Showing results by narrator "Cathleen McCarron" in All Categories

Ailis McAfee, second daughter of Laird Duncan McAfee, has always known her worth lies in more than marriage contracts. A gifted healer and expert knife thrower, she prefers skill to stitching, and certainly has no patience for the arrogant Ian Sinclair, son of a neighboring laird. Her heart belongs to another. Lachlan McClain has admired Ailis from afar, but with her father seeking powerful alliances, Lachlan fears he has little to offer. Especially when a wealthier, more “suitable” suitor begins to turn Ailis’s head.

The year is 1746. The Jacobite rebellion has failed catastrophically and Scotland is reeling in the devastating aftermath of the battle of Culloden. Far to the west, on an island in the Outer Hebrides, twenty-four-year-old Flora Macdonald is woken in the dead of night by a messenger with urgent intelligence. Bonnie Prince Charlie is outside, begging for her help. With Flora's assistance, the Stuart prince is disguised as an Irish maid and smuggled to the Isle of Skye, evading government troops.

Elvie McCulloch's sister, Sophie, has been missing for 57 days. She went out for a run - and never came home. Several young women in the area have disappeared in similar circumstances, and Elvie's family fears the worst. Teaming up with retired detective Billy Hopkirk, Elvie determines to find out the truth. But as the pair alternately collaborate with and infuriate investigating police detectives Anderson and Costello, they find themselves up against a terrifying enemy. Someone they call The Night Hunter.

Snow is falling, fires are crackling merrily, and Lockton tradition has everyone hanging a promise they’re determined to keep this Christmas on the tree in the village square... Meg Scott has promised to make a success of her first solo Christmas. She runs a year-round Christmas shop in the little Scottish village, and is a fan of all things mulled, sparkly and festive. So when her warring family shows up on her doorstep, ready to spread discord and tension, Meg is determined not to let them ruin her favourite time of the year.

NOMINATED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2020 FOR SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘Truly difficult to put down’ Daily Mail ‘Devilishly clever… This might be his best yet’ SJI Holliday?, author of Violet ONLY ONE PERSON CAN SAVE YOU. AND HE WANTS YOU DEAD. Police find a man dead at his home...

Born on a farm outside Edinburgh in the mid-19th century, Agnes Watt is embraced by family, community, and tradition. Her youthful hopes and dreams are quashed but she falls in love and marries William Miller, a Gordon Highlander. Life spirals into dark places as the couple become ensnared in the nightmare that descended on the Scottish working class during the industrial revolution. The triumphs of the great Victorian era came at an appalling human cost and Agnes fights against disease and grinding poverty.

When a six-week-old baby is stolen from outside a village shop, Detective Inspector Costello quickly surmises there's more to this case than meets the eye. As she questions those involved, she uncovers evidence that this was no impulsive act as the police initially assumed, but something cold, logical, meticulously planned. Who has taken Baby Sholto, and why? Colin Anderson meanwhile is on the Cold Case Unit, reviewing the unsolved rape of a young mother back in 1996. Convinced this wasn't the first - or last - time the attacker struck, Anderson looks for a pattern. But when he does find a connection, it reaches back into his own past....

Oonagh O'Neil is back with another gloomy and heart-wrenching investigation. If only someone had listened... When the supposed suicide of famous Scottish football coach Harry Nugent hits the headlines, the tabloids are filled with tributes to a charitable pillar of the community that gave so much back to sport and to those less fortunate. But something isn't right.

In a world where online scrutiny is more intense than ever, Elise’s story massively transcends sport. Having been bullied while growing up in Scotland, Christie first felt the full weight of online public opinion following three separate disqualifications at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Death threats followed amid a torrent of online hate whereby she was accused of having caused a rival South Korean medal hopeful to crash. Christie, aged just 24, retreated into a period of mental health support to assist her through extremely traumatic times.

Detective Inspector Costello has resigned. No notice, no good-byes. Convinced that George Haggerty murdered his wife and son despite his cast-iron alibi, Costello has gone solo, determined to expose a ruthless killer without being hampered by police protocol. But is she right about Haggerty's guilt? And where has she disappeared to? DCI Colin Anderson has no time to ponder the loss of his partner of 20 years. With a badly beaten body found on a remote mountain pass, a woman with a serious head wound who won't communicate in any way and a substantial pool of blood discovered at the edge of Loch Lomond, Police Scotland have their hands full.

A tale of love and betrayal set in the borderlands of medieval Scotland. Badly disfigured Lady Isobel has fought to defend her Keep, with little thought for her safety. Why, then, has she let a stranger within her walls? Marc de Courtenay is a mercenary and a loner, drawn to the damaged, beautiful Isobel. But she has unwittingly given him secrets that will enable him to betray her. What would she do if she were ever to find out who he really is?

Marjeta was never supposed to be Duke Calvai's wife. But the sudden death of her sister changed everything, and Marjeta was married off in her stead to seal the Duke's alliance with her father. Ill-prepared for the dangers of the Calvai court or her new role as stepmother to the duke's precious daughter, Marjeta finds herself in a hostile environment with a husband who preferred his dead first wife, a child too suspicious to love her, and no true allies. Worse, her traditional magic conflicts with the new religion taking hold of the court and if discovered, she will be executed.

Seven years after her mother's death, Leonie Charlton is still gripped by memories of their fraught relationship. In May 2017, Leonie trekked through the Outer Hebrides in the company of a friend and their Highland Ponies in search of closure. When Leonie's pony has a serious accident, she begins to realise that finding peace with her mother is less important than letting go. Leonie Charlton blends travel and nature writing with intimate memoir in this beautifully written account of grief and acceptance.

Pippa has long felt like the odd one out in her family. Natalia has recently returned to Lerwick, hoping to reconnect with an old flame. Autumn is dedicated to her job in hospitality and relishes her role as general manager of Lerwick Manor's new hotel. No guest request is too big or too small, but her own unrelentingly high standards could push Autumn to her limits. Will the beauty of Shetland help these three women find the friendship, support and healing that they all need?

Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of 12. In 1889, the whaler's daughter from Dundee - dubbed by the press as "The Snow Queen" - sets out to become a scientist and explorer. She struggles to be taken seriously, but determination and chance lead her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British expedition, despite the many who believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world of men.

To marry him will be to betray her family . Bessie, the selfless sister of the powerful but stubborn Brunson clan, has sacrificed herself for her family's honor and is at the mercy of the court of King James. Ill-suited to court life, she must confront their mortal enemy, Lord Thomas Carwell, dressed in nothing but borrowed finery and pride. Underneath the relentless gaze of her captor, she's enticed not only by him but also by the opulence of a world far removed from her own.

In August 1992 a young mother and her two small sons were brutally murdered in the woods behind their home. Her neighbour, Andrew Gyle, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment. Now, 23 years later, a macabre discovery throws new light on the case. Could there have been a shocking miscarriage of justice?

In A Dark and Brooding Gentleman, acclaimed Regency-era author Margaret McPhee tells the story of reformed rake Sebastian Hunter and the far-too-pretty Phoebe Allardyce, his estranged mother’s paid companion. Sparks fly until he catches Phoebe trying to steal a priceless heirloom from the manor. What Sebastian doesn’t know is that her father’s been kidnapped and Phoebe has stolen the heirloom for a ransom - and might just steal his heart as well.

1988. The body of Moira Mackie, a St Andrews University student, is found on a clifftop path. Her ex-boyfriend is found days later, hanged in his uncle’s garage with a suicide note confessing that he killed her. The case is abruptly closed. Thirty years later, Ros Maitland has seemingly moved on from the horrific murder of her housemate Moira. Then her daughter takes up a place at the same university, and old demons reawaken.

Blind since birth, widowed in her 20s, now lonely in her 40s, Marianne Fraser lives in Edinburgh in elegant, angry anonymity with her sister, Louisa, a successful novelist. Marianne's passionate nature finds solace and expression in music, a love she finds she shares with Keir, a man she encounters on her doorstep one winter's night. Whilst Marianne has had her share of men attracted to her because they want to rescue her, Keir makes no concession to her condition.