Curl up with Scotland this World Book Day: part two

In the second instalment of our World Book Day Scotland special we highlight some of our favourite titles from the tartan noir genre and revisit classics you may not have picked up since your schooldays but trust us when we say they are called the “classics” for good reason…

Tartan Noir

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves 

Author Ann Cleeves is famous for her crime novels set in Shetland (which have been adapted into a BBC TV drama), and this is the first book in the series.  It follows DI Jimmy Perez on the trail of various grisly goings-on in Shetland.  The book was originally intended as a one-off but there have been eight books published in the series, including Wild Fire published in 2018.

Report for Murder & My Scotland by Val McDermid 

Another famous literary doyenne of Scottish crime fiction is Val McDermid whose first book Report for Murder was published in 1987.  The reader is first introduced to self-proclaimed “cynical socialist lesbian feminist journalist” Lindsay Gordon—McDermid’s pioneering character—as she investigates the vicious murder of the headliner at a fundraising gala.  McDermid has since written around 40 novels that have been translated into multiple languages.   Her book My Scotland - a look at the author’s personal journey through Scotland and how she has used distinctive settings - was published in June 2019.  

The Shadow Man by Helen Fields  

Author Helen Fields joined a strong company of female authors writing crime fiction with the publication of Perfect Remains, in 2017; the first book in a series covering the trials of DI Luc Callanach, a French police officer investigating murders in Scotland’s capital. The Shadow Man is a new standalone novel from the same author, also set in and around Edinburgh.  This time readers follows FBI profiler Connie Woolwine as she is called upon to help investigate a murder and a series of kidnappings in the city (including some heart-stopping moments around the city’s New Town and historic closes off the Royal Mile).   

Perennial favourites 

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 

Legend has it that author Stevenson’s 1869 visit to Unst – the UK’s most northerly inhabited isle - inspired this classic tale of adventure.  He would have visited the island with his father, the lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson, on a visit to Unst and Muckle Flugga to inspect the lighthouse that Thomas and his brother David had started building in 1854.  However, there are those who are argue that it was the island of Fidra, based off the East Lothian coast, that provided the inspiration.  The brothers designed more than 30 lighthouses around Scotland’s coasts and the young writer would have seen most if not all of them.  Either way it’s difficult not to find some hints of the beauty of Scotland’s coast throughout the prose.   

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark  

Famous for its association with Scotland’s capital, the book was also made into an Oscar-winning film starring Maggie Smith.  Miss Brodie is an eccentric teacher at an elite Edinburgh girls' school whose progressive views and teaching methods are called into question.  Edinburgh is woven throughout the pages of the novel and various locations in and around the city - including Greyfriar’s Kirkyard, Barnbougle Castle and Dalmeny House - were used during the making of the 1969 film.