The Bookseller of Inverness: a gripping historical thriller from the double prizewinning author

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gripping historical thriller set in Inverness in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden from twice CWA award-winning author S. If you’ve never read a SG Maclean novel; well, you should start with the Damien Seeker novels, but after that you should acquaint yourself with The Bookseller of Inverness. The story woven around the historic facts is interesting, entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable and leaves me hoping for more. This is an enthralling and riveting historical read, a blend of fact and fiction, that will likely appeal to those interested in Scottish history and the repercussions of the Battle of Culloden.

Obviously there was a main theme running through the book , however, it was this dark history on Scotland’s past that was lurking under the surface! I think I was expecting this to be a crime novel (confusing it with the recent Death of a Bookseller – do those publishers know that the word bookseller is like catnip to some of us? My knowledge of the conflict between Stuart and Hanover supporters, especially from the point of view of the Scottish Highlanders, is limited, but the author created a believable, detailed and fascinating world. However, there’s a secondary plot which grows in importance as the book wears on, and this is much more successful, involving a possible new uprising and the fear that a traitor is still at work. Many were put onto prison ships to be taken to England for trial and execution, or transported to indentured servitude in North America or the Caribbean.The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. But I don’t think I’ve read a single one that is totally in favour of the Hanoverians – the winning side.

I enjoy historical fiction and seeing the Bookseller of Inverness thought I would try Scottish History. The eighteenth-century manuscript records of the town gave a sense of immediacy and life to the people I was reading about. I’d have given it five stars but I found it too complicated - but that may be my fault as an American ill-versed in Scottish history.The latter stages of the book take on aspects of the thriller, and again MacLean handles this very well. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for - and whether he paid for it with his life. They came to life in my mind, and, fictionalised in the pages of my book, took their place for me once again in the town where they, and I, had been born. Set in the wake of the 1746 battle of Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead – years later, he lives a quiet lift as a bookseller in Inverness. and it’s tough starting again with a new cast, but I have to judge this novel on its merits, of which there are many, especially the depth of characterisation, historical detail and Literature quality of prose.