Scottish Thrillers

In the shadow of the Pentland Hills, a man has been callously struck down in front of his home. Tyre marks suggest it was no accidental hit-and-run. Somebody wanted him dead and as the man fights for every breath, they might still get their wish. Grappling with the demons he thought he could leave behind after months away on enforced leave, D.S. Malkie McCulloch resists pressure from his superiors to pass the case on to the road policing unit, convinced that whoever was behind the wheel will be waiting for the chance to finish the job.

Forty breathtaking short stories of gripping adventures, secrets and strange conspiracies. 'The Dust That Was Barren' by P. C. Wren. 'The Deserter' by Stacy Aumonier. 'The Lighthouse on Shivering Sand' by J. S. Fletcher. 'The Secret of the Smoked Spectacles' by William Le Queux. 'The 39 Steps' by John Buchan. 'Three Pennyworth of Luck' by Basil Murray. 'The Secret of Dr. Vaux’s Intrigue' by William Le Queux. 'A Thread of Scarlet' by J. J. Bell. 'How I Became a Secret Agent' by Dr. A. K. Graves.

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.

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.

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.

Rachel is no stranger to the darkness in the hearts of men. When the body of a young woman is found, tragically killed in her own home, Rachel is devastated to discover she knew the victim. Gillian helped her when she was at her lowest; now Rachel vows to find her friend’s murderer. When the killer strikes again, frighteningly close to home, Rachel sees a chilling pattern to his victims. As she races to decipher the clues, she unravels a twisted plan years in the making.

Portobello, Scotland. Grace McKenna is just back from a hearty breakfast at The Espy seaside pub when a perplexing mystery arrives at her door. Glamorous widow Sylvia Gordon is determined to find the truth about the death of her husband, Paul. Once a local celebrity with supposed psychic abilities, Paul is now the talk of the town after a deadly fall from the tower at a nearby college. The locals believe it was a tragic accident, maybe even a consequence of dabbling too deep into the psychic realm? But Grace has a feeling there's more than meets the eye…

In Scotland, the Gandiegow quilters are in an uproar when their favorite fictional quilters - the Buttermilk Guild - are killed off by a best-selling mystery author. Diana McKellen is called in by the publisher to fix this PR nightmare. It's said, there's no such thing as bad publicity, but Diana questions this long-standing notion when an editor is murdered at a book signing.

Having left the Highlands murder team behind and joined the shadowy world of the secret services, former DC Kirsten Stewart overhears a plot that strikes to the very core of Scotland's governance. As the stakes get higher and Kirsten becomes cut off from her superiors, can she stop the assassin before they eliminate their prime target. In her first solo mission, Kirsten Stewart finds herself in deep shadow and in receipt of disturbing news. Only by remaining incommunicado can she find out the intentions of a killer and stop the murder of Scotland's top politician.

After ninety-three well-lived years, Violet MacAskill is ready to simplify her life. Her eccentric solution? She’ll throw a decanting and decluttering party at her family home—a Scottish Baronial manor near the seaside town of Inversgail. She sets aside everything she wants or needs, then she invites her many friends in to sip sherry and help themselves to whatever they want from all that’s left. Janet Marsh and Christine Robertson, two of the women who own Yon Bonnie Books in Inversgail, enjoy themselves at the party. Not everyone who attends has a good time, though.

Jennifer MacKenzie being hit by a car was a tragic accident. Or so it seemed. Until Connor is summoned to a meeting with his girlfriend's dad, Duncan McKenzie. MacKenzie claims that Jen's accident was actually a message intended for him - and a way to force him to kill his trusted Lieutenant Paulie King, who has now mysteriously disappeared. His request to Connor is simple. Find Paulie and the men who hurt his daughter. Do whatever it takes.

I'm a protector of the ley lines, and I'm also the direct link to warlock magic. No wonder I'm amazingly amazing right now. Although, this amount of magic is making me shaky. Is any paranormal creature built to hold so much? Fighting the urge to use my magic every waking hour, I throw myself into the unfinished case of the Scottish mob coven and their poisoned drugs. My ignorance led me to believe I'd wrapped everything up with a bow. And yet, when our original culprit throws blame on the mob leader, we have to find evidence.

Marjorie Crowe lives in Kilgoyne, Scotland. The locals put her age at somewhere between 55 and 70. They think she's divorced or a lifelong spinster; that she used to be a librarian, a pharmacist, or a witch. They think she's lonely, or ill, or maybe just plain rude. For the most part, they leave her be. But one day, everything changes. Local teenager Charlie McKee is found hanging in the woods, and Marjorie is the first one to see his body. When what she saw turns out to be impossible, the police have their doubts. And when another young person goes missing, the tide of suspicion turns on her.

After accepting a generous opportunity to start afresh, Leslie Wills, eagerly begins his journey to the Scottish Highlands of Elphin, a settled village that sits huddled amongst the mountains. The people are welcoming, and the scenery is breathtaking. But deep within its Highland paths, a location rests hidden from the public's eye. An atmospheric location that entices you to learn the truth of its troubled past. But once you bear witness to its sights and sounds, its presences will never allow you to forget.

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.

It is a serendipitous encounter for the hapless DI Greg Byrne when retired sleuth James Munro stumbles upon his crime scene. And perhaps also for Munro himself, who, his protégé Charlie West having firmly snapped his apron strings, needs other lambs to wean. The day is far less auspicious for the victim in the affair, the unfortunate property developer Rebecca Barlow, who has been trussed up like a scarecrow in her yard. Though occurring off DI West’s Ayrshire patch, the investigation will soon intertwine with one of her own.

It’s twelve years since teenager Peter Ferguson drowned in Loch Ness—on the same night that Stephanie, her mother and her sister, Aurelie, were camping on its shores. In the shocking aftermath, their family and life as they knew it fell apart, and the sisters no longer speak. But now Aurelie is getting married, and Stephanie realises that a reunion might finally bring the truth about that fateful night to the surface…

Long held secrets, revenge, and murder. Eliza Thomson investigates…a suspicious accident, a hand-written note, and an old parish priest. A homecoming doesn’t go as planned in St. Giles; a small village nestled on the east coast of Scotland. Widow, mother, and former beauty, Mrs. Scott once walked away from all things dear to her. She’s a woman with a past, and now she’s back, determined to exact revenge for previous wrongs. But, somebody knows her plans, and they’ll do whatever it takes to silence her.

After his twin brother's imprisonment for murder, DI Fraser Brodie has devoted his life to catching the very worst criminals of the Hebrides. When a local mechanic is found dead and mutilated, Brodie is on the search for a murderer. But then more bodies start turning up, and it doesn't take long for Brodie to conclude he has a serial killer on his hands. The investigation isn't proving so easy to crack, and when he discovers the missing link between the victims has connections to his own past, the race is on to find the culprit before more damage is done...

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.