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2021

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THE BONE LIBRARYJenni Fagan

ISBN 9781846975929Publication April 2022Category POETRYBIC DC, DCF

Price £9.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Extent 98 ppRights World All Languages

KEY SELLING POINTSFrom the multi-award-winning, former Granta Best Young British Novelist, Jenni Fagan, The Bone Library is her third collectionJenni Fagan’s recent novel Luckenbooth was published in January 2021 and has already received critical acclaimThe Bone Library is referenced in Fagan’s novel Luckenbooth

DESCRIPTIONThe Bone Library examines and interprets all of human life. The poems here respond to broader themes of identity, of place, of love and the unloved. Written in the old Dick Vet Bone Library during the author’s time as writer in residence there, this is a vivid exploration that cuts to the very core of what it is to be alive. It is also a collection that is honest and carries with it, always, an undertow of elegy.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYJenni Fagan is an award-winning author, poet, screenwriter, essayist and a playwright, and was writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh. In 2013 Jenni was the only Scottish writer to be on Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list. She is the author of The Panopticon (2012), The Sunlight Pilgrims (2015) and her first poetry collection The Dead Queen of Bohemia was published by Polygon in 2016, followed by There's a Witch in the Word Machine (2018).

Related Titles

There's a Witch in the Word Machine • Pbk • 9781846974632 • £8.99

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THE GOLDENACREPhilip Miller

ISBN 9781846975936 Publication April 2022 Category Fiction BIC FA

Price £9.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 256 ppRights WAL inc. AudioDESCRIPTION

The Goldenacre – a masterpiece by the painter and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh – has been given to the people of Scotland. The beautiful canvas, the last work by the artistic genius, enthrals the art world, but behind it lies a dark and violent mystery.

Thomas Tallis, an art expert with a trouble past, is trying to uncover the truth about the painting's complex history, while dogged newspaper reporter Shona Sandison is investigating a series of shocking murders in Edinburgh.

Both investigators soon become engulfed in the machinations of money, crime and identity in a literary thriller set amid the seen and unseen forces at work in modern Scotland.

• Miller's previous book, All the Galaxies was sold to Australia (Allen and Unwin).

EARLY PRAISE'A riveting, brutal journey into the high stakes world of legacy art and inherited wealth'

Denise Mina, author of the Garnethill trilogy and The Long Drop

'A pacy tale of crime and deception set in the world of fine art. Beautifully written, with a brilliantly vivid sense of place and a killer twist, The Goldenacre is one to savour'

Liam McIlvanney, author of The Quaker and Where the Dead Men Go

'Art, music, politics, and murder, set against a backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world - what's not to love? A complex and compelling plot, with intruiging characters that I very much hope we will meet again. Great read'

Lesley Kelly, writer of the Health of Strangers series and A Fine House in Trinity

'Phil Miller's Edinburgh is a city of secrets, an introverted place filled with characters so real in their humanity and yet somehow askew, imbued with the touch of supernatural shadows but also unshakeable goodness. Elegiac, moving, but always richly humane, Goldenacre is a welcome addition to Scottish noir'

Jacky Copleton, author of A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

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HEDY'S WARJenny Lecoat

ISBN 9781846975318Publication 07 May 2020Category THRILLER / SUSPENSEBIC FH, FJ

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm PaperbackExtent 272 ppRights WAL exc. AU/NZ

KEY SELLING POINTSBased on an extraordinary true story, Jenny Lecoat’s debut novel is a tense, emotional story of forbidden love, subterfuge and survival against the oddsBased on the true story of Hedy Bercu, a young Jewish girl who, having fled to Jersey to escape the Anschluss, finds herself trapped on Jersey during the German OccupationPublished to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands on 9 May 1945Author has worked with Jenni Murray, Graham Norton and Vanessa Feltz, among others, and strong support from Channel Islands and UK-wide press and media.SALES FOR HEDY'S WAR BY JENNY LE COAT:Allen and Unwin - Australia (published as The Viennese Girl)Harper Collins (Graydon House) - US and Canada (published as The Girl From the Channel Islands) Six figure advance.El Ateneo - ArgentinaPorto - PortugalLubbe - Germany (will be publishing as The Translator)Mercure - FranceKeter- IsraelNorway - AschehougPoland - Proszynski

DESCRIPTIONIn June 1940, the Channel Islands becomes the only part of Great Britain to be occupied by Hitler’s forces. Hedy Bercu, a young Jewish girl from Vienna who fled to Jersey two years earlier to escape the Anschluss, finds herself once more entrapped by the Nazis, this time with no escape.

Hedy’s War follows her struggle to survive the Occupation and avoid deportation to the camps. Despite her racial status, Hedy finds work with the German authorities and embarks on acts of resistance. Most remarkable of all, she falls in love with a German lieutenant – a relationship on which her life soon comes to depend.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYBorn in Jersey, Channel Islands, Jenny Lecoat’s parents were raised under German Occupation, and both families were involved in resistance activity. Lecoat moved to England aged 18, where, following a drama degree, she spent a decade on the alternative comedy circuit as a feminist stand-up. She was nominated for a prestigious Perrier Award in 1986. She also wrote for newspapers and women’s magazines (Cosmopolitan, Observer) and presented TV and radio shows, before focusing on screen writing from sitcom (Birds of a Feather, Sometime Never) to sketch shows (The Catherine Tate Show.) A love of history and factual stories and a return to her island roots brought about her feature film Another Mother’s Son (2017), which starred Jenny Seagrove and John Hannah, and attracted major coverage.

Book Locale Jersey Author Location Brighton

KEY SELLING POINTS

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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HEXJenni Fagan

ISBN 9781846975684 Publication March 2022 Category HISTORICAL FICTION BIC FV, F

Price £10.00Format 198 x 129 mm Hardback Extent 128 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSFrom the multi-award-winning, former Granta Best Young British Novelist, Jenni Fagan tells the story of Gillis Duncan, a teenage girl caught up in the sixteenth century witch trials in the Scottish coastal town of North BerwickThe second title in a specially commissioned series from the absolute best of Scotland’s contemporary writers, who will radically reimagine well-known stories drawn from history, myth and legendJenni Fagan’s recent novel Luckenbooth was published in January 2021 and has already received critical acclaim

'One of the most stunning literary experiences I've had in years'Irvine Welsh

'Fagan does for rural Scottish fiction what Kathleen Jamie is doing in poetry and Amy Liptrot in non-fiction: evocatively documenting the ever-changing daily drama of the landscape' New Statesman

DESCRIPTIONDuring the sixteenth century witch trials, over a hundred women were accused of summoning up a storm to destroy the ship carrying the future Scottish Queen across the sea from Denmark. Starting on the day of her execution, Gillis Duncan recounts the circumstances of her arrest, torture, confession and trial, in a powerful and gripping journey into a space where myth, religion and reality combine with deadly consequences.

Offering a visceral depiction of a culture of fear and superstition, Fagan explores the lingering connections between womanhood and the occult, and the obsessive mania of a king who saw the threat of demons and witches all around him. Devils, ghouls, cauldrons, ectoplasm, physic powers and black magic combine in a haunting tale by one of Scotland’s most exciting and innovative writers.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYJenni Fagan is an award-winning author, poet, screenwriter, essayist and a playwright, and was writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh. In 2013 Jenni was the only Scottish writer to be on Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list. She is the author of The Panopticon (2012), The Sunlight Pilgrims (2015) and her first poetry collection The Dead Queen of Bohemia was published by Polygon in 2016, followed by There's a Witch in the Word Machine (2018).

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THE LIBERATION'S CHILDLucy Cruickshanks

ISBN 9781846975776Publication 03 March 2022Category FictionBIC F, FAeBook 9781788853798

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 256 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSA dystopian novel that will appeal to fans of Margaret Atwood, Jodi Picoult’s A Spark of Light and Station Eleven by Emily St John MandelThe Liberation's Child is a beautifully written, thrilling novel with an intriguing plot that you will not want to put downBased on a real-life adoption scandal, The Liberation’s Child explores themes of guilt, redemption and justice through the vehicle of a quest by two survivors of a genocide.

DESCRIPTIONSet in a Britain of the near future, haunted by its past in which the traces of genocide lay just below the surface, two survivors, Thea and Dom, are on a journey to uncover the truth behind an illegal adoption ring and to find a missing baby. Their search for the truth puts both of their lives in danger and uncovers that new Free and Equal Britain is not just a memory.

As Dom and Thea’s paths collide, they unearth not only adoption crimes on an industrial scale, but links to fugitive FEB-era politicians that both Dom and Thea still have deeply personal reasons to resent — and fear. Will Dom discover the truth about the child he hoped would rebuild his family? Will Thea find her daughter? Will the past continue to block their way?

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYLucy Cruickshanks was born in 1984 and raised in Cornwall. She holds a BA in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Warwick and an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University. Her debut novel, The Trader of Saigon, was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and the Guardian Not The Booker Prize, longlisted for the Waverton Goodread Award and named a Top Ten Book of 2013 by The Bookbag. She lives on the south coast of England and divides her time between writing and caring for her young family.

ADVANCE INFORMATIONWest Newington House, 10 Newington Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1QS

THE NIGHT BEFORE MORNINGAlistair Moffat

ISBN 9781780277370Publication 01 July 2021Category Historical FictionBIC F, FAeBook 9781788853873

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 256 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSA gripping, page-turning thriller based on an alternative version of events at the end of the Second World War in the vein of Robert Harris and John BuchanAlistair Moffat has created a chilling post-1945 world where Britain has been occupied by the Nazi forcesMoffat's history books with Birlinn have sold over 130,000 copies

DESCRIPTIONJune 1945. Hitler has triumphed, Britain is under German occupation and America cowers under the threat of nuclear attack.

In the dead of night, a figure flits through the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, searching for a hidden document he knows could change the course of history. The journal he discovers, by a young soldier, David Erskine, records an extraordinary story.

When the Allies drive the Germans out of France and victory seems imminent, Erskine is in Antwerp, where he witnesses a world-changing reversal of fortune. From a high vantage point, he watches a huge mushroom cloud rise over London: an atomic bomb has been detonated by the Germans in a last desperate roll of the dice.

Captor becomes captive and Erskine is held as a POW in his own land. As the brutal grip of the occupying forces tightens, he is determined to join the resistance. A daring escape leads him and his fiancée Katie on a breathless chase to the university town of St Andrews, where the Germans have established a secret research laboratory. When it becomes clear what its purpose is, David, Katie and their small, trusted band must adopt a desperate and audacious plan to thwart Nazi domination . . .

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYAlistair Moffat was born in Kelso, Scotland in 1950. He is an award winning Writer, Historian and former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Director of Programmes at Scottish Television. He is the founder of Borders Book Festival and Co-Chairman of The Great Tapestry Of Scotland.

Book Locale United Kingdom Author Location Scottish Borders

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A RATTLE OF BONESA Rebecca Connolly Thriller

Douglas Skelton

ISBN 9781846975639Publication 05 August 2021Category Crime & MysteryBIC FF, FeBook 9781788853835

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 288 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSThe third book in this increasingly popular series featuring investigator Rebecca Connolly, it’s a thrilling murder mystery set in the Scottish Highlands, packed with twists and turns and featuring a centuries-old murder reverberating down to the present dayDouglas Skelton is an accomplished crime writer with real investigative experience, and he has been longlisted for the McIllvanney Award for Scottish Crime Book of the YearRights to previous titles Thunder Bay and The Blood Is Still sold to Germany (Dumont), Denmark (Gyldendal) and USA (Arcade). Limited number of reading proofs available

DESCRIPTIONIn 1752, Seamus a’Ghlynne, James of the Glen, was executed for the murder of government man Colin Campbell. He was almost certainly innocent. When banners are placed at his gravesite claiming that his namesake, James Stewart, is innocent of murder, reporter Rebecca Connolly smells a story. The young Stewart has been in prison for ten years for the brutal murder of his lover, lawyer and politician Murdo Maxwell, in his Appin home. Rebecca soon discovers that Maxwell believed he was being followed prior to his murder and his phones were tapped.

Why is a Glasgow crime boss so interested in the case? As Rebecca keeps digging, she finds herself in the sights of Inverness crime matriarch Mo Burke, who wants payback for the damage caused to her family in a previous case.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, A Rattle of Bones is a tale of injustice and mystery, and the echo of the past in the present.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYDouglas Skelton was born in Glasgow. He has been a bank clerk, tax officer, taxi driver (for two days), wine waiter (for two hours), journalist and investigator. He has written eleven true crime and Scottish criminal history books but now concentrates on fiction. His novel Thunder Bay (2019) was longlisted for the McIlvanney Award. Douglas has investigated real-life crime for Glasgow solicitors and was involved in a long-running campaign to right the famous Ice-Cream Wars miscarriage of justice.

Related TitlesThunder Bay • Pbk • 9781846974731 • £8.99 The Blood is Still • Pbk • 9781846975301 • £8.99

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SIGHT UNSEENA Sarah Sutherland ThrillerSandra IrelandISBN 9781846975288 Publication 13 August 2020 Category CRIME & MYSTERY BIC FF, FH eBook 9781788852814

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 256 ppRights World English Language

KEY SELLING POINTSA new mystery series from the critically-acclaimed Sandra Ireland, packed with her trademark blend of psychological suspense and the parallels between past and present. It’s a tale of family ties, love and sacrifice, set against a backdrop of historic witch trials, full of mystery and tension. Great new cover style which combines domestic noir with suspense. Sandra’s books are incredibly popular with reading groups because of their multi-layered plots and fascinating themes, and she is much in demand at festivals and events.

DESCRIPTION1648. Alie Gowdie marries Richard Webster during a turbulent time in Scotland’s history. Charles I is about to lose his head, and little does Alie know that she too will meet a grisly end within the year.

2019. Sarah Sutherland is struggling to cope with the demands of her day job, caring for her elderly father and keeping tabs on her backpacking daughter. She wanted to be an archaeologist, but now in her forties, she is divorced, alone, and there seems to be no respite, no glimmer of excitement on the horizon. However, she does have a special affinity with the Kilgour Witch, Alie Gowdie, who lived in Sarah’s cottage until her execution in 1648, and Sarah likes nothing better than to retreat into a world of sorcery, spells and religious fanaticism.

Her stories delight tourists as she leads them along the cobbled streets of her home town, but what really lies behind the tale of Alie Gowdie, the Kilgour Witch? Can Sarah uncover the truth in order to right a centuries-old wrong? And what else might modern-day Kilgour be hiding, just out of sight?

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYSandra Ireland was awarded a Carnegie-Cameron scholarship to study for an MLitt in Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, graduating with a distinction in 2014. Her work has appeared in various publications and women’s magazines. She is the author of Beneath the Skin (2016), Bone Deep (2018) and The Unmaking of Ellie Rook (2019). She lives in Carnoustie, Scotland.

Author Location Carnoustie Book Locale Kilgour

Related Titles

Beneath the Skin • Pbk • 9781846973611 • £9.99

Bone Deep • Pbk • 9781846974182 • £8.99 The Unmaking of Ellie Rook • Pbk • 9781846974823 • £8.99

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OF STONE AND SKYMerryn Glover

ISBN 9781846975653 Publication 06 May 2021 Category FictionBIC F, FAeBook 9781788853767

Price £16.99Format 216 x 138 mm Hardback Extent 352 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSOf Stone and Sky will appeal to readers who enjoy multi-layered, multi-generational stories that move around in time, such as Kate Atkinson’s Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Graham Swift’s WaterlandMerryn Glover deftly deals with the notion of bond: between people, their land and way of life in this epic novel that will grab readers’ attention from the very first pageA deeply engaging novel from a very talented author, this book is one that will stay with you long after readingAs well as beautifully written and a powerful tale, this novel also addresses some controversial issues including land reform, environmental protection and social justice

DESCRIPTIONAfter Highland shepherd Colvin Munro disappears, a mysterious trail of his possessions is found in the Cairngorm mountains. Writing the eulogy for his memorial years later, his foundling-sister Mo seeks to discover why he vanished. Younger brother Sorley is also haunted by his absence and driven to reveal the forces that led to Colvin’s disappearance. Is their brother alive or dead?

Set on a farming estate in the upper reaches of the River Spey, Of Stone and Sky follows several generations of a shepherding family in a paean to the bonds between people, their land and way of life. It is a profound mystery, a passionate poem, a political manifesto, shot through with wisdom and humour.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYMerryn Glover was born in a former Rana palace in Kathmandu and grew up in Nepal, India and Pakistan. Her first major work was a stage play, The Long Way Home, which was broadcast on Radio Scotland. She has written three further radio plays for Radio 4 and Radio Scotland. Merryn’s first novel, A House Called Askival (2014), was published by Freight. In 2019, she was appointed the first Writer in Residence for the Cairngorms National Park.

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RIZZIODenise Mina

ISBN 9781846975677Publication 02 September 2021Category FictionBIC F, FFH

Price £10.00Format 198 x 129 mm Hardback Extent 128 ppRights WAL not inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSFrom the multi-award-winning master of crime Denise Mina comes a radical new take on one of the darkest episodes in Scottish history – the bloody assassination of David Rizzio in Mary, Queen of Scots' chambers in Holyrood Palace The launch title in a specially commissioned series from the absolute best of Scotland's contemporary writers, who will radically reimagine well-known stories drawn from history, myth and legendDenise Mina's most recent novel, Conviction, was selected as a Reese Witherspoon Book Club PickDenise Mina has Bookscan sales of over 200,000 copies and her work is that winning combination of commercially successful and critically acclaimed

• Sold at auction in the US (Pegasus) for simultaneous publication

'The cream of the crop, an author who pushes the crime novel in new and exciting directions'Ian Rankin

'May be Britain's finest living crime novelist'Daily Telegraph

DESCRIPTIONOn the evening of 9 March 1566, David Rizzio, the private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, was brutally murdered. Dragged from the chamber of the heavily pregnant Mary, Rizzio was stabbed 56 times by an 80-strong party of assassins. This breathtakingly tense novella dramatises the events that led up to that night, telling an infamous story as it has never been told before.

A dark tale of sex, secrets and lies, Rizzio looks at a shocking historical murder through a modern lens and explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power. A provocative and thrilling classic in the making.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYDenise Mina was born in East Kilbride in 1966. Her novels include The End of the Wasp Season and Gods and Beasts, both of which won the prestigious Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award in consecutive years. Her novel Conviction was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and a Sunday Times, Observer and Telegraph 'Book of the Year'. Denise also writes short stories, and in 2006 wrote her first play. She is a regular contributor to TV and radio.

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SIX WOUNDSMorgan Cry

ISBN 9781846975707 Publication July 2022 Category Crime & Mystery BIC FF, FH

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Original Extent 288 ppRights WAL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSThe new book in Morgan Cry's sun-soaked crime thriller series set in Spain's Costa BlancaDaniella Coulstoun returns, plunged headlong into a morass of gang politics and police corruptionA perfect summer read for crime fans, with a colourful cast of double-crossing charactersMorgan Cry is the pseudonym for Gordon Brown, who helped found Bloody Scotland and T in the Park. He is an experienced speaker and will be promoting with events and social media

Thirty-One Bones • Pbk • 9781846975394 • £8.99

• First book, Thirty-One Bones was sold to the US (Arcade).

Praise for Thirty-One BonesDENISE MINA – “A complex and immersive thrill-ride through a wild expat Costa del Crime community” LIN ANDERSON – “Thirty-One Bones is fast, furious and infinitely entertaining.”

DESCRIPTIONDaniella Coulstoun has recently moved to the Costa Blanca where she runs her deceased mother’s bar with the help of a dysfunctional group of expats. Things are going well until a pub brawl results in a dead body being discovered in the cellar. Unfortunately, the body belongs to a prominent London gangster, and the evidence against Daniella for his murder is piling up.

But Daniella has fought hard for her new life in the sun and she’s no quitter. She suspects the gangster’s rival, a psychotic bookie called Carl Stokes, is the real killer. As Capitan Lozano of the local police closes in, Daniella needs to nail Stokes for the murder and fast, because if she doesn’t, not only will she lose the people she loves, she’ll lose everything.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYHere, Gordon Brown is writing as Morgan Cry. Gordon has written six crime thrillers to date, along with a number of short stories. He also helped found Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, is a DJ on local radio (www.pulseonair.co.uk) and runs a strategic planning consultancy.

Related Titles

ADVANCE INFORMATIONWest Newington House, 10 Newington Road, Edinburgh, EH9 1QS

WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVESSarah Fraser

ISBN 9781780277431Publication July 2022Category Historical FictionBIC F, FJH

Price £8.99Format 198 x 129 mm Paperback Extent 352 ppRights WEL inc. Audio

KEY SELLING POINTSRomance, intrigue, danger and deception abound in the first part of a new trilogy (Shadows and Crown) about the Jacobite attempt to restore the House of Stuart to the British throneFeatures a strong female leadBy the acclaimed author of The Last Highlander (‘A great book’ Diana Gabaldon; ‘Told with panache’ Max Hastings)Will appeal to all fans of Outlander

DESCRIPTIONJanuary 1744. Time is running out for the banished House of Stuart. Languishing in Rome, Prince Charles Edward Stuart must act fast to reclaim the throne of his ancestors or forego the Jacobite dream forever. But exile is a dangerous place. As well as loyal supporters, there are sycophants and spies in every corner, and trust is something that cannot be lightly given. No-one knows this more than Lilias Erskine, the prince's 'she-intelligencer' who codes his letters and who is also the wife of Sir Hector MacDonald, Charles's trusted valet.

When a plan is hatched for Charles to return to Britain in triumph, Lilias tricks him and Hector into taking her with them. Their clandestine journey home is fraught with peril, and Lilias must use all her strength and guile, as well as the tools of her trade, to survive it. But it is not just blizzards, storms and inexplicable bloody accidents on the way that threaten them. Are the secrets they hold from each other just as likely to be the ruin of their enterprise?

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYSarah Fraser is the author of The Last Highlander: Scotland’s Most Notorious Clan Chief, Rebel and Double Agent(Harper Collins), which won the 2012 Saltire Society First Book Prize and became a New York Times ebook bestseller. Her second book, The Prince Who Would be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart was a TLS Book of the Year in 2017 - she has also been involved with documentaries for both these books – with Dan Snow.