Martyn Colebrook

For this reviewer a new novel from Liam McIlvanney heralds a new opportunity to explore one of the major talents and practitioners in contemporary Scottish crime fiction. It also means that for the next few days the mind will be traversing pastures new in terms of learning about an aspect of Scottish culture which may […]

James Meek’s novel is a tour de force condensed into the trappings of a short novel which addresses a canvas that spans generations and well as cultures. It is a testament to the author’s talent that there is a Dickensian quality to this writing but it still manages to balance an economy of style with […]

There is a growing contemporary trend for novels of critical acclaim and historic incidents of notoriety to be retold or rewritten through the lens of the associated women in the narrative: Call Me Ishmaelle is a gender-swap Moby Dick, Wifedom tells the unsung work of George Orwell’s wife and now Michelle Sloan has taken up the baton with her […]

Ewan Morrison’s novel is a bold and daring exploration of the age of AI. It begins with a note from an editor who has received a cryptic email link, supposedly sent by the therapist of Josh Cartwright – a San Francisco bomber who struck on 1 October. Unsure whether the email represents a joke in […]

David F. Ross is a new name to me, despite a back catalogue that already includes several notable publications – works which, on the strength of The Weekenders, undoubtedly merit further exploration. The novel’s subtitle, “The Raskine House Trilogy, #1”, indicates Ross’s authorial ambition and going by the first instalment there is a fertile seam to mine […]

I first became aware of John Niven through his more recent works, having regrettably overlooked the earlier and significant part of his career. So it was with great delight that a notification of the publication of TheFathers arrived out of the blue earlier this year, with my appetite having been suitably whetted by Niven’s shocking revenge thriller The F*ck […]

There are two certainties in literature and in life – the first is the perpetual presence of jazz in Ian Rankin’s work, and the second is ongoing marvel at just where John Rebus manages to find himself through his professional and personal escapades. Midnight and Blue is the twenty-fifth Rebus novel, and the series’ longevity and success […]

Columba’s Bones is part of the Polygon series The Darkland Tales which involves a range of Scotland’s sharpest writers re-imagining significant tales from the country’s history. In this instance David Greig recounts the stories of Iona and the early monks.  Iona has multiple etymological routes, as the epigraph tells us, which lead to the name. It is ‘three […]

Caroline Campbell is furious – and justifiably so. Her personal dedication in the novel makes it clear that she identifies with the protagonist and the female victims portrayed in Spiked, drawing directly from her own experiences with men and the consequences of their actions (or lack thereof). As a reader, it’s clear I wasn’t the book’s […]

Following the publication of Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction (2005), this second volume was launched at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow last year. The editors state that the focus of the collection is to examine how Scots perceive themselves and how they are perceived by those who are not Scots. It is a conscious […]

It’s long been a principle that in order to write about a place, you need to move away from it and Berlin-based Jan Flett is no stranger to this with her dazzling and remarkable debut Freakslaw. The premise sets out the stall for the riotous and dizzyingly hectic activities that follow: Pitlaw is a small, conservative […]

As debuts go, this one is a bit special. I was hooked on the writing of And Now the Light is Everywhere from the opening paragraph and L. A. Macrae’s style and use of a complex, interwoven plot spanning generations demonstrates all the maturity and sophistication of a novelist more advanced in their career. Before […]

T. Y. Garner is another talented writer to emerge from the Ringwood Publishers stable and with fiction of this quality, he’s a name I can see coming to prominence in future. Despite appearances at the numerous quality literary events and a sustained pre-release and publication campaign from Ringwood, this remains a shockingly overlooked novel in […]

Every now and then a reviewer comes across a novel where not just the content of the book but the C.V. of the writer inspires such curiosity that they feel compelled to buy the remainder of their fiction and devour it. Andrew Crumey is one such novelist and Beethoven’s Assassins is the novel in question. Now an […]

Upon reading the opening lines of Hugo Rifkind’s Rabbits I was struck by its similarity to the gallows humour prose of a maverick of Scottish writing, Iain Banks, and his novels The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road: ‘When the shotgun went off under Johnnie Burchill’s brother’s chin, word had it, the top of his head came off like the […]

To the Dogs, the twelfth novel from Louise Welsh, is another examination of the Glasgow crime scene, and the intersection between academia, global politics, local hardmen and corporate corruption makes for a dazzling and unpredictable read.  Professor Jim Brennan is a senior figure at the university and looking a shoe in for a promotion to Principal, […]

I have long been a fan of Ron Butlin’s fiction and this novel has only furthered my particular love of his writing. It was only when delving further into interviews with the man himself that I realised this novel is a follow up to The Sound of My Voice (1987). Butlin admits he did not start out […]

Following the success of her claustrophobic and chilling debut novel, The Pharmacist (2022), Rachelle Atalla returns with another dystopian vision of the future which depicts the consequences of climate change through the lens of a world where drought is impending. Divided into three segments: Spring, Summer, and Autumn, this novel is impeccable when it comes to the […]

Ian Spring’s collection of short stories encapsulates the spirted approach to publishing that is contributing to Rymour fast acquiring a striking reputation for their catalogue. There are fifteen in this particular collection which is marked by a distinctly self-effacing and rip-roaringly funny Author’s Note at the beginning. Whilst the subtitle is ‘It is not necessary […]

Fresh from the highly respected publishing house Rymour comes a collection of classic Golden Age detective stories which was longlisted by for the CWA Short Story Dagger Award. Simpson Grears’ creation, the former archivist and local historian Hamish McDavitt, is an informal consultant for Detective Inspector Nigel Stonelaw of the Edinburgh and Lothian police and […]

A fiction writer of significant repute already, John Niven’s biography of his brother Gary – affectionately known as “Shades” from his childhood – and told in parallel with Niven’s own life story, is a deeply person depiction of a troubled, gifted individual who felt compelled to rage against authority following a challenging upbringing by their […]

Femke is the first novel I have encountered from Taproot Press, an Edinburgh-based publisher founded in 2020 by two students, Patrick Jamieson and Daniela Silva, whose commitment to ‘presenting challenging, contemporary voices from both Scotland and beyond’ brought them firmly to my attention when looking through the latest emergent talents. With a mission statement of […]