Showing results by narrator "Sarah Barron" in All Categories

‘Hi,’ she says, ‘I’m your new neighbour.’ Her smile is bright but her shoulders are tense as she stands on the leafy green Edinburgh street. She seems friendly. But soon I’ll discover her dangerous secret.... On the first day I meet my new neighbour, we share a glass of wine and talk into the night. We swap numbers and I vow to get to know her better. But as I get closer to her, I discover something about her past that changes everything. She isn’t who I thought she was.

A beautiful model's death uncovers an ugly conspiracy stretching all the way to Westminster in Rosie Gilmour's darkest case to date. When rags-to-riches Scots supermodel Bella Mason plunges to her death from the roof of a glitzy Madrid hotel, everyone assumes it was suicide. Except that one person saw exactly what happened to Bella that night, and she definitely didn't jump. But Millie Chambers has no one she can tell - alcoholic, depressed herself and now sectioned by her bullying politician husband, who would believe her?

For generations, the Alardyce family have lived under the shadow of a curse. Some say it died with Robert Alardyce - the ruthless patriarch whose name was whispered in fear - but others know darkness like his never truly fades. Decades later, Alardyce House stands empty, its secrets lost behind its walls. Until Kate Alardyce - Robert's sharp and ambitious great-granddaughter - decides it's time to reclaim her family's legacy. And Kate always gets what she wants...

Twenty years ago, a young girl was brutally murdered, her body left in an abandoned shed in the Scottish Highlands. Her killer was never caught. Now, another girl has vanished from the same remote village of Kinloch Rannoch, and DCI Ross Fraser and his team are sent to find her. A dogged, methodical investigator with no taste for theatrics, Fraser builds his cases piece by piece. But with no sightings, no suspects, and the clock relentlessly ticking, he begins to fear the same killer has struck again—and that it’s only a matter of time before another body is found.

Twenty years ago, a young girl was brutally murdered, her body left in an abandoned shed in the Scottish Highlands. Her killer was never caught. Now, another girl has vanished from the same remote village of Kinloch Rannoch, and DCI Ross Fraser and his team are sent to find her. A dogged, methodical investigator with no taste for theatrics, Fraser builds his cases piece by piece. But with no sightings, no suspects, and the clock relentlessly ticking, he begins to fear the same killer has struck again—and that it’s only a matter of time before another body is found.

This is a fact: Ryan Summers walked into Three Rivers College and killed 13 women, then himself. But no one can say why. The question is one that cries out to be answered - by Ryan's mother, Moira; by Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and by DI Helen Birch, put in charge of the case on her first day at her new job. But as the tabloids and the media swarm, as the families' secrets come out, as the world searches for someone to blame...the truth seems to vanish.

Having left the Highlands murder team behind and joined the shadowy world of the secret services, former DC Kirsten Stewart overhears a plot that strikes to the very core of Scotland's governance. As the stakes get higher and Kirsten becomes cut off from her superiors, can she stop the assassin before they eliminate their prime target. In her first solo mission, Kirsten Stewart finds herself in deep shadow and in receipt of disturbing news. Only by remaining incommunicado can she find out the intentions of a killer and stop the murder of Scotland's top politician.

Thirteen years ago, DI Helen Birch's little brother Charlie disappeared. Two days ago, Birch was part of a raid on one of Scotland's most feared criminal organisations. Yesterday, Charlie came back.... Now Birch has a choice: save her career, or save Charlie? As she interrogates her brother, we see his story, in a brilliantly tense and clever story about what people will do to survive and the lines they'll cross to protect those they love.

A woman slipping through the cracks . . . When a young Vietnamese girl goes missing in Scotland, DI Birch knows there is more to the case than meets the eye. Her colleagues won't take it seriously - but Helen's instinct tells her that Linh is in mortal danger. A psychic determined to help...

Clova, Scotland, 1942. The midst of the Second World War. Sisters Nell and Effie Anderson live together in the Old Schoolhouse. Effie is a teacher, while Nell works as a postwoman, delivering news – often of the worst – from the frontline to her neighbours. Though they love and care for one another, there are unspoken tensions and mysteries that put distance between them.

When Toni’s twelfth birthday is marred by a terrible crime, the wicked path of the girls looks set. A decade later, the McVay family aren't the unstoppable force they once were in the Glaswegian criminal underworld but Frankie McVay, the up-and-coming prince, is determined to restore the family to its former glory and the whole family are expected to help. His sister Toni shares her brother’s blood lust but Valerie dreams of a quieter life, and when she meets and falls in love with Seb, as straight as Frankie is bent, as kind as Frankie is wicked, Val sees her way out.

The death of a young Pakistani bride in Glasgow gets Rosie Gilmour's antennae twitching. She is sure this tragic accident was anything but - but she is not prepared for where her investigation will take her.... Rosie has her hands full navigating the sensitivities of this case - the girl's grieving family and the tensions between the white and Pakistani communities in the city - when she is contacted by two prostitutes in serious trouble. One of their clients has died on the job, and they've gone on the run - with his briefcase.

When Leonie Baxter finds herself out of a job and out of a relationship, she’s at her wits end. Her life has just been turned upside down and she needs a plan, fast. By chance, on a walk with her rescue puppy, Leonie stumbles across a striking house in the woods; fully furnished but unoccupied. As a journalist, she is determined to find out more, after all, reporting is in her nature. But her attempts are thwarted by Lily Cruickshank who lives in the cottage next door.

‘Heartwarming and gloriously romantic’ HEIDI SWAIN ‘Perfect to curl up with on sunny days or cold winter nights’ CRESSIDA McLAUGHLIN ‘I devoured this gorgeous book as quickly as a tin of Scottish shortbread’ VERONICA HENRY Maura has everything she ever wanted from life – a quirky...

When Amy Osbourne’s parents are lost at sea, she is forced to leave her London home and is sent to live with her aunt and uncle at the opposite end of the country. Alardyce House is depressing and dreary, her aunt haughty and cruel. Amy strikes up a friendship with her cousin Edward but his older brother Henry is just as conceited as his mother, and a mutual loathing develops between him and Amy. Struggling in this strange, unwelcoming environment, Amy begins to suspect that something isn’t right at Alardyce House.

A money-laundering accountant disappears in Romania. The hitman hired to disappear him is found dead in a Glasgow flat. And the owner of the flat, the accountant's widow, claims she knows nothing about it. Crime reporter Rosie Gilmour isn't convinced by Helen Lewis's innocent facade - she is convinced Helen was the one who ordered the hit on her husband, and she's going to prove it.

In her memoir, Monica, 54, tells the story of her childhood, when her mother, Betty Mount, forced her head under running bathroom taps and tried to strangle her. She had previously tried to kill Monica as a baby. Monica was taken into foster care, where her new parents ran a brutal regime. To the outside world, the family was devoutly religious and respectable, but behind closed doors, Monica was physically and sexually abused.

From the dramatic Highlands to bustling cities, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have enthralled and shaped generations of mystery writers. This new collection presents 17 classic stories, spanning a period from the 1880s to the 1970s, by a host of Scottish authors alongside writers from south of the border inspired by the history and majesty of the storied country.

Laura has a husband, children, a home in a city she loves. She thinks she can be happy, despite her past. Until someone walks back into her life who she knows will shatter everything. Alexis was her first love. A love so exhilarating, it is impossible to resist. Then Alexis is found dead, and the police are knocking at Laura's door. They're asking her questions and she's telling them lies. Someone wants Laura to pay for what she's been running from. Someone with an obsession that they can't let go.

Scotland, 1924: When Lady Poppy Proudfoot travels to the Highlands for a midsummer party, the last thing she and her fellow guests expect is for a body to wash up beside the loch. Despite protests that it could have been an accident, Poppy is convinced it’s murder and decides to dust off her law degree and hunt for clues. But when the police arrive, the grumpy Inspector MacKenzie dismisses her evidence, insisting a crime scene is no place for a Lady. The nerve!