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

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I won a bottle of Laphroaig in a game during the quiz interval – then had another message to say the book had also been longlisted for the Historical Dagger! Most of the characters in the book are fictional, although many of them, as I discovered from the author’s note, are based on the lives and experiences of real people. One historical figure who plays an important part in the story without actually appearing in it is Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat – known as the ‘Old Fox’ – who readers of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series will remember as Jamie Fraser’s grandfather. Iain MacGillivray himself is an engaging character with an interesting past; I enjoyed getting to know him and reading about the work he and his assistants put into collecting, restoring and selling – or lending – books to the people of Inverness.

But ultimately, it’s the characters who make the book sing. The way in which their lives are changed forever by the murderous events at the heart of the plot draws the reader into their world and makes latter-day Jacobites of us. Even though history tells us that there were no more rebellions after 1745, we will the Elibank plot to be successful and the Highlanders freed from the oppression of the Hanoverians. And, through the web of allegiances the family owes to other supporters of the Stuart cause, we swiftly develop an empathy with the sacrifices, the commitment, and the almost religious devotion of three generations of Jacobites to their King and Prince. A Major G.G. Munro of Poyntzfield was the instigator of the reading club, and here’s an example of how it worked, with the name of the book in the middle: After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drumossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.MacLean has the first-rate historical novelist's gift for bringing to life any period she writes about - Sunday Express MacLean’s book is an excellent example of a well-written and researched historical fiction. 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. He also supplied an extensive reading list for those seeking biographical or historical knowledge. The importance of local politics for the novel’s plot made me worried that the book would become overwhelming, but that never happened. The necessary information is supplied in an accessible form, and the intrigue keeps the reader’s interest peaked. Hector’s flamboyant delivery of himself into English hands, while repaying a debt of honour, could easily be seen as symbolic of some of the Prince’s more quixotic decisions and goes some way, perhaps, to explaining why, despite their passionate convictions, the Stuarts could not prevail against the ruthless pragmatism of the English state. Needless to say, Shona has been pounding the pavements of Cromarty in pursuit of her characters, atmosphere and inspiration.

The Historial Dagger for the best historical crime novel, is open to books first published in the UK in English, set in any period up to 50 years prior to the year in which the award will be made.There are several other engaging characters including Ishbel MacLeod, who had recently returned from indenture as a servant in America, accompanied by a charming rascal, young Tormod, a half-caste boy she cares for. Others in the town are a mixture of Hanoverian supporters of King George and former Jacobites. The presence of many English soldiers is unnerving, some like Major Thornlie, polite and correct in his manner and others like Captain Dunne violent and uncouth.

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