Showing results by narrator "Angus King" in All Categories

It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its own front door and a life bought and paid for outright (like her perfect, but false, teeth). But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest.

It’s Halloween, and when an elderly billionaire is discovered dead in the locked study of his stately Highland home, DCI Jack Logan and his team must race the worsening weather to get to the scene of the crime. There, among the victim’s extended family and staff, Jack finds no shortage of suspects. Everyone, it seems, had reason to want the old man dead, and they all have something to hide.

After being repeatedly beaten, shot at, blown-up, and tortured, Hoon is looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas drinking heavily in front of the TV, while pointedly ignoring the older sister who has invaded his home. The world, however, has other plans. When a routine trip to an Inverness shopping center is interrupted by a squad of heavily armed Santas, Hoon, his sister, and an old army colleague find themselves trapped alongside several hundred terrified hostages.

By no means prepared by birth, education, or training for leadership, Wallace nevertheless rose to prominence during the Wars of Independence, leading forces which broke the sequence of English victories and re-energizing and inspiring his countrymen in the process. While others, ostensibly his betters, yielded and collaborated, Wallace set an example of constancy and perseverance and became the Guardian of Scotland. Even his terrible death in London in 1305 can be seen as a victory as it provided inspiration for the continuance of the struggle against English domination.

In a remote sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, a fisherman disappears without trace. His remains are never found. A young man jumps from a bridge in Glasgow and falls to his death in the water below. DS Max Craigie uncovers evidence that links both victims. But if he can’t find out what cost them their lives, it won’t be long before more bodies turn up at the morgue. Soon cracks start to appear in the investigation, and Max’s past hurtles back to haunt him.

When a body is discovered on a carousel at the fair in The Meadows in Edinburgh, it brings back memories for DCI Harry McNeil. He had history with the man, having arrested him many years ago. The victim was a high-flying politician, destined for great things, but did his secrets catch up with him? Or were the death threats he’d received not taken seriously enough?

The body of a teenager is found near Portobello Beach in Edinburgh, wrapped in plastic. She went missing five years ago but it's obvious she only died recently.

She was taken against her will. On her fifteenth birthday, trafficking victim Affi Smith goes for a run and never returns. With a new identity and secure home in the Scottish Highlands, she was supposed to be safe. She escaped once. With personal ties to Affi’s case, DS Max Craigie joins the investigation. When he discovers other trafficking victims have disappeared in exactly the same circumstances, he knows one thing for certain – there’s a leak somewhere within law-enforcement.

Mark Campbell is in trouble. His latest book is five years late and his recent divorce has cleaned him out. Worse, his debts with Vic Hebden aren’t the kind you consolidate into one easy payment. And he’s already missed three. But Mark has a plan—finish his novel, then pay Hebden off with the advance. His daughter, Kay, is spending her summer holiday in the far north of Scotland. The hotel calls—Kay has run off, leaving a big bill, her phone, and a copy of Mark’s last book, Break the Chain. There's only one person to turn to—his ex, Olivia. Kay’s stepmother.

Millionaire Murdo Wolf took off in a small plane from the island where he lived, and neither he nor the plane was ever seen again. Until now. The Wolf family have gathered on the island they used to call home. They're celebrating the life of their father, Oliver Wolf, who died six months ago.

While helping to police a heated discussion on City of London territory, DI Simon Fenchurch is called out to an East London building site. A young City lawyer has been assaulted and brutally murdered. Initial inquiries lead Fenchurch to a driver employed by Travis, a controversial new app-based cab company. Within days another woman is murdered. A Travis driver. As the body count rises, Fenchurch delves into the crimes and unveils a murky conspiracy that some will do anything to keep hidden.

In the shadow of the Pentland Hills, a man has been callously struck down in front of his home. Tyre marks suggest it was no accidental hit-and-run. Somebody wanted him dead and as the man fights for every breath, they might still get their wish. Grappling with the demons he thought he could leave behind after months away on enforced leave, D.S. Malkie McCulloch resists pressure from his superiors to pass the case on to the road policing unit, convinced that whoever was behind the wheel will be waiting for the chance to finish the job.

DCI Harry McNeil is back at the helm, joined by his old friend, DI Frank Miller. He is juggling his private life with being a single father, running a new Major Investigation Team, and spending time with a woman who may or may not become more than just friends. Edinburgh at New Year is a time for celebration, fun, and for one person, murder.

Edinburgh DCI Harry McNeil isn’t easily intimidated. But after years investigating crooked cops, a promotion heading up a Major Investigation Team will put his reputation on the line. And he’s starting to sweat when the daughter of a rich and powerful family vanishes from the honeymoon suite in a Scottish Highlands castle….

The body of a young woman is found in a London hotel room, the victim of suspected poisoning. Called in to investigate, DI Simon Fenchurch soon discovers the case is far more sinister than he could have imagined.

Reeling from a recent shocking revelation, DI Simon Fenchurch is struggling to hold it all together. Over a decade of tension, pain and fury could make him explode. When a university student is found strangled to death in her bedroom, Fenchurch is called in to investigate—and the case strikes dangerously close to home. On the surface, the victim was a popular, high-performing student. But as Fenchurch investigates, he uncovers secret grudges against her. And evidence that she was living a double life, working on explicit webcam sites for a seedy London ganglord.

A mythical man known as Nightmare haunted young children for years. Until he became real. DCI Harry McNeil knows the legend all too well. Growing up in the Highlands, Nightmare was on his and every other child's mind as they went to sleep. Then, Nightmare claimed his first victim. A young girl, found dead in an abandoned cemetery with the words, I am Nightmare, carved into her chest. Two more victims, the same words carved into them. Then Nightmare disappears. Now, years later, there have been reports of graffiti being sprayed around Inverness and on graves in old cemeteries.

Brooke Sinclair’s dream of being a published author derailed when she was expelled from the University of Edinburgh seven years ago. Now a ghostwriter, she sticks to other people’s stories. But when her college mentor, Mhairi McCallister, needs a cowriter for her memoir about Scotland’s most challenging trek, Brooke will do anything for the opportunity—including agreeing to hike the rugged Skye Trail for authenticity’s sake. What she doesn't know is that the nature photographer who’ll join her is Jack Sutherland, the teaching assistant who shattered Brooke’s writing career—and her heart.

From Scottish crime master Christopher Brookmyre, Black Widow tells the potent story of a woman who thought she was too late for love, the man who falls for her ambition, and the secret selves that are poised, at any moment, to end everything.

When the body of Leanne Wilson is found at the bottom of a Scottish mountain, it is classified as a tragic accident. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise. Then DS Max Craigie discovers that five other women in the last year have died by falling off mountains, and something feels very wrong. They were all experienced climbers and alone when they died. This can only mean one thing: there’s a killer on the loose. The more Max investigates, the more he believes that they are dealing with something much bigger than a lone serial killer.