The Bookseller of Inverness

A Gripping Historical Thriller Set in Inverness During 1746 Battle of Culloden

A 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.

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he's searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.

The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him - a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for - and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.

(P) 2022 Quercus Editions Limited©2022 Shona MacLean

Reseñas de la Crítica

Delivers everything you could possibly want from a historical crime novel, and then gives you a bit more on top. The Jacobites are a perennially fascinating subject, the ultimate forlorn hope of history, and MacLean provides a fresh and intriguing slant on it, clearly based on rock-solid research. She paints a memorable and densely textured picture of post-Culloden Inverness and its surroundings. She's on home ground here, and it shows. Her best yet

The Bookseller of Inverness is everything you could ask for from a historical thriller - gripping, immersive and filled with intriguing characters. S.G. MacLean can make any period sing with life. If you've not read her before, this is the perfect place to start

S. G. MacLean just goes from strength to strength. The Bookseller of Inverness is an intricately wrought, compulsively page-turning tale of intrigue set in a post-Rebellion Scotland so perfectly conjured and so convincing that you can smell the heather and taste the blood

Well-written and well-plotted, MacLean is gifted with a writing style that blends literary storytelling with a fast-paced mystery

This is an expertly plotted crime thriller built around the complexities of Jacobite histories: Walter Scott meets tartan noir

With its superbly realised scenes and spirited narration, this slice of historical fiction takes you on a wild ride

An excellent work of historical fiction: rooted in fact ... with the imagined characters and situations seamlessly stitched into recorded reality

A gripping and thought-provoking novel. Highly recommended

A twisting, absorbing plot

A triumphant return to Scotland for S. G. MacLean

Lots of telling and less showing

One wonders why Maclean insists on narrating most of his story instead of letting it unfold through his characters. The people are interesting, and we wanted more dialogue them.

The first rule of fiction is show don’t tell. This author ends up making his story more history book and less storytelling. That’s a shame. It makes it tedious.

The performance is so good it only highlights the problem.

I think a rewrite is in order. Where was the editor? My editors would never have settled on this format.

Narrator’s highland brogue

I loved the narrator! He made it seem like S G Mc Leod must be a man!

Pedantic? Didactic? A bleak read.

Was this a history, or a story? It never really defined itself. The quest for The Book before everyone listed in it was killed is a plot that has been done before … and much more skillfully by others. At times the book actually became boring. A mixture of facts, dates, real people, characters based on real people was not blended well. Interesting but not riveting.

Great history & vibrant characters

Interesting story set in the Highlands after the Battle of Culloden in the 18th century.
Loved the narrator & the addition of a clever child in the story.

Very descriptive writing

Overall the story was well written and the narrative excellent.
I found myself in the book at the scenes as they played out, and cheered or cried for the characters.
But — the ending felt rushed and not well planned.