Showing results by author "Tormod Cockburn" in All Categories

Connal Canmore tumbles towards his death from the walls of Stirling Castle. But instead of crashing onto rocks, he lands face down in the dirt. Bruised but freed from the disease that was killing him, he sees a city he recognises. It is Stirling, but not the same city he left. For reasons he doesn’t comprehend, this is a version of the place that existed long ago. Connal picks up the threads of this new existence and exploits his futuristic knowledge to achieve material gain. And life is good until another brush with death sends him tumbling further back in time.

The Mysterious Scotland adventures continues with, This Jagged Way – a twisty drama set along the Firth of Forth. Gill McArdle is confronted with the question, what should you do when you discover your nation venerates an ancient lie?

The Mysterious Scotland adventures awakens with, The Bone Trap – a dramatic mystery, set among Scotland’s outer Hebrides.

A struggling Scottish scientist holds a potential unicorn skull in his hands. If he proves it’s authentic, his career will be made. If he dies trying, he won’t be the first.

Gill McArdle is on the island of Iona searching for the burial places of kings. What begins as an archaeological survey risks descending into a treasure hunt and Gill suspects subterfuge from new enemies as well as old. And when a find on Iona sheds a little light on the nature of ‘The Torn Isle’, Gill doesn’t like what he sees.

He’s in awe of it’s history. He thinks it's beautiful in the rain. But he’s not ready for what’s stirring below the surface of Loch Ness. When you’re the editor of a successful investigative journal, you don’t dash around Scotland chasing after loch monsters. But Gill McArdle didn’t believe in unicorns either, and speaking honestly, he was fortunate to walk away from that one.

Meanwhile, Gillan McArdle’s academic career is ending because of one stupid lapse of judgement. Offered a short-term contract, he lands on the Hebridean island of Harris to investigate obscure animal bones. Quickly dismissing the unicorn skull as a thinly disguised fake, he can’t deny there’s something unusual about these bones. Baited by rumors of a majestic tusked horse roaming the uplands, Gill begins to suspect someone is manipulating him. As he gradually unravels the mystery of the skull, he grasps a disturbing conclusion: If this creature does exist, the evidence suggests it’s a killer.

The Mysterious Scotland journey climaxes in an action-packed set of stories that test the Armour Group to breaking point. It begins with, ‘Dark Sayings.’ DCI George Wiley has realised he’s got a ghost problem. An escalating string of audacious thefts is creeping onto the newsfeeds and Wiley’s bosses need him to catch the culprit. The only evidence he holds are short snatches of CCTV. And the solitary conclusion he’s reached is that the spectral figure is a woman. He needs to provoke new lines of inquiry, so reluctantly, Wiley calls in the assistance of an old ally.

DI George Wiley is calling in a favor. As head of a new unit tackling cold and unusual cases, he presents Gill McArdle with a bag of human teeth. His evaluation – a serial killer has been operating undetected in Scotland for decades. With no leads in the case, Wiley wants Gill to leverage his contacts. But Gill McArdle feels under no obligation as he has a puzzle of his own to solve. Roadworks in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered an old battlefield site, and now the race is on to complete an archaeological dig before the site is buried under tarmac.

Following the coronation of Charles III, Scotland’s most revered artefact, ‘The Stone of Destiny’ arrives at its long-term home in Perth Museum. Desperate to rebuild his shattered credibility, Gill is working hard on several stories along the Firth of Forth. But he’s presented with a problem when the discovery of an ancient inscription in a ruined church throws question marks against the authenticity of The Stone. On the trail of an age-old story, Gill finds himself opposed by someone prepared to kill to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Magazine editor and part-time archaeologist, Gill McArdle is getting it together. Or at least, he thinks he is, until the death of a friend throws his life into turmoil. He’s on Orkney, researching an elaborate stone carrying an ancient religious motif. But he’s perplexed as the carving long predates any previous incidence of the symbol’s first use. Either someone is tampering with Orcadian archaeology, or Gill is facing a puzzle that can’t be resolved.

People say Scotland is full of haunted houses. Scratch at the facts and you find most of these ghosts are imagined. Only one defies explanation, and it turns out she's a thief. DCI George Wiley has been keeping half an eye on the “Spectral Bandit” for six months now and has realised he’s got a ghost problem. An escalating string of audacious thefts is creeping onto the newsfeeds and Wiley’s bosses need him to catch the culprit. The only evidence he holds are short snatches of CCTV. And the solitary conclusion he has reached is that the spectral figure is a woman.

While the Highlands north of the Great Glen are recovering from recent earth tremors, much of Scotland senses there’s worse to come. Returning from a futile trip to Lewis, Gill busies himself in an archaeological dig close to his home. It’s routine work–recovering bones from an old graveyard that’s listed for redevelopment. Routine, until something unusual is discovered, hinting at a far darker secret buried beneath the ancient tombs.

It’s been two years since Lorna Cheyne went to prison, and tension is building in the Armour Group. While they debate if Lorna is one of them or not, DI Alex Lillico finds himself in the minority view. So, he’s happy to be shipped off to Galloway, where a collapsed sea cliff has revealed not one, but two dark mysteries in the belly of a forgotten cave. One of these challenges is urgent police work while the other tilts at an old Scottish myth that even Gill McArdle will struggle to explain.