Scottish Crime

Improbable killers. A stubborn and relentless detective. Misleading evidence. To muddle the waters, a tempting young woman worms her way in the cold detective’s heart. McNamara, a Scottish C.I., fights crime in the streets of Edinburgh and in its suburbs. Diagnosed with Asperger as a child, the detective is meticulous, cold and dedicated. He is interested in doing his job and is a master in avoiding any kind of sentimental involvement. In the first novel, the C.I. chases an elusive killer who blends well with the people on the Nightingale Street and makes the police run in circle. A ...

Arran went missing in Edinburgh twenty years ago. The last time his parents saw him he was withdrawn and on edge where he’d once been happy and carefree. Still searching for their son, they turn to their last hope, true crime podcaster Cal Lovett. Cal begins looking for answers but is distracted by his sister’s murder trial. He’s so close to getting the justice Margot deserves. Can he finally leave the past—and Margot—behind? As Cal unearths disturbing evidence about Arran’s fate, he suspects the young man’s close-knit group of university friends are keeping secrets to protect each other.

Simon McLean takes the listener on an often hilarious, sometimes scary, always fascinating journey through the ranks of the Scottish police: from his spell as a rookie constable in the hills and lochs of Argyll; through his career in Rothesay; and to his ultimate goal: The Serious Crime Squad in Glasgow. Once there, listeners are taken into the squad room and ride along as terrorists are pursued, murderers brought to book and armed fugitives confronted; always peeking behind the veil of professionalism and order portrayed to the public.

From acclaimed author Quintin Jardine comes the latest gripping mystery in his bestselling Bob Skinner series, perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter May.

Anna and Finn investigate a young girl's disappearance which seems to be connected to an art heist years ago. Beginning in a tumble-down chateau in rural France and taking the listener on a thrilling chase across Europe, Confidence is another stellar novel from one of crime writing's most accomplished authors.

This work offers a cross section of murder cases ranging from the quest for Scotland’s independence in the 14th century right up to the late 1970’s and a serial killer who perpetrated five murders in less than a year. Each set of circumstances is challenging and evokes the history of the nation with cases which involve royalty, the heart-breaking loss of an entire family and the role of culpable homicide in the Scottish legal system in the early 20th century.

When Karin is taken on a romantic break by her loving partner Aaron, she can’t wait for him to propose. But her surprise weekend quickly becomes a nightmare from which she may never escape. They are staying by the beach at the Midland – a grand hotel where Karin used to work. And where Karin’s dangerous and obsessive ex, whom she has been trying to leave behind for years, is waiting patiently for her to return. Now all of Karin’s darkest secrets are being dragged into the light and her friends are turning against her.

A woman has been murdered and mutilated in her own home, with her liver cut out and a message left within it. Tasked with leading the case, DI Tudor Manx identifies several suspects, including the victim’s estranged husband. But all trails run cold. Then, another victim dies—and from the modus operandi. It seems that North Wales Police are dealing with a serial killer. But who would target the inhabitants of such a peaceful island?

Book One Ray Spalding's had enough of his wife, Paula. He's left his home in Edinburgh's Southside and headed for Belfast. It's safer there. Unknown to Ray, Paula's also had enough of him. She's not going back home. Not now, not ever. Jesse Spalding wakes up one morning to find both his parents gone. And he can't tell anyone or he'll be taken into care. As time passes and bills need paying, all Jesse can rely on are his wits, his friend Archie and his dad's 1950s record collection. Southsiders is a powerful short novel that follows the spiralling fortunes of Ray and Jesse, pushing father ...

Newly assigned to CID, Detective Constable Elizabeth Burnet needs to prove herself more than most. In an era rife with misogynistic attitudes, some see her as little more than a pretty face hired to make the department more palatable to the public, giving her the nickname 'The Friday Girl'. So when she stumbles across evidence of a nascent serial killer - dubbed "The Werewolf" by the press - her theories are dismissed as the product of an overactive imagination, and the more she tries to persuade people of the truth, the more she's alienated from her colleagues. But the killer is out there.

Wherever there was trouble in the world, one would find Martha McGillivray. The celebrated journalist had a nose for rooting out corruption and a passion for sticking it to the man. Unsurprisingly, then, eventually trouble finds her and she dies of Ricin poisoning whilst traveling on a train to Edinburgh. Back from a spell on a punitive training course for middle-aged male dinosaurs, Detective Inspector Russell McCord is under pressure to crack the case quickly. However, his superiors have forbidden all contact with the press. In particular magazine writer and amateur sleuth Amy Thornton.

Jack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth. Now he faces one last race—against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself—a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth. But the road will be hard. For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly. It all comes down to this. It ends here—now—in the most lethal and dangerous place Jack has encountered in all of his many adventures.

Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he’s dead, and it was no accident. Besides a distraught family and a heap of powerful friends, Carter’s left behind his share of enemies. So, who dealt the fatal blow? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks the violence up to the usual rivalries, but is it that simple? As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.

For 35 years, the United States and Russia each had their own superhero. Three days ago, America's hero died. Today will be bad. In the face of an overwhelming attack, one young woman - unassuming and anonymous - might be America's only hope. Her codename...COBALT BLUE.

When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt Nikki instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found. Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone.... A brilliant, thought-provoking and heart-wrenching new thriller about identity and the value of a life.

A memorial service witnessed in the historic Black Wood of Rannoch sets Rebecca Connolly on the trail of a baffling story. Fergus MacGregor told people he was going to Pitlochry for the day. He was never seen again. Five years later his deeply religious mother still holds a memorial in the place Fergus loved because of its connections to the outlawed MacGregor clan, the Children of the Mist. What happened that day in this last vestige of the great Caledonian forest? Does a family feud hold the key? Does an old recluse have the answers?

The Goldenacre—a masterpiece by the painter and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh—has been given to the people of Scotland. The beautiful canvas, the last work by the artistic genius, enthrals the art world, but behind it lies a dark and violent mystery. Thomas Tallis, an art expert with a trouble past, is trying to uncover the truth about the painting's complex history, while dogged newspaper reporter Shona Sandison is investigating a series of shocking murders in Edinburgh.

Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he’s dead and it was no accident. Besides a distraught family and a heap of powerful friends, Carter’s left behind his share of enemies. So, who dealt the fatal blow? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks the violence up to the usual rivalries, but is it that simple? As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.

It's the last summer for Kit Lamb: the last summer before college. The last summer with her high school basketball team, and with Dana, her best friend. The last summer before her life begins. But the night before the big game, one of Kit's players tells a ghost story about Daphne, a girl who went to their school many years ago and died under mysterious circumstances. Some say she was murdered, others that she died by her own hand. And some say that Daphne is a murderer herself.

All his life, "Johnnyboy" Steele has been running. First from an abusive father, then from the rigors of an approved school and a young offenders jail, and finally, from the harshness of adult prison. This book details how the Steele brothers staged the most daring breakout that Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison had ever seen and recounts what happened when their younger brother, Joseph, was falsely accused of the greatest mass murder in Scottish legal history.