Scottish Short Stories

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a poet, novelist, and literary critic. He created the enchanting world of fairyland inhabited by characters like the snow-queen, the mermaid's son, ogres, dwarfs, monsters, magicians, and giants. The Pink Fairy Book contains 41 tales from Africa, Japan, Scandinavia, and Europe. They range from familiar stories like "The Snow-Queen" and "The Fir-Tree" to the obscure tales of the Tanuki. This collection contains stories like "The Cats' Elopement", The "Princess in the Chest", "Snowflake", and more....

Glasgow's finest feline sleuth, Leger McInnes, returns and this time he tackles his most disturbing case yet! His friend Winter is traumatised and unable to speak following the horrific experience of witnessing a murder. Leger vows to track down the murderer and find closure for Winter. This will not be an easy task for Leger. With Winter unable to help, despite knowing exactly what occurred and his sidekick Ginger incarcerated while she is in season, Leger struggles to piece together the events of the night of the murder. He seeks comfort from Samara, the pretty new Persian housecat who ...

Their love defied kingdoms. Now, it must defy fate itself. Haunted by the memory of his forbidden love, Prince Everald risks everything to escape the suffocating grip of the English crown. With war looming and betrayal lurking in every corner, he flees the palace in disguise, shedding his title to search for the only woman who ever truly knew his heart—Abigall. Enduring grueling labor in a foreign court’s kitchen, Everald becomes a shadow among the servants, following whispers that may lead him back to her. Lady Abigall, bound to Scottish royalty and torn between loyalty and love, ...

It's the start of a new year, full of possibilities and potential, but Annabella is stuck at home with flu and Leger is happy to sleep on her lap while she recovers - but when he finds two crimes are committed within minutes of each other, his detective instincts kick in. While Hugh braves blizzard conditions to help out at the scene of a hit and run, Leger finds an elderly man has been beaten and left for dead. Wondering if the two crimes could be linked, Leger struggles to piece the events of that day together and is hindered by meddling humans, freezing conditions and the disappearance ...

To Leger, Halloween is a nuisance. Everyone is talking about superstition and as a black cat he is in the firing line at this time of year. When his human's great-niece, Brianna, decides to dress as a black cat to go trick or treating and dress Leger in his very own costume, Leger decides enough is enough and leaves home, planning never to return. But just hours later on a stormy autumnal night, Leger embarks on his most difficult investigation so far... Following in Leger's footsteps, Brianna has gone on the prowl and he must find her before anyone else with sinister intentions does. ...

The festive season should be a time for generosity and goodwill, but in Glasgow, Leger finds that is not the case. His human companion's attempt to raise funds for a CT scanner for a local hospital has been thwarted by a callous thief who has stolen decorations from her seasonal garden display. Now Leger resolves to mend Annabella's broken heart by finding the thief. With Ginger nursing her newborn kittens, Isabella confusing him with erratic behaviour and Bob more interested in Hugh's discarded slipper than helping solve this mystery, Leger's only clue comes from an unexpected source - a ...

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They form a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, Ireland was jolted by various converging ideas and influences.

Secrets deepen, alliances shift—and love is no longer the only risk. As Lady Abigall’s secret romance with Prince Everald grows more serious, she dares to introduce him to the one person she trusts most: her loyal friend and maid, Mairi. But in the shadows, Alisa—driven by ambition and unrelenting desire—schemes to use their forbidden love for her own gain. When Abigall falls unexpectedly ill, a shocking revelation threatens to shatter the fragile world she’s built. As she struggles to hold her secrets together, Mairi finds herself caught up in a budding romance of her own—one ...

Now settled in his new home as a hotel cat on a tiny Scottish island, Leger is searching for activities to keep him busy. As always, his mind turns to sleuthing... At a Burns Supper hosted by Tony, the hotel's manager, in honour of the Lithuanian girls he has employed to work for him, the mystery of three recent thefts is apparently solved when two of the stolen wallets turn up in one of the girl's bags. However, Leger is not convinced that the accused, Emilija, is guilty and using his feline instincts, sets about searching for the true culprit to clear Emilija's name.

Now that Amber has been located, it's time to bring her home. The residents of Creamery Crescent and Livingstone Avenue gather together at the Goldsworthy home to hold a surprise welcome home party for Amber. However, the guest of honour has not arrived. Flooding in Kilmarnock has meant that Nicole and Peter couldn't reach her and they are left devastated when Amber's new human refuses to meet them to hand her over. However, in the middle of the night, Amber mysteriously turns up at her old home, with apparently no recollection of how she got there and who was responsible for bringing her ...

On Christmas Eve, Leger suffers the indignity of getting stuck trying to escape from a top floor window in front of a cluster of carol singers. So, he chooses to spend the most magical night of the year at his girlfriend, Ginger's home. This decision may be one he will live to regret as they wake up on Christmas morning with a basket of newborn kittens next to them. Leger vows to find the mother of the kittens before they lose their bond with her completely but it won't be easy. He has no idea where to start and nobody in the neighbourhood was pregnant in the first place. How will he begin ...

The neighbours of Glasgow's Creamery Crescent are taking a festive break. Of course, no trip would be complete without their pets so Leger and his closest friends travel north to enjoy the Christmas period in a secluded cottage in the Highlands. The celebratory mood changes when Nicole Goldsworthy witnesses a man and woman burying a body in a shallow grave. The murderers attempt to knock her down in their car but with help from her animal friends, old and new, Nicole survives the hit and run. The situation is complicated further by the arrival of Poppy, who followed the group from Glasgow ...

Leger's lifestyle has finally caught up with him and he is now living in hiding in the highlands with Annabella and Nicole. Life in the wilderness has many benefits but Leger finds it difficult to adjust to his new, temporary home and gets lost one evening. When he is rescued by a kindly American lady and her son and returned home by them, he is filled with gratitude. The visiting Americans invite their new Scottish friends for Thanksgiving dinner the following day, but Annabella has a bad feeling about this woman. Leger decides to throw himself into the celebrations until he accidentally ...

Leger McInnes is ready to retire. He still loves detective work, but after a lifetime of investigating crimes in the local area and beyond, his priorities have changed. Ginger has lost her sight, Bob has seizures, Nicole suffered sepsis and now his beloved Annabella has found a frightening lump. It's time for Leger to move onto his next life as a nurse. However, there's just one last job to do before he retires and that's to find the people who robbed Meg, his next door neighbour. All the suspicion seems to fall on Ingrid, a mysterious woman who has turned up on their doorstep claiming to ...

Malky Maguire is dead. The news has shocked the neighbourhood, but with so many dirty deeds recently, nobody is in the mood to mourn the local gangster and former cat lover. Leger sees it as his duty to solve the case, despite having no enthusiasm for it. With the help of his father, Ragnar, who has come to visit Maxine, Leger starts piecing together little bits of information that have been collected by Lily, Sparkle and Ragnar. Can Leger focus on the case while he is still mourning the death of one of those closest to him? Can he stop rejecting Ragnar and get over his fear of losing his ...

A wedding is due to take place but the freshly decorated venue has been sabotaged. Leger sets out to catch the vandal and reconnect with the sisters he hasn't seen since kittenhood. But they have a secret and despite Amber's attempts to protect him from the truth, it seems he is going to find out that family is about more than blood.

April Fools' Day has arrived and Leger can't help himself from playing tricks. With his new-found reading skills, as basic as they are, he manages fool Ginger's human, John, into believing he is a psychic cat who can predict the winner of dog races. Thinking Leger is the key to untold riches, John takes Leger's signs and signals seriously and plans to gamble with Leger's help. However, a trip to the local pub, and the slot machine there sheds light on the shady dealings of of the pub's owner.

In Leger's latest mystery, Irenie, who claims to be a psychic with the ability to read tea leaves and tarot cards visits the hotel with a warning for Annabella. Leger is not to be trusted! Leger then has a nightmare about Annabella where he is to blame for her untimely death and begins to wonder if perhaps he really is bad luck. However Lily is concerned by the psychic's behaviour and after some digging, she uncovers a startling truth about her. Can Lily reveal Irenie's true intentions before it's too late?

You might think that with Scotland locked down and nobody able to get in or out of their homes that there would be no crimes to solve. Leger certainly did, until one happened under his own roof. There are currently six humans staying in his home, including Annabella. As they all have chronic health conditions and require to "shield" they have gathered together to form a bubble with their pets and live together so they don't get lonely. Then Leger notices that £2,000 that Annabella had foolishly hidden in her bedroom has vanished. Nobody has come or gone from the house, so one of the guests...

It's February, love is in the air and spring is just around the corner - but so is deceit. Maxine has just moved in to the street across from Leger and she is so smitten with him that she instantly adopts and renames him. She and Leger bond quickly, so when she is accused of stalking and harassment by her former neighbours, Leger cannot believe she would do such a thing. Besides, she was with him at the time when the harassment occurred. But a cat is not an alibi who will stand up in court. Desperate to clear Maxine's name, Leger seeks help from his friends, both feline and human and along ...