The third lyrical, evocative, and character-driven entry in A.D. Scott's mystery series set in the 1950s in the Scottish Highlands. As a decade of change comes to a close, murder hists close to home in a small Scottish town... On a dark, damp Sunday evening, a man taking a shortcut home sees a hand reaching out in supplication from a bundle of sacks. In an instant he knows something terrifying has happened. In the Highlands in the late 1950s, much of the local newspaper's success was due to Mrs. Smart, the no-nonsense office manager who kept everything and everyone in line. Her murder leaves her colleagues in shock and the Highland Gazette office in chaos. Joanne Ross, a budding reporter and shamefully separated mother, assumes Mrs. Smart's duties, but an intriguing stranger provides a distraction not only from the job and the investigation but from everything Joanne believes in. Beneath the Abbey Wall brilliantly evokes a place...

One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2015 Set against the grandeur of the Northern Scottish Highlands in the 1950s, here is the sixth evocative, fast-paced, suspenseful mystery in A.D. Scott's highly acclaimed series featuring beloved heroine Joanne Ross.Praised for their "well-drawn characters" (Publishers Weekly), "ingenious" plotting (Booklist, starred review), and "a terrific sense of place" (Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Hush Now, Don't You Cry), A. D. Scott's mysteries never fail to enthrall and entertain. Now, in Scott's latest, Joanne Ross returns for a spellbinding case involving a woman accused of witchcraft in small-town Scotland. When Alice Ramsay, artist and alleged witch, is found dead in her home in a remote Scottish glen, the verdict is suicide. But Joanne Ross of the Highland Gazette refuses to believe it. As she investigates Alice's past, Joanne...

Two Women, Two Murders . . . A stunning and suspenseful story of families, betrayal, and a community divided. Nothing is ever quite at peace on Scotlands Black Islethe Traveling people are forever at odds with the locals, the fishermen have nothing in common with the farmers, and the villages have no connection with the town. But when two deaths occur on the same day, involving the same families from the same estatethe Black Isle seems as forbidding as its name. Joanne Ross, typist at the Highland Gazette, is torn whether to take on the plum task of reporting on these murdersafter all, the woman at the center of both crimes is one of her closest friends. Joanne knows the story could be her big break, and for a woman in the mid-1950sa single mother, no lessgood work is hard to come by. But the investigation by the staff on the Gazette reveals secrets that will forever change this quiet, remote part of...

Both probing character study and a driving novel of suspense, here is a novel that will linger in your mind like mist over the Scottish glens . . .In the Highlands of 1950s Scotland, a boy is found dead in a canal lock. Two young girls tell such a fanciful story of his disappearance that no one believes them. The local newspaper staff--including Joanne Ross, the part-time typist embroiled in an abusive marriage, and her boss, a seasoned journalist determined to revamp the paper--set out to uncover and investigate the crime. Suspicion falls on several townspeople, all of whom profess their innocence. Alongside these characters are the people of the town and neighboring glens; a refugee Polish sailor; an Italian family whose café boasts the first known cappuccino machine in the north of Scotland; and a corrupt town clerk subverting the planning laws to line his own pocket.Together, these very different Scots harbor deep and troubling secrets underneath their...

The fifth gripping and beautifully written entry in A. D. Scott’s mystery series finds star journalist John McAllister caught up in the razor-gang warfare of 1950s Glasgow.A. D. Scott’s extraordinary mystery novels have been called “beautifully written and atmospheric” (New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen), “a visit with an old friend in front of a fireplace” (Suspense Magazine), and “must-reads” (Booklist). John McAllister has come to a crossroads, torn between the stability of his life in the Highlands and the thrill of working as a renowned journalist in Glasgow at a national daily newspaper. Can he accept that this exciting new phase is over? That it is time to settle down? Before he knows it, McAllister is in the midst of a fast-paced hunt for his good friend Jimmy McPhee, who is involved in a blood feud with a murderous razor gang. With a fiercely ambitious young crime reporter,...

Both probing character study and a driving novel of suspense, here is a novel that will linger in your mind like mist over the Scottish glens . . . In the Highlands of 1950s Scotland, a boy is found dead in a canal lock. Two young girls tell such a fanciful story of his disappearance that no one believes them. The local newspaper staff—including Joanne Ross, the part-time typist embroiled in an abusive marriage, and her boss, a seasoned journalist determined to revamp the paper—set out to uncover and investigate the crime. Suspicion falls on several townspeople, all of whom profess their innocence. Alongside these characters are the people of the town and neighboring glens; a refugee Polish sailor; an Italian family whose café boasts the first known cappuccino machine in the north of Scotland; and a corrupt town clerk subverting the planning laws to line his own pocket. Together, these very different Scots harbor deep and troubling secrets underneath their polished and respectable veneers—revelations that may prevent the crime from being solved and may keep the town firmly in the clutches of its shadowy past. **