New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins spins an unforgettable tale of captivating beauty with a secret, a dashing sea captain on a treacherous mission, and the priceless artifact that seals their destiny. Despite fame and countless admirers, actress Marcail Beauchamp has never forgotten William Hurst, the audacious seafarer she once loved...and lost. Now, forced by a mysterious blackmailer who threatens her family, she must steal an ancient onyx box from the one man she’s vowed never to see again. To save his brother from a ruthless abductor, William must deliver the artifact as ransom. He’s stunned when Marcail, more lovely than ever, suddenly appears on his ship. But when she drugs him and steals the box, his fury knows no bounds. William pursues Marcail, but too late: she has already delivered the box. The estranged lovers realize they must work together—both to regain the artifact that could mean life or death to his family and to destroy the mysterious blackmailer’s power over her family. Thus begins a high-stakes quest through the reaches of Scotland, a quest that stirs up long-forgotten memories and an unquenchable passion...

"Her Scottish father put her in an institution in Calcutta when she was small. Guilt made her Highland gentry grandfather send for her, but he considered her an encumbrance and boarded her in Elgin. When she was an adolescent, her grandmother enrolled her in an Edinburgh boarding school where she developed a crush on one teacher and received harsh rebukes from the other. Brushed off by the former and chastised by the latter, she retaliated by alleging that they were sexually intimate. The teachers sued for libel; in the case that ensued, she was seen through sexist and racist lenses, constructed as an Other. While the case was still going on, she was married to a Presbyterian minister. If the idea was that he would tame her and make her conformable as other household Janes, the plan failed. He turned out to be a womanizer and Jane took revenge on him by reporting his unchaste behavior to his fellow ministers. Later she made a laughingstock of him by joining another church. Posthumously, she became a mean show-stopping character in a play by Lillian Hellman. Such was the life of Jane Cumming, the biracial woman whose recovered story is the subject of this biography. Spanning three continents and more than two centuries and based on archival research, this offers a sympathetic portrait of the protagonist, seeing her as a resilient figure who, when threatened by figures of authority, took arms against her sea of troubles so as to oppose and end them"--

"Essential reading" – The Spectator "Compelling" – Times Scotland "Timely, important, compelling" – Bella Caledonia "A gripping story of power games and hubris" – The Observer "Reads like a thriller" – Iain Dale "All of this is raw meat to ravenous journalists, and in Break-Up David Clegg and Kieran Andrews go at it with gusto" – Literary Review "A forensic examination of the Salmond saga" – Sunday Times *** Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon's political partnership changed the face of Scotland, bringing the country to within 200,000 votes of independence and holding sway at Holyrood for more than a decade. So how and why has their thirty-year alliance irretrievably broken down? Break-Up tells the inside story of how the once unbreakable unity of the Scottish National Party was ripped apart amid shocking claims of sexual assault. With unrivalled access to both camps and the women who made the allegations, and with rigorously fair-minded reporting, journalists David Clegg and Kieran Andrews go behind the headlines to uncover the truth about this extraordinary episode, in a piece of political history that reads like a thriller. Now fully updated, this is a jaw-dropping tale of inappropriate behaviour in the highest reaches of power, of lies, distrust and alleged conspiracy, with profound implications not only for Salmond and Sturgeon themselves but for Scotland's governing party and the wider independence campaign.

What would it be like to become Idi Amin's personal physician? Giles Foden's bestselling thriller is the story of a young Scottish doctor drawn into the heart of the Ugandan dictator's surreal and brutal regime. Privy to Amin's thoughts and ambitions, he is both fascinated and appalled. As Uganda plunges into civil chaos he realises action is imperative - but which way should he jump?

A complete reappraisal of the scale and significance of female criminality in a period of major legislative changes. This book offers important new insights into the relationship between crime and gender in Scotland during the Enlightenment period. Against the backdrop of significant legislative changes that fundamentally altered the face of Scots law, Anne-Marie Kilday examines contemporary attitudes towards serious offences against the person committed by women. She draws particularly on rich and varied court records to explores female criminality and judicial responses to it in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Through a series of case studies of homicide, infanticide, assault, popular disturbances and robbery, she argues that Scottish women were more predisposed to violence than their counterparts south of the border and considers how this relates to the contemporary drive to `civilise' popular behaviour and to promote a more ordered society. The book thus challenges conventional feminist interpretations that see women principally as the victims of male-controlled economies, institutions and power structures, and calls for a major re-evaluation of the scope and significance of female criminality in this era. It will be ofinterest to scholars, students and those interested in the fields of gender studies, social history and the history of crime. ANNE-MARIE KILDAY is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University.

The journalist reveals the scandal behind Scotland’s Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and the questionable conviction of a Libyan terror suspect. The Lockerbie bombing of 1988 remains one of the most notorious acts of terrorism to be perpetrated in the United Kingdom. Its political and foreign policy repercussions have been enormous. Decades later, debate still rages over the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, as well as his controversial release in 2009 on compassionate grounds. In Scotland’s Shame, journalist and researcher John Ashton argues that the guilty verdict, delivered by some of Scotland's most senior judges, was perverse and irrational. He details how prosecutors withheld numerous items of evidence that were favorable to Megrahi. It accuses successive Scottish governments of turning their back on the scandal and pretending that the country's treasured independent criminal justice system remains untainted.

Hampden Babylon is widely respected as one of the best books on Scottish football. Based on Kenneth Anger's infamous Hollywood Babylon, it takes a celebratory journey through the back streets of sex and scandal in the Scottish game, providing a popular and intelligent romp through the lives of the losers, boozers and substance abusers that populate the nation's sport. First published in 1991, Hampden Babylon was met with a phenomenal critical reception and was hailed as 'the first sadomasochistic history of football'. It is a book that not only loves the game but lusts with a taste for the perverse and the scandalous. Hampden Babylon is dedicated to the human imperfections that make the game great. Fully updated and revised from the original 1991 publication, which has been unavailable for years, Hampden Babylon remains one of the funniest books ever published on football.

Marking the first twenty years of the Scottish Parliament, this collection of essays assesses its impact on Scotland, the UK and Europe, and compares progress against pre-devolution hopes and expectations. Bringing together the voices of ministers and advisers, leading political scientists and historians, commentators, journalists and former civil servants, it builds an authoritative account of what the Scottish Parliament has made of devolution and an essential guide to the powers Holyrood may need for Scotland to flourish in an increasingly uncertain world.