Book Club

The Blood is Still

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Tartan noir aficionado Douglas Skelton is on top form in this, the second in his series featuring reporter Rebecca Connolly. And you don’t get much more Scottish than this one – a man wearing full Highland regalia is found dead on the ancient battle site…
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KindlePrintReviews

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

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Written by Malcolm Mackay — In this debut novel by the Stornaway-based author Malcolm Mackay, we enter the cold world of Glasgow contract killer, Calum Maclean. With the venerable but respected hitman Frank McCloud recovering from a hip operation, young Calum is much in demand. He…
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News

New Talent November 2012 recap

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A little over a month ago, we started New Talent November 2012 with a review of Sam Hawken’s Tequila Sunset. During our theme month, we looked at a whole range of new authors and their books – from 1920s hardboiled in Michael Mayo’s debut Jimmy…
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Features

NTN: Malcolm Mackay interviewed

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January will see the release of an interesting sounding first novel by the promising Scottish author Malcolm Mackay. While many writers dream of escaping to a remote location to develop their prose, what’s interesting about Malcolm Mackay is that he was born in the far-flung…
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Features

Guest column: TF Muir on Tartan Noir

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Not long ago, the town of Stirling hosted Bloody Scotland, a literary festival dedicated to the one of the country’s finest exports: crime fiction. Tartan noir has arguably become as well known as Scotch whisky. But how can we account for the disproportionate success of…
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News

First look: Rebus returns!

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The Crime Fiction Lover mailbag was very kind to us yesterday, with the arrival of a novel that Ian Rankin fans are bound to be excited about. Yes, we’ve got our hands on Standing in Another Man’s Grave which sees the return of Rankin’s retired…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Gods and Beasts

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Written by Denise Mina — Last month, Denise Mina picked up the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award at the Crime Writing Festival held in Harrogate. This was for The End of the Wasp Season, and fans of the author must have high…
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