Bloody Orkney by Ken Lussey (29 June 2021).
Bloody Orkney is a fast-paced thriller set in Scotland during World War Two. It’s November 1942. Bob Sutherland, Monique
Dubois and the Military Intelligence 11 team fly in to review security in Orkney, home to one of the most important and most
heavily defended naval anchorages in the world. But an unidentified body has been found. It becomes clear that powerful men
have things they’d rather keep hidden and MI11’s arrival threatens the status quo. Then Bob stumbles over a ghost from his
past and things get far too personal.
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Highways to the Highlands: From Old Ways to New Ways by Eric Simpson (15 July 2021).
For centuries travellers have been travelling north to the Highlands of Scotland. This book follows the main thoroughfares
north, using vintage and contemporary images to illustrate how they and the people using them have changed over time. The
book starts as many visitors to Scotland have done over the years, by following the Great North Road from Edinburgh to Inverness.
The reader continues north around the north coast and then the spectacular west coast.
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Rosy Wemyss, Admiral of the Fleet: the Man who created Armistice Day by John Johnson-Allen (9 June 2021).
Rosslyn Wemyss' life and career was both fascinating and brilliant - a most distinguished admiral who is very little
known. As the Allied Naval Representative at the Armistice negotiations on 11th November, 1918, he was responsible,
with Marshal Foch, for the creation of Armistice Day. One of the most illustrious of Scottish admirals, he was a
member of the Clan Wemyss, whose ancestral seat is Wemyss Castle in Fife, overlooking the Firth of Forth.
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The Highlands by Paul Murton (5 August 2021).
Paul Murton journeys the length and breadth of the spectacularly beautiful Scottish Highlands. In addition to bringing a
fresh eye to popular destinations such as Glencoe, Ben Nevis, Loch Ness and the Cairngorms, he also visits some remote and
little-known locations hidden off the beaten track. Throughout his travels, Paul meets a host of modern Highlanders, from
caber tossers and gamekeepers to lairds to pipers. With an instinct for the unusual, he uncovers some strange tales, myths
and legends along the way.
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The Night Before Morning by Alistair Moffat (1 July 2021).
June 1945. Hitler has triumphed, Britain is under German occupation and America cowers under the threat of nuclear attack. In the dead of night,
a figure flits through the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, searching for a hidden document he knows could change the course of history. The journal he
discovers, by a young soldier, David Erskine, records an extraordinary story. When Allied victory seems imminent, Erskine is in Antwerp, where he
witnesses a world-changing reversal of fortune as a huge mushroom cloud rises over London.
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In a Veil of Mist by Donald S Murray (11 March 2021).
Operation Cauldron, 1952: Top-secret germ warfare experiments are taking place aboard a vessel moored off the Isle of Lewis.
Local villagers Jessie and Duncan encounter strange sights on the deserted beach nearby and suspect the worst. And one government
scientist wrestles with his own inner anguish over the testing, even if he believes extreme deterrent weapons are needed. When a
noxious cloud of plague bacteria is released into the path of a passing trawler, disaster threatens.
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Phosphate Rocks: A Death in Ten Objects by Fiona Erskine (17 June 2021).
As the old chemical works in Leith are demolished a long deceased body encrusted in phosphate rock is discovered. Seated at a
card table he has ten objects laid out in front of him. Whose body is it? How did he die and what is the significance of the
objects? A mix of science and anecdote, layered and interconnected stories present the chemical works as a complex, beautiful,
dangerous and integrated whole; and explores what happens to those left-behind as manufacturing work disappears.
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Too Near the Dead by Helen Grant (1 July 2021).
For Fen Munro and her fiancé James, it is a dream come true: an escape from London to a beautiful house in the stunning
Perthshire countryside. Barr Dubh house is modern, a building with no past at all. But someone walks the grounds, always
dressed in lavender. Under a lichenous stone in an abandoned graveyard, a hideous secret lies buried. And at night, Fen
is tormented by horrifying dreams. Someone wants Fen’s happiness, and nothing is going to stop them -
not even death....
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Scottish Plant Lore: An Illustrated Flora by Gregory J. Kenicer (21 May 2020).
Scotland's plants define its landscape. Plants have shaped the country's domestic economy and culture over centuries, providing
resources for agriculture and industry as well as food, drink and medicines. They have even inspired children's games and been
used as components in magical charms. Drawing together traditional knowledge with the work of some of the country's finest
botanical artists, this book is a magnificent celebration of Scottish plant lore.
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Fake News by C.J. Dunford (31 May 2021).
When four high school children, and one dog, suffer at the hands of online media they come up with a plan to show everyone how little
they should trust what they read on the internet (actually, the dog only supplies moral support). They launch their own news site that
details amazing, shocking, fascinating, utterly believable but totally untrue stories. Their intention is always to come clean, and never
to target anyone, but success goes to their heads. Before long they are enmeshed in a world of spies and aliens.
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The Other Side of Stone by Linda Cracknell (31 March 2021).
This book centres around a Perthshire woollen mill, revisiting it over three centuries through characters as diverse as a 19th Century
stone mason and modern-day architect. The primary timeline follows Catharine, a cotton spinner from Paisley and fierce suffragette, who
has followed her husband home to the village where he’s taken on a job at the local mill. Both militant members of the Labour movement,
it is through her connection to the mill that the interweaving of the other stories is revealed.
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Leith-Built Ships Vol 2, Leith Shipyards 1918-1939 by R. O. Neish (30 April 2021).
The fortunes of the three main shipyards are followed through good times to eventual closure or assimilation by the man who would open
up the shipyard that took his name. Henry Robb Ltd, shipbuilders and engineers, began without a yard in which to build ships, but eventually
took over oothers. Leith Shipyards 1918-1939 continues the chronological story begun in Volume I and provides a fascinating illustrated story
that reveals the remarkable and ongoing story of shipbuilding.
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Dundee Pubs by Brian King (15 June 2021).
In Dundee Pubs, author Brian King takes the reader on a tour of the city’s most interesting, oldest and famous watering holes.
Along the way he answers such questions as how did the Phoenix get its name and just who was Doc Stewart? Illustrated throughout,
this book will be of interest to local residents, those with connections to the city and visitors. The city still boasts many outstanding
and historic pubs, though, some of them now listed buildings, and each with a fascinating story to tell.
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The House With 46 Chimneys by Ken Lussey (10 November 2020).
Life changes dramatically for Kaleb, Jude and Sequoia when they move to live with their aunt in a rural corner
of central Scotland. It’s the beginning of April 2020, the early days of the coronavirus lockdown.
Three local children they meet – in a socially distanced way – draw them into a two-century old family
mystery involving the haunting of the nearby ruins of Dunmore Park. Do they try to right a wrong that was
done in 1828, a wrong that has had consequences ever since? Or is doing so simply too dangerous?
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Everyday Magic by Charlie Laidlaw (26 May 2021).
Carole Gunn leads an unfulfilled life and knows it. She's married to someone who may, or may not, be in New York on business and
the family's deaf cat has just been run over by an electric car. But Carole has decided to do something different. She's decided to
revisit places that hold special significance for her. She wants to better understand herself, and whether the person she is now is
simply an older version of the person she once was. Instead, she's taken on an unlikely journey to confront her past, present and future.
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Edinburgh's Literary Heritage and How it Changed the World by Jan-Andrew Henderson (21 May 2021).
Edinburgh has a literary tradition like no other. In 2004, the capital became the first ever UNESCO City of
Literature and its book festival is the largest public celebration of the
written word on the planet. But that is merely scratching the surface. For centuries, work written, set and
published in the city, or directly influenced by Edinburgh, has changed the
face of the world. This book tells the fascinating history of Edinburgh’s literary legacy, and shows where it can still be found.
Read our full review.
