Malcolm Archibald – författare

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are full of iconic places, beautiful landscapes and flourishing wildlife, but its past has seen horrifying and brutal crime of all sorts.Life in the Highlands of the 19th century was not easy. The glens and moors were home to poachers and whisky smugglers, while the towns were often ready to explode into riot and disorder. Even the Hebridean seas had their dangers, while the Islands seethed with discontent.Whisky Wars looks behind the façade of romantic tartan and vast estates. As well as petty thefts and assaults, the Highlands had a coastal town where riots were endemic, an island rocked by a triple murder, a mob besieging Dornoch jail and religious troubles on the Black Isle. Add the thief who targeted tourist hotels and an Exciseman hanged for forgery, and a hidden history is unearthed in all its unique detail.A fascinating insight into life in the Highlands and Islands as the forces of law and order battled to bring peace to a troubled land.

'A highly entertaining cure for any nostalgia about Victorian values and their consequences.' INVERNESS COURIERFROM THE BORDERS TO THE NORTHERN ISLES, CRIME WAS NEVER FAR AWAY.In the nineteenth century, Scotland was renowned as a land of misty glens, engineering innovation and inventive genius. But it was also the home of brutal murder, terrifying riots, cruelty to children, bank robbery and acid attacks. Women as well as men were capable of horrendous acts, and crime could strike anywhere: at home, on the road and even at sea.Edinburgh, with its reputation for polite decorum, was also the scene of poisoning and savagery; the dark streets of industrial Glasgow and Dundee harboured thieves and muggers; and the villages of coast and country hid wild men and vicious women.Bloody Scotland exposes some of the crimes, both remembered and forgotten, that rocked Scotland in those lawless times and reveals not only the criminals who perpetrated them, but also the law enforcers who fought hard to maintain order against a rising tide of crime.'We've never been sure what it is about true crime books that make them so fascinating to the modern reader. But fascinating they are, especially when they are as thoroughly researched and as well written as Malcolm Archibald's true crime books.' UNDISCOVERED SCOTLAND

Nineteenth-century Dundee was a tough, unforgiving place. For many of its citizens, it was the survival of the fittest, and to survive they turned to crime. But what was it really like both for the criminals and the law-abiding citizens to live in the streets and closes of Dundee at that time? A Sink of Atrocity reveals the real Dundee of the nineteenth century and the ordinary and extraordinary crimes of the times. As well as the usual domestic violence, fights and petty thefts, the Peter Wallace gang plagued the city while Resurrectionists caused panic and alarm. There were also infamous murders and an astonishing variety of crimes by women, as well as highly unusual crimes such as the theft of a whale at sea. Against this tidal wave of crime stood men like Patrick Mackay and the city's other Messengers-at-Arms, responsible for apprehending criminals before the advent of the police. It was a tough job in a tough city, but the punishments were severe as the authorities fought hard to bring law and order to nineteenth-century Dundee.

There cannot be many cities where crime could mean anything from singing a seditious song to stealing a ship, but nineteenth-century Glasgow was a unique place with an amazing dynamism. Immigrants poured in from Ireland and the Highlands, while the factories, shipyards and mills buzzed with innovation. However, underneath the hustle and bustle was a different world, as an incredibly diverse criminal class worked for their own profit - with a total disregard for the law. The highways and byways were infested with robbers; garrotters jumped on the unwary; drunken brawls disfigured the evening streets; prostitutes lured foolish men into dark corners; conmen connived clever schemes; and murder was nearly commonplace. This was a dark and dangerous world, with a volatile population and the constant threat of riots. Holding back the tide of lawlessness was Britain's first professional police force, established in Glasgow in 1800. Their task of policing the city was daunting as they faced everything from petty crime to murder, the notorious Paisley Union Bank robbery to a string of jewellery thefts in the city centre. Glasgow: The Real Mean City is a fascinating account of the century-long struggle of the forces of law and order as they battled to bring peace to a troubled city.