Scottish Crime

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.

Glasgow: When a body is pulled from the River Clyde, DCI Andy Gilchrist can't understand why he's been dragged from his St Andrews patch to investigate. But the victim didn't jump, he was pushed, and his disposal has the hallmark of a gangland killing. Fearing this may be just the beginning, Gilchrist and DS Jessie Janes race to get the lowdown from old contact Arletta Shepherd, matriarch of an infamous crime family. But she's gone deep underground, hiding from a threat far worse than the police.

At 8 a.m., the first shots are fired. At 1 p.m., the police establish the gunman has a hostage. By 5 p.m., a siege is underway. At 9 p.m., DI Helen Birch walks, alone and unarmed, into an abandoned Borders farmhouse to negotiate with the killer. One day. One woman. One chance to get everyone out alive.

The 30th gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's bestselling Bob Skinner series, not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner may have left the police service, but he's never far from a case. When his old mentor on the force, Jimmy Proud, finds himself in a desperate situation, Skinner gets pulled into a murder investigation that's been closed for 30 years.

When Claire regains consciousness after a stranger causes her car to crash in a snowstorm, she is frantic to discover that her nine-year-old daughter, Emma, is missing from the back seat. Then Emma is found in the woods nearby, unharmed but cradling a child’s skull. She claims it ‘called’ to her – and she can hear another voice nearby. Meanwhile, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is trying to discover the identity of a corpse found badly burnt in a skip. The two cases are linked in ways they could never have imagined.

DI Jack Knox's Edinburgh team are busy dealing with a series of violent rapes when a man is found murdered on a residential street. The detective splits the under-resourced squad and follows up the murder himself, quickly establishing that there is no shortage of individuals who would have wanted the man dead. The victim had secured private investments for NewTech, a video games company that fell foul of copyright law. A lot of serious people lost serious money. Whilst Knox treads on eggshells and traces the finances, the rest of the team focus on the rape.

His victims are young, beautiful and coldly mutilated. He calls himself the Beijing Ripper. Li Yan, head of Beijing's serious crime squad, must stop him. Just as pathologist Margaret Campbell finds an insight into the killer's sick signature, Li receives a letter from the killer, betraying his cruel intentions. There's no way Li can misinterpret the Ripper's motives: he wants to tear Li and Campbell's lives apart, and write the darkest chapter in Beijing's history.

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.

When eight-year-old Cait Yorke goes missing on a remote island off the coast of the wild Scottish Highlands, PC Fiona MacLeish is quickly sent to investigate. But a gale is gathering force, and Fiona becomes increasingly concerned for a little girl braving the strong winds alone. As Fiona questions the locals, she soon realizes that they are hiding many secrets. What is this island, and who really lives here? Then a boat violently crashes off the coast of the island. On board, Fiona discovers the body of a man who has clearly been murdered.

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 ...

All Sergeant Hamish Macbeth ever wants is a quiet life in the tranquil surroundings of Lochdubh, his home village in the Scottish Highlands. Although the area he polices is vast, he's happiest when he's working alone, yet the police authorities insist he has an assistant. In the past, they have supplied a variety of problematic misfits, but they surpass themselves with their latest effort - an American named James Bland.

The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever. Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at a travellers' site, and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while granddaughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists targeting a retired female astronaut...putting her own life at risk.

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.

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.

‘When a person becomes news, his business is my business.’ Stories of Crime & Detection Volume Seven contains a novel and a novelette featuring Julian Mendoza. Crime reporter Julian Mendoza is neither young nor good-looking, nor blue-blooded. He smokes a filthy pipe, has a marvellous landlady from Scotland, walks with a limp, is kind to down-and-outs but unkind to policemen, is rude to society ladies; and is quite prepared to do anything to ensure his reputation as the greatest crime reporter in Fleet Street. Death Croons the Blues. Burglar Bill Cuffy breaks into blues singer Adele ...

Ein erholsames Wochenende in den Highlands steht ihr bevor, bei dem sie traditionelle schottische Backwaren probieren, sich im Fliegenfischen versuchen und lernen kann, wie man einen „wee dram“, einen kleinen Schluck Whisky, genießt. Doch als sie in der Schlossbibliothek über eine Leiche stolpert, wird Gemma in einen Mordfall verwickelt, der so verwirrend ist wie ein kompliziertes Schottenmuster!

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?

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.

DCI 'Mac' McNeill, haunted by unresolved trauma, faces his most devious adversary yet in a case that defies logic and threatens to unravel his world. As leader of Edinburgh's Serious Crime Unit, Mac is thrust into the hunt for a cold-blooded killer who once wielded power from the peak of society. Now, orchestrating twisted games from the shadows, the killer weaves a complex web of deceit, challenging Mac's every instinct and escalating tension, distrust, and confusion both professionally and personally.