Scottish Thrillers

A wicked Scottish winter has just begun when pioneering female physician Sophia Jex-Blake calls on Detective Inspector Ian Hamilton to investigate the suspicious death of one of her patients - a railroad lineman who she believes succumbed to the horrific effects of arsenic poisoning. The most provocative aspect of the case doesn’t escape Hamilton: the married victim’s numerous sexual transgressions. Now, for the first time since the unexplained fire that killed his parents, Hamilton enters the Royal Infirmary to gain the insights of brilliant medical student Arthur Conan Doyle.

With the lovely Priscilla Halburton-Smythe away in London, Hamish Macbeth, the constable of the small Scottish town of Lochdubh, pines for company during the long Scottish winter. He gets his wish - and more - when a troupe of flashy, urbane filmmakers clamors into the nearby town of Drim. Before long bedlam erupts around their make-believe mystery - and culminates in the sudden appearance of one very real corpse.

In Clan MacKenzie, we fight for each other. We die for each other. And when I fell for Chevelle, those same rules applied to her. She loves me, but hates the family business. So, I hid the villain in me until today. Today, I need to do what must be done and that requires the help of the same people she would rather us keep our distance from.

After a young man's body is discovered by a newlywed couple inside an abandoned caravan, the police initially speculate whether his death was accidental. However, the investigation takes a dramatic turn when they uncover the victim's true identity. The deceased has a deadly past, and barely paid the price for the heinous crime he committed. DCI Harry McNeil is assigned the task of identifying the victim’s killer, but the case soon becomes shrouded in secrecy. The man's past is far more complex than anyone had anticipated.

A simple case of a missing sister. Or is it? When Ian Skair is invited to an ancient castle perched on a rocky promontory of the Angus coast, he expects to find a routine missing person case. Little does he know, the Laird of Drumlychtoun and his family have more secrets and black sheep than Ian could have ever anticipated. As Ian uncovers secrets and intrigues, thefts and legends, he finds himself and the family in a dangerous situation. Can he reunite the laird with his sister and discover the truth behind her disappearance? Or will the family's secrets be too much for them to handle?

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.

A mutilated body is found dumped at Cowane's Hospital in the heart of historic Stirling. For DCI Malcolm Ford it's like nothing he's ever seen before, the savagery of the crime making him want to catch the murderer before he strikes again. For reporter Donna Blake it's a shot at the big time, a chance to get her career back on track and prove all the doubters wrong. But for close protection specialist Connor Fraser it's merely a grisly distraction from the day job.

Lady Audley is universally adored: Beautiful, kind and charming, she enamors all whom she meets. It is not until the strange disappearance of widower George Talboys that her behavior takes an odd turn. George's friend, Robert Audley, Lady Audley's nephew-in-law, is on the case; an upper-class layabout turned detective, he is determined to get to the bottom of things.

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.

One winter's night, bookseller Delaney Nichols and her coworker Hamlet are invited to a Burns Night dinner, a traditional Scottish celebration of the poet Robert Burns. She's perplexed by the invitation, but intrigued. The dinner takes place at Burns House itself, a tiny cottage not far from the Cracked Spine bookshop but well hidden. There, it becomes clear that Delaney and Hamlet were summoned in an attempt to make amends between Edwin, Delaney's boss, and one of the other invitees, who suspected Edwin for burning down his own bookshop.

Delaney Nichols is delighted with her life in Edinburgh, working at The Cracked Spine - a shop that specializes in hard-to-find books and artifacts. Outside the church where Delaney is searching for a reverend for her upcoming wedding, she stumbles across Norval Fraser: an elderly man obsessed with the Loch Ness monster. Always attracted to the interesting and unusual, Delaney befriends Norval. But when his nephew is found dead, the police decide Norval's obsession has moved from monsters to murder.

DCI Matilda Darke and her team have been restricted under special measures after a series of calamitous scandals nearly brought down the South Yorkshire police force. Now Matilda is on the trail of another murderer, an expert in avoiding detection with no obvious motive but one obvious method. When his latest victim survives the attack despite her vocal cords being severed, Matilda is more convinced than ever of the guilt of her key suspect. If only she had a way to prove it.

Heading back to work the day after she returns from her European honeymoon, Delaney Nichols is excited to get back to the Cracked Spine. But as she disembarks the bus and hurries toward the shop, she and another woman collide, sending a stack of books the woman is carrying to the ground. Delaney's hapless victim's name is Mary, and she and Delaney can't help but notice that they bear an uncanny resemblance to one another. According to Mary, they both also look like the long-beheaded Mary Queen of Scots.

When Edwin, Delaney's boss at the Cracked Spine bookstore, leaves town on secret business, Delaney is called upon to guide his yearly literary tour around Edinburgh. But on the first night of the tour, at the inn where the tour group is staying, the inn manager falls—or is pushed—off the roof of the inn, and killed. Then, one of the tour members disappears, leaving a trail of puzzles in his wake. In a race against the clock, Delaney sets out on the expedition of her life, following clues around Edinburgh to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Cal Lovett's sister, Margot, has been missing since he was a child. When Marc Dubois, The Woodland Killer, learns of Cal's true-crime podcast, Finding Justice, he invites Cal into his cell to talk. Dubois has famously refused to speak about his crimes, so why has he asked Cal to meet with him? And why does Dubois know so much about him?

There's something rotten in Wyoming, and it's not just the smell of cow pies - the first whiff is coming off the Laramie County Cattlemen. Right off the bat, Duff notices something odd: no small-time ranchers allowed. It's big leaguers only. And none are bigger than Brad Houser, owner of the sprawling Twin Peaks ranch. He's up in arms over the small-timers claiming the unbranded mavericks who escape their herds. Which is perfectly legal. Houser has a plan to stop these former cowboys from taking their runaways. For $1,000, Houser will make the small ranchers go away - six feet under.

Mary Rose Moreland and Simon Blake are the perfect couple: successful young professionals in Philadelphia, attractive, madly in love, and ready to start a life together. When they travel to England for Simon to ask her parents' permission to marry Mary Rose, he learns an unsettling secret: Mary Rose disappeared when she was a little girl while the family was vacationing on a remote Scottish island. She reappeared mysteriously 33 days later in the exact same spot without a scratch on her and no memory of what had happened.

When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is brought in to analyse a shallow grave on Scotland’s west coast, she is disturbed by a bundle of twigs crafted into a stickman and left in the victim’s mouth. Then, when a young woman is reported missing from a nearby campsite with another sinister figurine left in her van, it seems that someone is targeting wild campers. An idyllic coastline known for providing peace and serenity, now the area is a hunting ground.

A referendum on Scottish independence is only days away, and the campaign has been expertly orchestrated by First Minister Susan Ward. All signs point to victory for the nationalists. But when senior civil servant John Millar is shot in a Glasgow alley on a furiously rain-soaked night, his death triggers a chain of catastrophic events. An incriminating phone number and video are found in his possession.

When a wealthy local landowner contacts her about a case so sensitive he can’t even discuss it over the phone, Grace is instantly intrigued. Russian collector Sacha Komorov lives out of the public eye, despite his immense wealth and marriage to a famous ex-prima ballerina. As Grace gazes at the ominous silhouette of his Scottish estate, Castle Traprain, with its high walls and thrusting turrets, a shiver runs down her spine. Komorov himself is just as forbidding as he discloses the disappearance of a priceless rose-diamond Fabergé egg from his collection.