gripping historical thriller set in Inverness in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden from twice CWA award-winning author S. G. MacLean. Perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Andrew Taylor. Hector’s flamboyant delivery of himself into English hands, while repaying a debt of honour, could easily be seen as symbolic of some of the Prince’s more quixotic decisions and goes some way, perhaps, to explaining why, despite their passionate convictions, the Stuarts could not prevail against the ruthless pragmatism of the English state. And, finally, we smile in satisfaction as the fraying strands of the prologue are neatly caught up in the denouement. Ah yes, we think, the seeds of defeat were always there because, in the end, politics is all about people. Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

I cycled from Culloden to Cawdor Castle, I went a couple of times to Dunlichity Church, went walking there,” she said. Leakey’s was said to be haunted by their ghosts, and I couldn’t quite shake off the idea that maybe the spirit of the Jacobites were retained there.” I was especially interested in the Grande Dames, that while fictional did reflect the important role that women played in the Jacobite cause. MacLean also noted various nonfiction works that would be useful for further reading. There’s a couple of chapters set in Castle Leod at Strathpeffer which wasn’t yet open, so I had to write the chapters with what I could glean from the internet.The novel begins with a prologue in which prisoners taken after the unsuccessful Jacobite rising in 1715 are plotting escape.

The reading around the Jacobite cause and history has been very intense and there isn’t a happy ending to it. And, through the web of allegiances the family owes to other supporters of the Stuart cause, we swiftly develop an empathy with the sacrifices, the commitment, and the almost religious devotion of three generations of Jacobites to their King and Prince. The start of a new series set in Inverness. The story is about the Jacobite movement and the 1746 Battle of Culloden. Someone is left for dead on Drumossie Moor, and that is the start of the adventure into this historical epic of a novel.The use of Gaelic in conversation and in names was an authentic touch as it would have been (and still is) in common usage in the Highlands and indeed is on the rise across Scotland - a current learner right here. Very much enjoyed the character of Donald Mòr the grumpy book binder who speaks almost exclusively in Gaelic and has time for nobody but a soft spot for the young Tormod. The mystery is centreed around a missing book of names, which is part of a greater collection. This book seems to hold the key as to why so many people are being killed. Now THAT is what you call a powerful read.

Following the loss at Culloden, many women were also sold by their clan chiefs to pay off their debts to the government and sent into indentured service in America. Ishbel MacLeod, the confectioner whose shop is near Iain’s, is one such woman, who has returned to Scotland after seven years service as cook to a family, bringing with her a lively half caste child called Tormod who captured everybody’s hearts (even crusty old Donald Mor). Then there was a move to Easter Ross, thence to Muir of Ord, so that day by day throughout her youth Shona trod in the footsteps of those caught up in the intense events of the 18th Century uprisings and their fallout. Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown Six years on from Culloden, the man left for dead, Iain MacGillivray is now a bookkeeper in Inverness. One day, he notices a stranger searching his shelves for a particular book, but he feels he is after something else and that this stranger is not going to bring good news.The atmosphere in the Highlands for many years after the Jacobite defeat at the battle of Culloden must have been terrifying. Alis Hawkins is the author of the Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series and of medieval mysteries. But by the time I’d finished the last Seeker book I really felt I wanted to write about my own history, my own place and I started working on another book, a book set in Cromarty in the 19th Century.” I wasn’t at all familiar with London, I’d hardly ever been there, I didn’t know the layout, the topography, there was a huge amount of work to be done. Own history

Now S G MacLean, who is the niece of author Alistair MacLean, has her head in a snowy 17th Century York with a follow-up to her Damian Seeker series. Shona went to Aberdeen University to study history and lived in Aberdeenshire for the next quarter of a century. With his badly damaged face Iain found it difficult to court women and had given up any thought of a family of his own in the future. His grandmother Mairi Farquharson brought him up when his mother ran away to France when he was a child and he still lived in her house. A staunch Jacobite, Mairi was known in Inverness as one of the Grande Dames, three elderly women and inveterate Jacobite rebels, who seemed to know everything that was going on in their town.There’s something afoot you see. Talk about atmosphere and compelling foreshadowing. I knew something was up – someone is lurking in his bookshop and he confronts Iain, saying he will not leave until he’s found it. It’;s only when the shop shuts that he eventually leaves. Howver, the next morning, when Iain comes to open the door, he finds the stranger dead, his throat cut and a sword lying beside the body. The sword wuth the emblem of the Jacobites on it…..