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

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I fear there have been so many books about the Jacobites that they all begin to sound the same after a bit! Like you I have bought a copy of some of the Seeker series after meeting the author in Inverness several years ago. From that moment, it was impossible to disconnect the place in my mind from what had happened there.

I used my new time machine to travel back to the Chicago World Fair in 1893, and then it broke down. 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.It's set in the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion but the history is woven in seamlessly and the plot is swept along by bigger human themes, like treachery, intrigue, hope and revenge. Even with my relative boredom with the Jacobite era, I felt much more at home there than amongst Cromwell’s cronies! The characters -- Hector MacGillivray, his son Iain, the British 'redcoat' officers, the Grandes Dames and the other ladies -- are well drawn. I didn’t find the mystery element particularly interesting, but I loved the characters and the Inverness setting.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes. Hector is the most enjoyable character – a kind of adventurer, good-looking and charming and with an eye for the ladies, who have an eye for him too! A great sense of atmosphere in a city divided between Jacobites and Hanovrians, rich in historical detail and with an intriguing plot. His father, whom he has not seen for years, a close confidante of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Teàrlach Eideard in Scots Gaelic) appears in Inverness. In a town where the spirit of Jacobite rebellion is far from dead, where allegience to the Stuart cause often comes before family, Ian soon finds himself in danger and mired in a web of deceit, death and intrigue.At the end of the book you'll notice a well detailed Author's Note, where the important historical details, concerning this period of history, are superbly documented.