A Proper Person to be Detained by Catherine Czerkawska (4 July 2019 ).
On Christmas Night in 1881, John Manley, a poor son of Irish immigrants living in the slums of Leeds, was fatally stabbed in a drunken quarrel.
The murderer went on the run, knowing that capture could see him hang. A few generations later, author Catherine Czerkawska begins to
tease out the truth behind her great-great-uncle's tragic death. But she uncovers far more than she bargained for. Catherine gives voice to people
often maligned by society and silenced by history.
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The Danger of Life by Ken Lussey (10 May 2019).
It is late 1942. Group Captain Robert Sutherland's first week in charge of Military Intelligence 11's operations in Scotland is not going smoothly.
An investigation into a murder at the Commando Basic Training Centre in the Highlands take an even darker turn that draws Bob in personally. He is also trying
to discover who was behind an attempt to steal an advanced reconnaissance aircraft; and then Monique Dubois in MI5 asks for his help with an operation
of hers in Glasgow that has gone badly wrong.
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Common Cause by Kate Hunter (1 July 2019).
It's 1915 and Britain is at war as Kate Hunter's sequel to The Caseroom opens on the next stage in the lives of Iza Orr, skilled compositor,
and the workers in Edinburgh's print industry. At a time of momentous events, we step alongside Iza as she copes with unexpected complexities
of patriotism, women's suffrage, worker victimisation and a historic wartime lockout. Printers are denied reserved occupation status but, with
bankruptcies looming, the jobs of Edinburgh's dwindling number of female hand typesetters are on the line.
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Fixed Odds by William McIntyre (4 July 2019).
(A Robbie Munro Thriller) Defence lawyer Robbie Munro is looking forward to the birth of his second child, while at work he’s called
to defend George ‘Genghis’ McCann on a charge of burglary, and Oscar ‘the Showman’ Bowman, snooker champion, on one of betting fraud.
Genghis has stolen – and lost – a priceless masterpiece, while Oscar doesn’t seem to have a defence of any kind. With promises of great
rewards, Robbie has never been more tempted to fix the legal odds in his favour.
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Hard Down! Hard Down! The Life and Times of Captain John Isbester from Shetland by Captain Jack Isbester (30 April 2019).
Hard Down! Hard Down! describes the eventful life of a Shetland man in pursuit of his ambitions - to reach the top in his profession,
to find a wife, to cherish a family, to do his job well and to be respected by his peers. The account is enlivened by extracts from
numerous well-chosen family letters, diaries and postcards revealing the minutiae of shipboard and family life 120 years ago.
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The End of the Line by Gillian Galbraith (6 June 2019).
After the death of a leading haematologist, antiquarian book dealer Anthony Sparrow clears out his mansion of its books and papers.
He soon begins to question the real circumstances of the old man's death: was he in fact murdered? The answer might be found in the
personal papers which Sparrow unearths. But as he closes in on the answer, the perspective and everything which he was sure about
dissolves into darkness and shadows.
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The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergie (7 February 2019).
It is 1911, and Jean is about to join the mass strike at the Singer factory. For her, nothing will be the same again.
Decades later, in Edinburgh, Connie sews coded moments of her life into a notebook. More than 100 years after his
grandmother's sewing machine was made, Fred discovers a treasure trove of documents. His family history is laid out
before him in a patchwork of unfamiliar handwriting and colourful seams. He starts to unpick the secrets of four
generations, one stitch at a time.
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Wild Light: Scotland's Mountain Landscape by Craig Aitchison (4 October 2018).
Wild Light is a stunning panoramic exploration of the Scottish landscape by photographer Craig Aitchison, winner of the
inaugural Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. Produced over seven years and shot entirely using a
traditional Hasselblad film camera, this remarkable body of work captures the essence of the Scottish wilderness through
the seasons and portrays the Highlands and Islands at their most beautiful.
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The Nature of Spring by Jim Crumley (4 April 2019).
Spring is nature's season of rebirth and rejuvenation. Jim Crumley chronicles the wonder, tumult and spectacle
of that transformation, but he shows too that it is no idyll. Climate chaos brings unwanted drama to the lives
of badger and fox, seal and seabird and raptor, pine marten and sand martin. Jim lays bare the impact of global
warming and points the way to a conservation vision that embraces everything from the mountain treeline to a second
spring for the wolf.
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Down to the Sea by Sue Lawrence (21 February 2019).
When Rona and Craig buy a large Victorian house up from Edinburgh's Newhaven district once teeming with fishing boats they plan to
renovate and set it up as a luxury care home. But something is not quite right: disturbing sounds can be heard when the sea
mists swirl; their unpredictable neighbour makes it clear that the house was not always a happy family home.
And their characterful' historic pile has a gloomy cellar harbouring relics from days gone by. Meanwhile, back in the 1890s...
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Eilean: The Island Photography of Margaret Fay Shaw (18 October 2018).
Margaret Fay Shaw took her first photographs of the Hebrides in 1924 whilst travelling through the islands by bicycle.
Her collection of some 9,000 photographs and film were taken mainly on the Hebridean islands of Uist, Barra, Mingulay,
Eriskay, Canna and the Irish Aran Islands, and form a key part of the magnificent Campbell collections at Canna House,
where she and her husband made their home. This book features almost 200 of the best of her island
photographs.
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Archie's Lights: The Life and Times of a Scottish Lightkeeper by Archie MacEachern and Anne MacEachern (30 April 2019).
Born at a clifftop lighthouse in 1910, Archie's life was spent in the world of Scottish lighthouses. Compiled by Anne MacEachern and written
in Archie's words, this account portrays the man and reveals a past way of life. From peacetime through war, dealing with goats, shipwrecked
sailors or German spies, the story brings vividly to life the challenges of living and working at a lighthouse.
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Murder in the Merchant City by Angus McAllister (7 February 2019).
Annette Somerville, a young single mother, earns her living in a high-class Glasgow sauna parlour, keeping her respectable
home life separate from her professional activities. During a series of murders in the city, Annette realises that all of
the victims have been regular customers. What should Annette do? No one else seems interested, and going to the police will
cost Annette her job. But Annette's new boyfriend could be the murderer's next victim.
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Thunder Bay by Douglas Skelton (7 March 2019).
When reporter Rebecca Connolly is told of Roddie Drummond's return to the island of Stoirm she senses a story. Fifteen years before
he was charged with the murder of his lover, Mhairi. When he was found Not Proven, Roddie left the island and only his sister knew
where he was or what he was doing. Now he has returned for his mother's funeral - and it will spark an explosion of hatred, bitterness
and violence. Defying her editor's wishes, Rebecca is determined to discover the secrets surrounding Mhairi's death.
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The Burning Glass: The Life of Naomi Mitchison by Jenni Calder (13 June 2019).
Naomi Mitchison was a novelist, socialist, feminist and tireless campaigner for sexual freedom. She lived through the entire twentieth century
and wrote more than seventy books. Her political activism took her from the Soviet Union to her adopted Botswana as a champion of liberty and
equality. The Burning Glass draws a fascinating portrait of a truly inspiring life. This is the first biography of Naomi Mitchison to cover the
entirety of her life, a life that saw her challenge convention and use her social position to proomote her beliefs.
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The Great Scuttle: The End of the German High Seas Fleet: Witnessing History by David Meara (15 May 2019).
After the German surrender in November 1918, the German High Seas Fleet was interned at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The German commander,
Admiral Von Reuter, ordered that his fleet be scuttled on 21 June 1919. Most ships began to sink within hours, witnessed by a visiting group of
school children. This book follows the events of that day, drawing on the eyewitness accounts of those who were there.
Read our full review.
