S.G. MacLean – författare

*** Read Shona MacLean's brand new novel, The Cromarty Library Circle, out now! ***London, 1654. In the teeming warren of spies, exiles and assassins that is Cromwell's London, the Lord Protector's most feared agent is Damian Seeker. No one knows where Seeker comes from or even his real name. But one thing is certain - nothing remains hidden from him for long.When a popular captain and hero of Cromwell's all-powerful army is murdered, and Elias Ellingworth, an outspoken critic of Cromwell's regime, is found standing over the bleeding body clutching a knife, his guilt seems to be without question. Yet Seeker is not convinced. He will stop at nothing to unmask the true killer and save Ellingworth from the gallows and knows better than any man where to search.'A cut above . . . A compelling plot and some wonderful characters make this a must-read' The Times'A first class, compelling debut for MacLean's new hero' Crime Review******************************************What Readers Are Saying About The Seeker'Tremendous thrilling mystery' 5* Reader Review'Well developed characters' 5* Reader Review'Fantastic!' 5* Reader Review'A wonderful discovery of 17th century London' 5* Reader Review

Summer, 1660. Cromwell is dead and Charles Stuart has been restored to the throne. Men who supported the Protectorate are being hunted down as traitors. 'S. G. MacLean can make any historical period sing with life' Antonia HodgsonBy the summer of 1660 the last remnants of the Republic have been swept away and the Stuarts have been restored under their king, Charles II. A list of regicides believed to be involved in the death of Charles I is drawn up. Gruesome executions begin to take place and the hunt intensifies for those who have gone into hiding at home or abroad.Although not a regicide, staunch Republican Damian Seeker is on a list of traitors to the king. Royalist spy, Lady Anne Winter, is employed to find evidence of guilt or innocence among the names on this Winter List. Seeker has fled England but his beloved daughter Manon remains, married to Seeker's friend, the lawyer Lawrence Ingolby, and living in York.As the conduit to her father and to others on the Winter List and surrounded by spies and watchers, Manon lives in constant danger and fear of discovery. One of those spies is closer than even she could have imagined.Perfect for fans of Robert Harris and Andrew Taylor.******************************Praise for The Winter List 'A wonderful storyteller' The Times 'Vividly imaginative, this builds the world of 1660 from the ground up, with all its romance and tragedy' Sun 'A propulsive plot . . . well-researched and fascinating' Guardian'Gripping fiction with historical fact' Sunday Times'What a fabulous book . . . there is murder, there is intrigue, there is revenge' 5* Reader Review'Kept me hooked right up to the end' 5* Reader Review'A glorious tale of revenge and retribution . . . Highly recommended' 5* Reader Review

A GRIPPING HISTORICAL THRILLER SET IN INVERNESS IN THE WAKE OF THE 1746 BATTLE OF CULLODEN.'This slice of historical fiction takes you on a wild ride' THE TIMESAfter Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he's searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him - a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. 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. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.******************PRAISE FOR THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS'Fresh and intriguing . . . Her best yet' ANDREW TAYLOR'Everything you could ask for from a historical thriller' ANTONIA HODGSON'An intricately wrought, compulsively page-turning tale' CRAIG RUSSELL'A first rate historical thriller' 5* READER REVIEW'From the moment I began reading I was hooked' 5* READER REVIEW'Hugely entertaining . . . fast paced, twisting and turning' 5* READER REVIEW

A GRIPPING HISTORICAL THRILLER SET IN INVERNESS IN THE WAKE OF THE 1746 BATTLE OF CULLODEN.'This slice of historical fiction takes you on a wild ride' THE TIMESAfter Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he's searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him - a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. 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. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.******************PRAISE FOR THE BOOKSELLER OF INVERNESS'Fresh and intriguing . . . Her best yet' ANDREW TAYLOR'Everything you could ask for from a historical thriller' ANTONIA HODGSON'An intricately wrought, compulsively page-turning tale' CRAIG RUSSELL'A first rate historical thriller' 5* READER REVIEW'From the moment I began reading I was hooked' 5* READER REVIEW'Hugely entertaining . . . fast paced, twisting and turning' 5* READER REVIEW

Summer, 1660. Cromwell is dead and Charles Stuart has been restored to the throne. Men who supported the Protectorate are being hunted down as traitors. 'S. G. MacLean can make any historical period sing with life' Antonia HodgsonBy the summer of 1660 the last remnants of the Republic have been swept away and the Stuarts have been restored under their king, Charles II. A list of regicides believed to be involved in the death of Charles I is drawn up. Gruesome executions begin to take place and the hunt intensifies for those who have gone into hiding at home or abroad.Although not a regicide, staunch Republican Damian Seeker is on a list of traitors to the king. Royalist spy, Lady Anne Winter, is employed to find evidence of guilt or innocence among the names on this Winter List. Seeker has fled England but his beloved daughter Manon remains, married to Seeker's friend, the lawyer Lawrence Ingolby, and living in York.As the conduit to her father and to others on the Winter List and surrounded by spies and watchers, Manon lives in constant danger and fear of discovery. One of those spies is closer than even she could have imagined.Perfect for fans of Robert Harris and Andrew Taylor.******************************Praise for The Winter List 'A wonderful storyteller' The Times 'Vividly imaginative, this builds the world of 1660 from the ground up, with all its romance and tragedy' Sun 'A propulsive plot . . . well-researched and fascinating' Guardian'Gripping fiction with historical fact' Sunday Times'What a fabulous book . . . there is murder, there is intrigue, there is revenge' 5* Reader Review'Kept me hooked right up to the end' 5* Reader Review'A glorious tale of revenge and retribution . . . Highly recommended' 5* Reader Review

*** Read Shona MacLean's new novel, The Cromarty Library Circle, out now! ***London, 1656. Oliver Cromwell is now a king in all but name. Three conspirators, an alliance of Royalists and disillusioned Parliamentarians, plan to assassinate him. Seeker, though, is preoccupied by the discovery of the body of a man ravaged by a bear - creatures not seen in the capital since bear baiting was banned. The hunt for the killer leads from Kent's coffee house on Cornhill, to a German clockmaker in Clerkenwell, to the desolate Lambeth Marshes where no one should venture at night. As the motivation behind the murder becomes clearer, Seeker realises just what - and who - he is up against. The Royalists in exile have sent to London their greatest fighter, a man who will stop at nothing to ensure the Restoration.Praise for The Seeker series 'A gripping tale of crime and sedition in an unsettled city' Sunday Times'One of the best historical crime series out there' Crime Review

*** Read Shona MacLean's new novel, The Cromarty Library Circle, out now! ***Bruges, 1658. Damian Seeker, Captain of Oliver Cromwell's Guard, is dead. Or so he would have people believe. Now he is just an English carpenter in Bruges - albeit one who takes a keen interest in exiled Royalists. He is tailing four men who plan to convey a vast fortune to Charles Stuart. They are unaware that one of them is a traitor and that Seeker has been cultivating this turncoat. Now, news reaches him from England that the Royalists are sending an assassin to identify his spy and exact revenge. This would betray Seeker's own identity - and he could expect no mercy.Once Seeker would have been happy to die for the Republic, but now he has too much to live for. He must find this assassin before they find him.Praise for The Seeker series'MacLean guides her characters through the twists of an intriguing plot with great aplomb' Sunday Times'By far the best of the new wave of historical thriller writers' Crime Review

A sleuth to rival Shardlake or Cadfael - a mystery that will chill your blood. 'Transports your body and soul to another time and place' CRAIG RUSSELL'A delight on all levels . . . engaging and moving' MANDA SCOTT'A truly memorable and exciting read' HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEWBanff, Scotland in the 1620s. A young man walks unsteadily through the streets. Is he just drunk or is there something more sinister happening? When he collapses in front of two sisters on that dark, wet night, the women guess that he's been poisoned. His body is discovered in the house of Alexander Seaton - a fallen minister, the discovery of whose clandestine love affair has left him disgraced. Why was the body in Seaton's house? And why would anyone want to murder this likeable young man? Seaton sets out to find answers, embarking on a journey not only through the darkest part of other men's souls, but also his own.A must-read for fans of Rory Clements and SJ Parris.*****************************HEAR WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE REDEMPTION OF ALEXANDER SEATON 'A thrilling read' 5* Reader Review 'Utterly engrossing' 5* Reader Review'Terrific stuff' 5* Reader Review 'An enthralling book' 5* Reader Review'The best new crime novelist I have read since Fred Vargas and Jo Nesbo' 5* Reader Review

Second historical thriller in the Alexander Seaton series sweeps the hero back to his roots in Ulster, and a family living under a curse and riven with long-held secretsIt is 1628, Charles 1 is on the throne, and the British Crown is finally taking control of Ulster.Returning to his rooms one night, Alexander Seaton is shocked to find a stranger standing there - a man who could be his double. His name is Sean O'Neill, and he carries a plea for help from Maeve O'Neill, forbidding matriarch of Alexander's mother's family in Ireland. All those who bear their blood have been placed under a poet's curse: one by one they are going to die. Only Alexander is immune, his O'Neill heritage a secret from all but his closest family. Alexander travels to Ulster, to find himself at the heart of a family divided by secrets and bitter resentments. As he seeks out the author of the curse, he becomes increasingly embroiled in the conflict until - confronted with murder within his own family - his liberty and, finally, his life, are at stake.

Knowledge is power, and when it gets in the wrong hands it can be lethal. Alchemy and murder combine in a gripping race against time from the CWA award-winning author of The Seeker.'One of the best writers of historical crime' The TimesAberdeen, 1631. University librarian Robert Sim takes receipt of a gift of books recently arrived from overseas, mysterious works on alchemy and hermetics - the pursuit of ancient knowledge. By nightfall he has been brutally murdered. His colleague and good friend Alexander Seaton is left with the task of hunting for clues as to his killer's motive, as well as locating the missing books. What did Sim discover in the package, and what makes these books so dangerous?