A History of Scotland's Landscapes by Fiona Watson & Piers Dixon (8 March 2018).
It is easy to overlook how much of our history is preserved all around us, in the pattern of fields, forests, hills and mountains, roads,
railways, canals, lochs, buildings and settlements. A History of Scotland's Landscapes explores the many ways that we have used, adapted
and altered our environment over thousands of years. Full of maps, photographs and drawings, it offers a remarkable new perspective
on Scotland.
Read our full review.
Eyes Turned Skywards by Ken Lussey (30 April 2018).
Wing Commander Robert Sutherland has left his days as a pre-war detective far behind him. Or so he thinks. On 25 August 1942 the Duke of Kent, brother
of King George VI, is killed in northern Scotland in an unexplained air crash; a second crash soon after suggests a shared, possibly sinister, cause.
Bob Sutherland is tasked with visiting the aircraft's base in Oban and the first crash site in Caithness to gather clues as to who might have had reason
to sabotage one, or both, of the aircraft.
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The Posy Ring by Catherine Czerkawska (12 April 2018). When antiques seller Daisy Graham inherits an ancient house on the Hebridean
island of Garve, she is daunted by its size and isolation. She is attracted to Cal Galbraith, who is showing an evident interest in the
house and its new owner, yet she s suspicious of his motives with good reason, it seems. In parallel with their story runs that of
sixteenth-century cousins Mateo and Francisco, survivors from the ill-fated Spanish Armada who find safe passage to the
island.
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Her Cold Eyes by Tony Black (24 April 2018).
She's missing, and her mother knows who to blame. But nobody's listening. When the case falls to DCI Bob Valentine, however, he has no
choice but to listen. Haunted by the girl's cold gaze and her mother's hurt, the detective soon finds himself at the centre of the most
harrowing investigation of his police career. Uncovering a ring of ritualistic abuse that leads to the highest echelons of a degraded and
Satanic society, Valentine wonders how the world could contain such evils. And then the bodies start to mount.
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Miss Blaine's Prefect and The Golden Samovar by Olga Wojtas (25 January 2018).
Fifty-something Shona is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls. Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial
artist, linguist and musician, Shona is thrilled when selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a one-week mission
in 19th century Russia: to pair up the beautiful, shy, orphaned heiress Lidia Ivanovna with Sasha, a gorgeous young man of unexplained
origins. Then the body count starts to rise.
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Ghost by Helen Grant (19 February 2018).
Langlands House is haunted, but not by the ghost you think. Augusta McAndrew lives on a remote Scottish estate with her
grandmother, Rose. For her own safety, she hides from outsiders, as she has done her entire life. Visitors are few and far
between - everyone knows that Langlands House is haunted. One day Rose goes out and never returns, leaving Augusta utterly alone.
Then Tom McAllister arrives - good-looking and fascinating, but dangerous. What he has to tell her could tear her whole world apart.
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There's Always the Hills by Cameron McNeish (15 February 2018).
From his home in the Cairngorms, Cameron McNeish reflects on a life dedicated to the outdoors. He has for almost forty years written and talked
about walking and climbing in Scotland. A prolific author, he has led treks in the Himalayas and Syria, edited The Great Outdoors Magazine,
establishing it as Britain's premier walking publication, created new long-distance walks and made television series, campaigned for Scottish
independence and raised a family with his wife, Gina.
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In the Blink of an Eye by Ali Bacon (11 April 2018).
In1843, Edinburgh artist, David Octavius Hill, is commissioned to paint the portraits of 400 ministers who have broken away from
the Church of Scotland. Only when he meets Robert Adamson, an early master of the art of photography, does this daunting task begin to look feasible.
Hill is soon bewitched by the art of light and shade. He and Adamson become the darlings of Edinburgh society, immortalising people and places
with their subtle and artistic images. In the Blink of an Eye is a re-imagining of Hill’s life.
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The Restless Wave: My Two Lives with John Bellany by Helen Bellany (19 April 2018).
John Bellany was one of the most innovative 20th century British artists, a man whose work was described by the "Guardian" as "at once realist,
expressionist and surrealist". Helen Bellany married him twice. This beautifully-written book is the story of their turbulent lives together. At once
biography and autobiography, this is a searingly, sometimes shockingly, honest account of a relationship that encompassed both the sublime joy of true love
and the utter despair of failure, rejection and the fear of imminent death.
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Chrysalis by Jeremy Welch (11 January 2018).
Sebastian is a self-absorbed financier who spends his time wallowing in a social ambiance he despises. When Sebastian is fired from
his job, he turns to his ex-lover Zoe who urges him to pursue his passion for writing. Following her advice, Sebastian moves to
Amsterdam. Sebastian befriends the ethereal owner of a travelling Spiegeltent called Chrysalis. Sebastian surprises himself by
intervening in the assault of a prostitute. So opens the gateway to the underworld of Amsterdam and the possibility of his redemption.
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I'll Keep You Safe by Peter May (11 January 2018).
Niamh and Ruairidh Macfarlane co-own the Hebridean company Ranish Tweed. On a business trip to Paris to promote their luxury brand, Niamh
learns of Ruairidh's affair, and then looks on as he and his lover are killed by a car bomb. Niamh begins to look back on her life with
Ruairidh, desperate to identify anyone who may have held a grudge against him. The French police, meanwhile, have ruled out terrorism,
and ruled in murder - and sent Detective Sylvie Braque to shadow their prime suspect: Niamh.
Read our full review.
Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre (9 November 2017).
There has never been a homicide on Ciudad de Cielo. It's the 'city in the sky', where hundreds of scientists and engineers live and work
in Earth's orbit, building the colony ship that will one day take humanity to the stars. When a mutilated body is found on CdC, the eyes
of the world are watching. Top-of-the-class Detective Blake is sent to team up with CdC's Freeman. But the mismatched duo must learn to
cooperate quickly, before they become the killer's next victims.
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Fife's Railways Remembered by Michael Mather (15 March 2018).
Local enthusiast and photographer Michael Mather delves into the past with a selection of photographs mainly from the 1950s and 1960s,
but also dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century, along with some from more recent years, covering the main, secondary and
branch lines, locomotives, trains and infrastructure of the county’s railways, most of which has now disappeared. While steam locomotives
predominate, first generation diesels, most of which are now history, are also featured.
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Songs by Dead Girls by Lesley Kelly (19 April 2018).
When Scotland's leading virologist goes missing, Mona and Paterson from the Health Enforcement Team are dispatched to London to find him. Mona
has to deal with a boss who isn't speaking to her, placate the Professor's over-bearing assistant, and outwit the people who will stop at nothing
to make sure the academic stays lost. Meanwhile, back in Edinburgh, Bernard is searching for a missing prostitute, while Maitland is trying to
placate the Chair of the Parliamentary Virus Committee.
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The Other Monarch of The Glen by Peter Kerr (26 November 2017).
A quirky Caledonian caper from the bestselling author of Snowball Oranges. Lord Strathsporran, the chinless-wonder laird of a Highland estate,
plays host to a motley mix of international house guests who are paying sweetly to join him on a grouse-shoot. Fortune favours the devious when
the seriously skint laird and two of his visitors juggle their disparate skills to pull off what promises to be an extremely lucrative scam.
But lucrative for whom?
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Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean (4 January 2018).
Every time a lad came fowling on the St Kilda stacs, he went home less of a boy and more of a man. If he went home at all, that is. In the summer
of 1727, a group of men and boys are put ashore on a remote sea stac to harvest birds for food. No one returns to collect them. Why? Surely nothing
but the end of the world can explain why they have been abandoned to endure storms, starvation and terror. And how can they survive, housed in stone
and imprisoned by the ocean?
Read our full review.
