, Baldrishaig’s local busybody, has been found dead. Run over ― repeatedly ― by a tractor belonging to local farmer Glen Cameron. The most likely culprit is Old Wullie, Cameron’s elderly father, who, despite his dementia, still likes to drive the tractor about the lanes. But once at the crime scene Anna can tell something sinister is afoot… this was no accident. Whoever drove that tractor did so with murder in mind.

With the help of local DC Jo McLean, Anna leads her first murder case as a DI. She soon finds that all is not as it should be in this corner of the Scottish Highlands. The locals have been living under a cloud of fear for months, and as Anna starts to uncover secrets buried for years, she is in a race against time to find a murderer hiding in plain sight.

Fans of Aline Templeton, Caro Ramsay and Marion Todd will not want to miss this brand new, gripping Scottish crime series.

Sarah Rhind survived 14 years in addiction and went on to become a footballer in Scotland’s top flight. Her remarkable life story began in the north east of Scotland as a football-loving child in a supportive family – but one who struggled with dyslexia and self-harm. Descent into drug addiction framed her early adult life, but through the years of suffering came redemption. Her association with the charity Street Soccer – and a rediscovery of her love for the beautiful game – played a key role in her recovery. Through passion and determination she rebuilt her life and is now a coach/co-ordinator with Street Soccer Scotland, where she helps improve the lives of vulnerable people through sport on a daily basis.

‘Haunting and seductive . . . I drank in this wonderfully sapphic, gothic tale with a sense of ever-deepening dread’ – Francesca May, author of This Vicious Hunger

Chilling, gothic and utterly gripping, The Brides is a stunningly original reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula – with a devastating sapphic romance at its heart.

‘Come to me, and be mine for eternity’

1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with chaperone and lady’s maid in tow.

But lady’s maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone Eliza falls prey to a disturbing wasting illness, the women hope to seek the healing waters of Transylvania. At a nobleman’s invitation, they set out for Castle Dracula.

In the depths of the forest, miles from civilization, their host reveals his true intentions; a monstrous ambition which will tear the women apart.

And not all of them will survive.

‘Dracula’s worthy successor . . . chills and delights in equal measure’ – Johanna Van Veen, author of Blood on Her Tongue

Perfect for fans of Hungerstone by Kat Dunn and The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

Author of the critically acclaimed The Wild Men, David Torrance explores another tumultuous and era-defining moment in British political history.

On Tuesday 4 May 1926, two million workers downed tools in the only nationwide all-hands strike ever held in Britain. The General Strike had begun, and the country braced itself for what many believed was a moment akin to the Russian Revolution, which had shaken the world only a decade earlier. Industry was deprived of gas and electricity; the buses, trains and trams all stopped; newspapers ceased publication; and workers abandoned mines and iron, steel and chemical works around the country.

The General Strike has entered our national mythology. Even though it lasted only nine days, it left a legacy of bitterness that has had a profound impact on politics.

Now, a century on, Torrance tells this dramatic story from the perspective of everyone involved, drawing on extensive archival research to recreate those nine days through the accounts of those who lived and breathed it. The result is an absorbing and comprehensive analysis of this unique episode in British history.

On 13 March 1996 a man walked into Dunblane Primary School armed with four legally owned handguns, and in less than four minutes fired 105 bullets, killing sixteen children and their Primary One teacher.

The gunman was notorious among local parents, politicians and police: for years he ran a network of popular boys’ clubs and was the subject of multiple complaints and investigations, but, despite considerable evidence of troubling behaviour, he was never charged. His crime shocked the world then changed the nation – but only after an extraordinary political battle.

Based on original archival research, unseen royal correspondence and exclusive interviews with parents, One Morning in March tells – for the first time – of the lead-up to that day but also the incredible and powerful true story of how, in their darkest hour, a band of parents used their grief as fuel in a fight with John Major’s Conservative government to forever ban handguns in Britain. It is a story of how Princess Diana, forbidden to comfort the parents in the immediate aftermath, urged their campaign on; of how Andy Murray, a pupil at the school, ultimately banished the shadow over his hometown by winning Wimbledon; and of how the grieving parents secured the tightest gun laws in the world.

From the award-winning author of The Seafarers and Wintering comes a fascinating exploration of the most miraculous substance on Earth: water.

It falls in a moment. When the heaviest droplets of ice can no longer be held, the first raindrop slips from the sky and plunges, down through the damp, cold air, thawing as it plummets. Splashing into the sodden hillside, rainfall merging with river source, it flows for the first time.

The Waterlands is a new story of water, revealing its natural rhythms and miraculous power. Follow a raindrop as it flows through diverse waterscapes: river sources in the upland moors; saltmarsh-flanked firths and estuaries; serene and spectacular lochs; crystal-clear chalk streams; blanket bogs that are both land and liquid, a thin skin of peat over millennia-old water.

On this epic journey, award-winning writer Stephen Rutt visits these places where life flourishes, revealing how water shapes the land, shapes our lives – and how we shape it in return. Beautifully blending geography, ecology, climate writing and social history, The Waterlands is a captivating retelling of the water cycle, and an urgent call to protect our most essential resource.

You’ll never see a raindrop the same way again.

Jemma would kill to end the housing crisis – one landlord at a time…

Jemma has lost everything… Well, the very little she had. Her toxic boyfriend has run off with her best friend, leaving Jemma alone in their flat, and she can’t afford the extortionate rent on her own. She’s aimless, depressed and, above all, furious. Slowly but surely, her fury finds its focus: landlords. If only something could be done about them…

When Jemma’s landlord has a fatal accident while carrying out a property repair, she stumbles across her life’s mission: to punish as many landlords as possible. She begins targeting landlords who have appeared on her favourite binge-watch, a home-improvement TV show where their greed is laid bare. It’s a messy job, but someone’s got to do it.

Governed by her own rules, Jemma is convinced her actions are just – but how long before this vigilante turns villain?

Under the Hammer is a darkly comic and highly topical crime satire, perfect for fans of How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie, Sweetpea by CJ Skuse and I Want To Go Home But I’m Already There by Róisín Lanigan – it’s as if Muriel Spark had written the TV series Dexter.

Across land, sea and time, the stones will summon them home . . .

‘Unpredictable and unputdownable . . . a stunningly good read’ SANTA MONTEFIORE
‘Cleverly layered and wonderfully compelling’ KAREN SWAN
‘A captivating, sweeping dual-timeline saga’ SORAYA LANE

Compelling, atmospheric, and spellbinding – it all begins with The Sea Stone Sisters. Combining magical realism with an epic family saga that spans decades and continents, The Sea Stone Sisters takes the reader to the most beautiful and aspirational locations in the world.

‘A gorgeous immersive epic’ KRISTIN HARMEL
‘The perfect successor to Lucinda Riley’ ZOE MARRIOTT
‘Evocative, immersive and completely involving’ CLARE FLYNN
‘An enchanting, edge-of-your-seat tale’ CHRISTINA COURTENAY
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The four of them had sat upon the fallen stones the night before Iris left.
Like the stones in their rings, the sisters were meant to stay together.
Now they were scattered across the world.

1931. When Iris Blackmore’s father knocks down the Sisters of Skara standing stones, a dark shadow falls on the Blackmore family. With his fortune lost and wife dead, his four daughters are forced to leave their home, taking only the rings they inherited from their beloved mother.
Iris is the first to depart, travelling east in search of an uncle who might be able to help the family.

Present day. Roz Chatton moves to London from Australia, bringing very little with her other than her mother’s old ring. Grieving and adrift, she stumbles on a painting of four ancient standing stones which ignites an uncanny connection to the ring on her finger.

Determined to learn more about the origin of the painting, Roz unearths the full story of Iris Blackmore, unravelling a family history she could never have imagined.

Four lost sisters. An epic journey home. Will you follow?
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The Sea Stone Sisters is the first of a sweeping and moving series, perfect for fans of Soraya Lane, Lucinda Riley and Clare Flynn. Let yourself be whisked away from Scotland to Ceylon and from Australia to London in this epic tale about family mysteries, unexpected love and enduring courage.

THE COMPLETELY UPDATED COLLECTION FEATURING NEW POEMS AND MUCH-LOVED FAVOURITES.

** 100s of 5* Reader Reviews **

OFFERING WORDS OF COMFORT TO BRING SOLACE TO THE DARKEST DAYS OF GRIEF, FROM THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER OF TO THE WOMEN and WILD HOPE.

‘Donna’s words speak to my heart’ Davina McCall

‘We all need more Donna Ashworth – her words change your perspective on life and offer hope in this crazy world’ Chris Evans

‘Powerful and comforting’ Dawn French

Losing someone casts us adrift in a lonely sea of grief, one that can be hard to navigate and is frequently overwhelming. Donna’s wise words help us feel less alone on even the hardest of days, and bring comfort and understanding. She also gently reminds us that love and grief are two sides of the same coin, and that great grief is born only of great love.

In this beautiful new package, Loss: The New Collection, is the perfect gift for friends and family when you’re struggling to find the words. These poems offer solace and hope in times of need – and an opportunity to reflect on the lives of those we’ve loved and lost.

Loss: The New Collection, features nearly 150 poems, over double that of the original edition of Loss. It includes previously unpublished works, and brings together all of Donna’s beautiful and poignant words for the bereaved from across her bestselling collections.

Scottish Islands: A Colouring Book – this is the first in a series of three islands colouring books.

Colour in the beautiful illustrations and read about the islands in Scots – a fun and quirky colouring book for children.

Colour in the pictures of the islands – Islay, Lewis, Barra, Colonsay and many more. The drawings are ideal for children or adults to colour. This is a colouring book with the added bonus of a bit of Scots language.

Contains an audio link to hear the Scots being spoken.

Carlo moves from his Italian hometown to London and begins life anew as a kitchen porter in an underground mice-infested kitchen. His coworker, Keto, a 40-year-old Ghanaian has quit his job many times but always returns, as if magnetised by the pot-wash.

Carlo searches for answers with his older and possibly less wise Lithuanian housemate Marrok, but Marrok is struggling to cope with memories of past tragedy as death is haunting him.

400 miles north Brazilian au-pair Brunilda arrives in Glasgow where everything is wee or grand and she’s a hen. Cultured-shocked by accents, sideways rain and food habits, her heart divided between the comfort of her family in Belo Horizonte and a new life in Scotland, she finds an ally in Kamila, a young Polish illustrator, with whom the line between friendship and love begin to blur.

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This is Home is a constantly changing exploration of friendship, belonging and what it means to forge your place in the world far away from home.

Luca Serra’s debut novel This is Home unearths the hidden corners of city life, where dreams simmer in kitchen sinks and friendships bloom in the cracks of hardship.

A multicultural cast of workers, immigrants, and dreamers in Glasgow and London navigate hard jobs, post-Brexit identity, and the bittersweet search for home.

Four young people, a Brazilian, a Ghanaian, an Italian and Latvian navigate the complexities of identity and belonging in a new country.

The long awaited second installment of Andrew Dempster’s indispensable guides to Scotland’s hills.

This groundbreaking exploration of the rich tapestry of lives shaped by the winds of change. For over three centuries, the people of Orkney and Shetland have ventured across the globe, leaving their mark on communities from the Arctic to the Antipodes. This meticulously researched book fills a significant gap in the historical narrative, offering a panoramic study of the motives, strategies and emotions of island emigrants.

Drawing on a treasure trove of archival materials and personal accounts, the author weaves together compelling stories that reveal the resilience and determination of those who sought new beginnings. From poignant letters to vivid diaries, these voices of the past illuminate the experiences of those who ventured far from home.