Showing results by narrator "Angela Ness" in All Categories

It's almost Christmas and, in a ballroom just beyond the cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Old Town, the most important event of the year is taking place–the Foxtrot Oscars. Mrs Hubbard's whole senior citizenship has been building towards the moment she and her Douglas take the Over Sixties Swingers Cup. What could possibly go wrong, dearies?

When a visiting yachting couple go missing from the Shetland oil capital of Brae, sailing skipper Cass Lynch overcomes her mistrust of the land world to ask for help from her old adversary DI Gavin Macrae. He discovers a link to international art theft and warns Cass to steer clear - but when one of her sailing pupils goes missing, she goes alone to discover the secrets of the Neolithic tomb known locally as a ‘trowie mound’.... Ghosts, folklore and a nail-biting finale at the local show come together to make an atmospheric, fast-moving thriller.

No one thinks very much at all about carwash employee Davey Burnet, until one day he takes the wrong customer's motor for a ride. One kidnapping later, he and the carwash are officially part of Glasgow's criminal underworld, working for a psychopath who enjoys playing games like "Keep Yer Kneecaps" with any poor bastard who crosses him. Can Davey escape from the gang's clutches with his kneecaps and life intact? Perhaps this polis Ally McCoist who keeps nosing around the carwash could help. That's if she doesn't get herself killed first.

It's the dark nights in the run up to Christmas, and sailing sleuth Cass Lynch's first night on dry land is disturbed by strange noises outside her isolated cottage. Tiny footprints in the moonlit snow trail from her front door before mysteriously disappearing. Soon Cass learns others were visited by the same tiny feet in the night. It looks like ingenious local teenagers playing tricks - but what happens when festive games turn deadly?

Two stalkers: Julie, a woman with revenge on her mind, and the Night Watcher, a psychopathic killer with a mission. One target: Nicole, an unfaithful woman with a weakness for other women’s husbands. Will Julie’s mind games drive Nicole over the edge into madness? Or will Nicole pay the ultimate price for her sins? And what will happen when the Night Watcher turns his attention to Julie? Detective Bill Murphy must find the killer before he kills again.

As summer draws to a close in Shetland, indomitable sailor Cass Lynch is preparing to look after eccentric, outspoken Tamar, who is returning from hospital following a fall. Recuperation should involve a peaceful week in Tamar's isolated cottage, but on arriving at the house, Cass finds there has been a break-in...curiously, only some old papers are disturbed. Then the body of a man is found in a cove close-by, and while it looks to be an accident at first glance, suspicions are quickly aroused - and soon the police have a murder on their hands.

For almost two decades before her or execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner. From her chambers, she wrote countless letters, many encrypted using complex ciphers to prevent her communications from being intercepted. In this way, she used language to exert her will and her influence, even while incarcerated. More than 400 years after Mary's death, the discovery of further encoded letters has led to renewed interest in the breadth of her encrypted correspondence in captivity.

Page is the sweet/clean edition of The MacKinnon's Bride by Tanya Anne Crosby - revised by a New York Times best-selling author and her daughter. England/Scotland 1124: Page FitzSimon has lived her entire life in the shadow of the man she called Father. Left to her own devices, with her mother imprisoned and her father disinterested, she still might never have imagined Hugh FitzSimon would deny his only daughter.

With intolerance and inequality increasingly normalised by the day, it's more important than ever for women to share their experiences. We must hold the truth to account in the midst of sensationalism and international political turmoil. Nasty Women is a collection of essays, interviews and accounts on what it is to be a woman in the 21st century. People, politics, pressure, punk. Keep telling your stories.

DCI Alison McCoist is back: newly promoted and even less popular. Chuck Gardner is the proud owner of both a confidential paper-shredding business and a serious betting habit. When Chuck finds some scandalous paperwork and McCoist investigates a rat-nibbled corpse under a flyover, they are both sucked into a deadly stramash of gangland wars and police corruption.

Fit a sotter! The Major Investigations Team is on the island and Sergeant Wilson is a woman on a mission. She must solve the murder of the lighthouse keeper before the MIT eat all the good police biscuits. The DCI might have ordered her to do door-to-door enquiries, but she was la-la-la-not-listening at the time. Convinced that the answer lies in Beacon Brodie's mysterious past, she has instead conscripted the best of the Losers Club minions to discover the truth.

1838, England: When eighteen-year-old Frances Dickinson impulsively marries Lieutenant John Geils, all her hopes for her future are quickly shattered as she finds there is much about her husband she did not know. A cruel and violent man, John keeps Frances in isolation on his family's estate, while spending her fortune and preying upon their maids. Frances yearns to break free from her marriage but the law is not on her side. Only when John's abuse escalates can she set in motion a daring plan to secure her freedom.

Highland Scotland was no place for a woman in the early 1500s. Life was turbulent and short, battles were waged, and sisters and daughters were traded as pawns in marriage. Catherine Campbell was one such young bride, betrothed to Lachlan Maclean and sent from her fine home to join him on the Isle of Mull, to bear his sons and heirs. But Lachlan proved to be nothing like the man of Catherine’s dreams, and she was forced to resign herself to enduring life with him for the sake of duty. Until the day when he threatened to take away the one thing she couldn’t sacrifice: her daughter.

The Queen of Scottish Gangland Thrillers is back! Donnie Black. Charming, successful... and utterly terrifying, he rules the Glasgow underworld with an iron fist. Nothing - or no one - will stop him and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty to grow his fortune. Layla Black. She's been married to Donnie for twenty years, enjoying the lavish world he has worked hard to create. But behind the perfect image, Layla is crumbling, numbing her pain with alcohol. But Layla doesn't know the secrets Donnie keeps - and the truth will send her spiralling.

Amy, Carole, Lenore and Susan have been friends since school but now they’re in their 40s, life seems to be selling them short. Encouraged by arch feminist and natural leader Amy, they embark on a graffiti campaign in their home town of Hamilton, scrawling anti-patriarchy slogans on the walls of local buildings.

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous. These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.

DI Shona Oliver’s past and present collide when James McGowan, her ex-classmate – now a famous actor – comes to the area to make a Robert Burns biopic. Shona is tasked with keeping him safe during filming on an isolated island in the Solway Firth, and her job is made much harder when a dead man wearing James’s coat is found on the beach in suspicious circumstances. It seems someone wanted James out of the picture.

They survived the storm of 1881. But can the Eyemouth women weather what's yet to come? When the sea-ravaged village of Eyemouth lies in ruin, Rosabelle Maltman flees Scotland, leaving behind her beloved son in her grief. Back home, sister-in-law Jessie exploits the village's desperation for her own gain, while matriarch Effie rallies the community, guiding the women toward hope and renewal. As old wounds heal and new bonds form, the women of Eyemouth discover that true strength lies in unity – and that every ending can spark a new beginning.

A storm takes everything. But can hope rise from the wreckage? 1881, a violent storm ravages the Scottish fishing village of Eyemouth, leaving devastation in its wake. Newlywed Rosabelle Maltman loses her husband, while her mother-in-law, Effie, is left to grieve not only her husband but all three of her sons. Across the close-knit community, families are shattered, and life will never be the same again.

Kirsty Campbell, former suffragette and a policewoman in Britain’s newly formed Women’s Police Service, returns to her hometown of Dundee to become the city’s first policewoman. Her struggle for acceptance in the all-male police force is difficult, and she fights for recognition. But Kirsty is not easily intimidated and, despite police attempts to curtail her activities, she defies her superior officer to pursue an investigation into a murder which is linked to missing orphan girls.