<div>A music journalist and fan examines the life and work of the Scottish guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. The book that fans of the Skids, Big Country and the Raphaels have been waiting for&mdash;a critical perspective not only of Adamson&rsquo;s music and its wider cultural influence, but also the excesses of fame and how the music business really works. Stuart Adamson: In A Big Country tells the story of how a teenager who was raised in a small Fife village released his first single at 19, wrote three Top 40 albums in the next three years and was written off as a has-been at 23, but then went on to form a new band and sell more than 10 million records worldwide, touring with the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Although Adamson was one of the most respected and popular figures in the music industry, his personal life was complex and ultimately tragic, ending with his alcohol-fueled suicide in a Hawaiian hotel in December, 2001. &ldquo;He was a massive, massive influence on me . . . Absolute genius.&rdquo; &mdash;James Dean Bradfield, Manic Street Preachers &ldquo;An overdue tribute to a visionary musician and honorable man.&rdquo; &mdash;Keith Cameron, Mojo &ldquo;Engaging journey through the peaks and troughs of an ultimately troubled life . . . Moving and well-judged.&rdquo; &mdash;Rob Hughes, The Word</div>

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Stuart Adamson

<div>“Five engrossing, resonant stories” set in Edinburgh, written for this collection by Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, Sara Sheridan, and more(The Herald). Edinburgh is steeped in literary history. It’s the birthplace of a beloved cast of fictional characters from Sherlock Holmes to Harry Potter, and the home of the Writer’s Museum, where quotes from writers of the past pave the steps leading up to the entrance. The Scottish capital is a city whose beauty is matched only by the intrigue of its past, and where Robert Louis Stevenson said “there are no stars so lovely as Edinburgh’s street-lamps.” Polygon Books and the charitable organization One City Trust have brought together writers—established and emerging—to write about the place they call home. Based around landmarks or significant links to Edinburgh, from the Royal Botanic Garden to the gritty Old Town streets, each story transports us to a different decade in the city’s recent past. Through these compelling tales, each author reflects on the changes, both generational and physical, in the word’s first UNESCO city of literature. “An atmospheric anthology . . . Each story is vibrant and layered with detail.” —Scottish Field</div>

The People's City

<div>Explore Edinburgh's hidden music heritage, plus a few of its more tuneful tall tales, with this eye-opening guide of the city's music milestones, famous gigs, infamous incidents and colourful characters. From folk to funk, pop to punk and past to present, this collection of bite-sized stories traces the people, venues and gigs that made the city's music scene. From Bowie to the Bay City Rollers, Edinburgh's Greatest Hits touches on the big names as well as lifting the lid on the city's lesser known legends. And just who did leave their teeth in a yoghurt pot on the bar in Sandy Bell's?</div>

Edinburgh's Greatest Hits

<div>In this prequel to the hit series, Glasgow’s gritty detective probes the murder of a gangland lawyer as tensions rise in the city’s underworld. Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong kind of people. When his body is found in an alley behind a pub that is known to be under the protective wing of a local crime boss, the fragile equilibrium that has been keeping Glasgow relatively safe for months is shattered. Besides a distraught family and any number of powerful friends, Carter has left behind his fair share of enemies. So who is responsible for his death? DC Jack Laidlaw’s reputation precedes him. He’s not a team player, but he’s got a sixth sense for what’s happening on the streets. His boss chalks Carter’s death up to the usual rivalries, but Laidlaw knows it can’t be that simple. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, he needs to find Carter’s killer before the whole city explodes . . . Award-winning author William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw books changed the face of crime fiction. When he died in 2015, he left half a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case. New York Times–bestselling author Ian Rankin has finished what McIlvanney started. Here, in The Dark Remains, these two iconic authors bring to life the criminal world of 1970s Glasgow, and Laidlaw’s relentless quest for truth. Praise for The Dark Remains Winner of the 2022 British Book Award for Crime &amp; Thriller Book of the Year “Fantastic—like witnessing Scottish noir’s Big Bang creation in the company of its greatest living exponent . . . Like Maradona and Messi playing in the same team.” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers “Jack Laidlaw is the quintessential crime fiction protagonist, and Ian Rankin delivers a wholly satisfactory homage.” —Irish Times “The writing here is so sharp nearly every sentence could split open a haggis.” —The Washington Post “The world McIlvanney and Rankin create—there’s no indication of who wrote what, and readers will be hard-pressed to tell—is deliciously fluid in its conflicts.” —Kirkus Reviews “A brilliant read: gritty, atmospheric, and menacing.” —Mystery Scene Magazine</div>

The Dark Remains

<div>A must-read collection of stories by Scottish crime writer Val McDermid, &ldquo;one of the bright lights of the mystery field&rdquo; (The Washington Post). Val McDermid&rsquo;s novels have won the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award and the Crime Writers&rsquo; Association&rsquo;s Gold Dagger and Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. Enjoyed by millions of fans worldwide, her intelligent, incisive crime fiction showcases the best and worst of human nature. Here it is now, distilled into a superb collection of nineteen nail-biting, perfectly plotted short stories, including two featuring private eye Kate Brannigan and a foreword by Ian Rankin. &ldquo;McDermid is as smooth a practitioner of crime fiction as anyone out there . . . She&rsquo;s the best we&rsquo;ve got.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review</div>

Stranded

<div>A thrilling new novella about a Jekyll and Hyde&ndash;obsessed Scot in Paris from the international-bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus mysteries. For recent college graduate Ronald Hastie, a job at the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop offers the perfect occupation during a summer abroad in Paris. Working part-time in exchange for room and board leaves plenty of freedom to explore the city once visited by his literary hero, Robert Louis Stevenson, and things only get better when he meets a collector who claims to have the original manuscripts of both the first draft of Jekyll and Hyde and the never-published The Travelling Companion (both thought to have been destroyed). Then Ron meets the man&rsquo;s mysterious assistant, and a reckless obsession stirs inside him. As the life he knew back home in Scotland fades from memory, he desperately seeks the secret lying within Stevenson&rsquo;s long-lost pages. . . . The Bibliomysteries are a series of short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors.</div>

The Travelling Companion

<div>Five thrilling tales of mystery, mayhem, and murder from an exceptional quintet of Edgar, CWA Dagger, and National Book Award winners. Crime and literature make strange and sinister bedfellows in this winning anthology of book-themed whodunits by five acclaimed masters of mystery and suspense. Multiple award-winning, bestselling authors provide the literary thrills and chills in this masterful collection of five ingeniously puzzling mysteries that belong in the library of every crime fiction aficionado. Dead Dames Don&rsquo;t Sing by John Harvey: Looking for a big payday but finding big trouble instead, ex-London-cop-turned-private-investigator Jack Kiley attempts to uncover the true origins of a controversial, pseudonymously written pulp novel. The Travelling Companion by Ian Rankin: A young Scotsman in Paris is drawn into a shocking mystery that resides within the pages of an unpublished manuscript allegedly penned by Robert Louis Stevenson. Mystery, Inc. by Joyce Carol Oates: When an obsessive collector of bookstores discovers a charming new shop, he decides he must have it at any cost&mdash;even if he has to commit murder. Remaindered by Peter Lovesey: For some nefarious reason, the widow and former associates of a slain gangster are determined to keep the Precious Finds Bookstore open following the unfortunate demise of the shop&rsquo;s owner. The Book Thing by Laura Lippman: Private investigator Tess Monaghan must help the irascible proprietor of a Baltimore children&rsquo;s bookstore keep her business afloat by unmasking an elusive and utterly ingenious book thief.</div>

Bookshop Mysteries

<div>The New York Times&ndash;bestselling author tells the story behind Inspector Rebus, the hard-edged Edinburgh cop and &ldquo;superbly drawn character&rdquo; (The Times, London). In this short work, Edgar and Diamond Dagger Award winner Ian Rankin delves into DI John Rebus&rsquo;s origins as a character, as well as his own origins as a writer. While author and character share a love of literature and a deep affection for Scotland&rsquo;s capital city, they differ in other ways, as Rankin entertainingly testifies, while revealing how this &ldquo;compelling figure&rdquo; has developed over the course of his long-running series of gritty crime novels (Kirkus Reviews). &ldquo;[A] hard-drinking, chain-smoking, terminally melancholic hero . . . trapped in a world where mavericks are an endangered species.&rdquo; &mdash;Booklist &ldquo;Rebus is without doubt one of the funniest among the classical fictional detectives.&rdquo; &mdash;The Guardian &ldquo;With his stubborn insistence on tying up the frayed ends of every knotty clue, and iconoclastic refusal to be a team player . . . Rebus is a bane to his superiors but a blessing to readers.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

Ian Rankin
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Books By Ian Rankin (5 Books)

The People's City

The Dark Remains

The Travelling Companion

Bookshop Mysteries

John Rebus

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Ian RankinFollow this author

Books By Ian Rankin (5 Books)

The People's City

The Dark Remains

The Travelling Companion

Bookshop Mysteries

John Rebus

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Ian Rankin
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