Swansong

The days are getting shorter and colder, and shops around the country are reminding us of the festivities to come to round off the year. We thought we'd do the same here at BooksfromScotland - we've got books here packed with thrills, spills and chills, as well as suggestions for gifting during the festive season. So despite the dark - we are letting in some light! Enjoy!

A Case of Matricide

A Q & A with Graeme Macrae Burnet

We are eagerly awaiting the final instalment of Graeme Macrae Burnet’s Inspector Gorski Mysteries, and so, to whet our appetite, we spoke to its author (and translator!)

A Case of Matricide By Graeme Macrae Burnet Published by Saraband

Hello Graeme, a hearty congrats for the publication of A Case of Matricide. Could you tell our readers a little bit of what to expect from the novel?

Thanks. A Case of Matricide is the final part of the Georges Gorksi trilogy, my sequence of crime novels set in the unremarkable French town on Saint-Louis. Here we find Gorski (the local chief of police) living with his aging mother and trying to untangle the connections between the appearance of a mysterious stranger in the town, a elderly woman who believes her son is trying to kill her and the death of a local factory owner. It feels quite action packed to me, but as with the other novels in the trilogy (The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau and The Accident on the A35), my main interest is the impact these events have on the central characters. Oh, and there’s also a fair amount of boozing.

This is the last book in your Inspector Gorski Mysteries. How does it feel to say goodbye to a character and a place, Saint-Louis, when you’ve spent such a long time in their company?

I’ll definitely miss mentally inhabiting the streets and bars of Saint-Louis. And of course I’ve become very attached to the character of Georges Gorski, but this is definitely the time go our separate ways.

What drew you to small-town France as a setting for your crime fiction?

I’m fascinated by the drama that lurks behind everyday events, the tensions and resentments that arise in local bars or workplaces. That interests ...

The Keelie Hawk by Kathleen Jamie

Our outgoing Makar’s newest poetry collection is a treat; celebrating language, people, nature and place. We’re thrilled to bring you a selection of poems, tantalising you with a little taster!

The Keelie Hawk By Kathleen Jamie Published by Picador

Killileepie

Mind hou we sclimt a cleuch whaur a wheen birks grou’d, bieldit frae hungry deer, syne follaed the burn till we cam tae an airie amang laigh hills? Norwast stuid snaw-happit summits, and alang the burnside lay larachs and green knowes: traces o the fowk at yaised tae bide here aw simmer, takkin tent o thir kye. The map gied the burn as the Allt na Maddy. Wolves maun hae drank here, aince.

Thur...

The Hebridean Baker: Scottish Cookbook

‘Perfect to share along with a dram of whisky to your guests on Hogmanay. Bliadhna mhath ùr!

The Book … According to Malachy Tallack

‘The most beautiful books are often those that make you look anew at something that previously felt familiar.’

Eleanor Morton’s Five Favourite Scottish Women

‘Scottish women often feel overlooked in history, and Williamina’s name should be much better known – she even discovered the famous horsehead nebula.’

David Robinson Reviews: Joshua in the Sky and The Bright Fabric of Life

‘Joshua in the Sky is more than just a memoir of grief and guilt.’

The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu

‘And then the screams start. Terror. I’ve never heard anyone cry out like this.’

The Specimens by Mairi Kidd

‘We took his body out the coffin,’ William said, all in a rush. ‘Myself and Hare.’

Two Times Murder: A Q & A with Adam Oyebanji

‘Two Times Murder is a genuinely fair play murder mystery. If a reader solves it, I’m delighted. And if they don’t, I want them to go back through the pages saying, ‘Aha, now I get it!”

Nova Scotia Vol. 2: New Speculative Fiction from Scotland

‘You’re in a room so white it reminds you where you have come from. The walls are glowing.’

The Bridge Between Worlds by Gavin Francis

‘As a child reading my Ladybird books I marvelled at the power and possibilities of bridges, and even dreamed of living on one. As I get older I realise how much each of us lives by them.’

The Edge of the Silver Sea by Alex Mullarky

‘She wishes, out loud, for a way home – and she is answered…’

DeMarco’s Scotland by Richard DeMarco and Roddy Martine

‘We are all explorers. For the lucky ones, there is nowhere else in this universe where such a diversity of riches and folklore is so readily embraced than on the roadsides and hinterland of Scotland, …

Bloodsongs by Mae Dainsangu

‘sometimes, i feel like a thief/ pick pocketing the death of a stranger.’

Scottish Vegan Baking by Jackie Jones

‘This delicious tart which is a combination of sticky toffee, raisins and crunchy nuts in a pastry case gets its name from the village of Ecclefechan in Dumfries and Galloway.’

Edinburgh: Our Storied Town by Donald Smith and Cath Outram

‘These are the shifting sands of storytelling…’

Benothinged by Alvar Theo

‘Instead of dwelling on my nocturnal nonsense, I took a huge shot of the night-night drugs and passed out somewhere around nine. No staring into space, no driving myself crazy. Just sweet, blissful no …

Nocturne by Christopher Rush

‘It was no lie. We were all sorry. The whole world had lost him. And the whole world had come to mourn its loss.’

David Robinson Reviews: Upon a White Horse by Peter Ross

‘Ross is always lucid, almost reverent, about the whole process of archaeological discovery.’
Abdullah’s Bear Needs a Name! by Yasmin Hanif

‘”Why don’t you guess?” said Abba. “You’ll know in your heart when you’ve found the right one.”‘
Food, Whisky, Life by Ghillie BaŞan

‘Pastries filled with ground nuts, baked fruit or creamy, semolina mixtures, and bathed in honey or …
A Chaos of Light: New Writing Scotland

‘The attic lowed like a crystal haal, last I saa her – / dark-eyed and ready tae furgit me.’
The Fathers by John Niven

‘The pleasures of the unexamined life and all that. Dan had read somewhere that the lower classes – …
Mrs Burke & Mrs Hare by Michelle Sloan

‘If you rip these bodies from the place that’s been blessed as their final place of peace, where fam …