Allan Gaw’s novel, The Silent House of Sleep, won the 2024 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, and deservedly so. The historical mystery introduces Dr. Jack Cuthbert in a story that beautifully entwines Cuthbert’s years in medical school in Edinburgh, his time serving in World War I, and a case in post-war London. Cuthbert is a complicated,… Continue reading The Silent House of Sleep by Allan Gaw
Tag: Edinburgh
The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard
Last Thursday, I mentioned I had slowed down while reading Alex Howard’s The Ghost Cat. Even when I finished, my opinion didn’t change. While I enjoyed the early years of Grimalkin, the cat from Edinburgh, I didn’t enjoy the second half of Grimalkin’s lives. By 1902, Grimalkin was a fifteen-year-old aging cat in Edinburgh. As… Continue reading The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard
Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
I’m a big fan of Kelley Armstrong’s Rip Through Time series. I like the story of Mallory Atkinson, a 21st century police detective stuck in the body of a housemaid in Edinburgh in 1869. But, I really like the way Armstrong incorporates the historic laws, medicine, and roles of women into her stories. Disturbing the… Continue reading Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
The Poisoner’s Ring by Kelley Armstrong
I liked Kelley Armstrong’s second Rip Through Time novel, The Poisoner’s Ring, even more than I liked the first one. Armstrong examines women’s roles in 1869 Edinburgh, contrasts women’s rights in Scotland with that of England at the time, and examines life through the eyes of a modern-day detective who is stuck in the past.… Continue reading The Poisoner’s Ring by Kelley Armstrong
A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong is probably best known for her Rockton series, but her new time travel mystery, A Rip Through Time, marks the debut of a new series. It’s going to remind some readers of Julie McElwain’s Kendra Donovan books, but it’s a different time period, a different setting, and a police detective instead of an… Continue reading A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong
The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
A gorgeous cover. Descriptions of Edinburgh, Scotland at Christmastime that would make anyone want to be there, even a snow grinch like me. The Christmas Bookshop is another delightful novel by Jenny Colgan, with a little bit of romance, and a great amount of family and bookshop life. Have you noticed, though, a common trope… Continue reading The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
The Loch Ness Papers by Paige Shelton
Paige Shelton’s fourth Scottish Bookshop mystery, The Loch Ness Papers, was one of my favorites in the series. Eccentric characters, a very unusual bookshop, and a wedding, all in an atmospheric setting, bring so much to this book. Bookseller Delaney Nichols has to find a minister for her wedding. She’s rushing into a church to… Continue reading The Loch Ness Papers by Paige Shelton
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin is going to be the guest of honor at Poisoned Pen’s September Mystery Conference. It’s a two-day conference, and it’s a celebration of Rankin’s thirty years of publishing in the United States. Here’s the link to information. http://bit.ly/2rfGunJ That also means it’s time I picked up some of Rankin’s Rebus mysteries. I’ll admit,… Continue reading Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton
When Delaney Nichols lost her job at a small museum in Kansas, she had no idea she would end up in Edinburgh, Scotland in the middle of a murder mystery. But, then, she had answered an ad for “a bold adventurer”. Paige Shelton introduces the intrepid amateur sleuth in the first Scottish Bookshop mystery, The Cracked… Continue reading The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
Recently, the editorial cartoonist for the local newspaper raved about Ian Rankin’s books, and I realized I had never read a Rebus crime novel. That’s as bad as the days when I said how much I loved police procedurals, but was saving Ed McBain’s books for retirement. By now, I’ve read some of the 87th… Continue reading Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin