Scotland book series in reading order

by Catriona McPherson

by Pat McIntosh

by Quintin Jardine

by Alanna Knight

by T. Frank Muir

by Denzil Meyrick

by Denise Mina

by Anna Belfrage

by Christopher Brookmyre

by Alan Parks

by C.S. Challinor

by Ken McClure

Scotland is where Gerald Hammond's mysteries take place, much of the action in the invented town of Newton Lauder. Keith Calder is a gunsmith, John Cunningham a dog breeder, and Honey Laird leads a third series; between them they carry a catalogue of 73 books. Hammond wrote short, at a median of 190 pages, from Fred in Situ (1965) to The Unkindest Cut in 2012.

Hannah Howell, born in Massachusetts in 1950, is an American writer of historical romance, much of it set in medieval Scotland. Howell has also published as Anna Jennet, Sandra Dustin and Sarah Dustin. The catalogue records 56 books from A Taste of Fire (1988) to The Scotsman Who Swept Me Away (2019) and marks the run likely complete. Series include Murray Family, Wherlocke, Camerons, MacEnroys, Seven Brides for Seven Scotsmen and Highland Brides, the last written as Anna Jennet. Compromised Hearts (1989), Stolen Ecstasy (1991) and Silver Flame (1992) are early titles, and subjects include knights, inheritance, psychics and the paranormal.

Amanda Scott is a historical romance novelist whose catalogue lists 61 books from The Fugitive Heiress (1981) to The Kissing Stone (2018). More than twenty-five Scott novels take place in the English Regency period of 1810 to 1820, and others are set in fifteenth-century England or sixteenth- and eighteenth-century Scotland, with three contemporary romances as well. Scott began writing on a dare from a spouse and has sold every manuscript written. Awards include the RITA/Golden Medallion and Romantic Times honours for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency. Series include Highland, Secret Clan, Border Trilogy, Galloway Trilogy and Lairds of the Loch. Scott lives in northern California.

Marion Chesney

184 books• 22 series

Marion Chesney, later Marion Gibbons (1936-2019), was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery whose published career began in 1979. Historical romances appeared under the Chesney name, the Travelling Matchmaker and Daughters of Mannerling books among them, while the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mysteries appeared as M. C. Beaton; both of those mystery runs were adapted for television. Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Charlotte Ward, Jennie Tremaine and Sarah Chester are further pen names on the record. This listing gathers 185 books dated from 1979 onward, including later titles on which R.W. Green is credited.

Stuart MacBride

32 books• 8 series

Scottish police procedurals are Stuart MacBride's main line, with Logan McRae as the recurring detective. Cold Granite (2005) opens a catalogue of 32 titles that reaches Blood, Rust, and Steel (2026), with Ash Henderson and Roberta Steel heading further series and standalone novels beside them. Serial murder, crime and investigation fill the subject tags.

Scotland is Paula Quinn's subject. The American novelist writes historical romance built on Highlanders, Scottish history and the Norman conquest, and has said the country's culture, history and beauty drew her to it. Quinn's series include the MacGregors: Highland Heirs, Children of the Mist, Hearts of the Highlands, the Risande Family and Hearts of the Conquest. Forty-three books run from Lord of Desire (2005) to 2026, and Quinn has reached the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.

Catriona McPherson is a Scottish writer best known for the Dandy Gilver novels, historical mysteries built around a woman private investigator. Two further series, the Last Ditch Mysteries and Helen Crowther, sit alongside. Forty books are catalogued between After the Armistice Ball (2005) and The Dead Room (2026). McPherson's awards include an Agatha, two Anthonys, six Leftys and two Macavitys. Scotland, family secrets and murder are the recurring subjects.

Alex Gray

23 books• 1 series

Alex Gray is a Scottish crime writer. The Detective Lorimer novels make up the catalogue, setting Detective Chief Inspector William Lorimer and the psychological profiler Solomon Brightman on murder and serial killings around Glasgow. Gray has also published magazine articles, poetry, short stories and pieces for BBC radio schools programmes. The catalogue lists 23 titles dated 2002 to 2025, opening with Never Somewhere Else (2002) and continuing through The Riverman (2007), Glasgow Kiss (2009), Five Ways to Kill a Man (2010) and The Swedish Girl (2013). Acts of Malice is dated 2025.

Nigel Tranter wrote Scottish historical novels alongside non-fiction on history and architecture. 129 catalogued books run from The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland, 1400-1650 (1935) to More Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles (2008), with the 1960s the busiest decade. The fiction sequences cover Robert The Bruce, the House Of Stewart, the Master Of Gray, James V, Montrose, Mary Stewart and the MacGregors. Tranter lived from 1909 to 2000 and the median book runs 328 pages.

Ann Cleeves

52 books• 10 series

Ann Cleeves is a British crime writer, born in 1954, with 52 catalogued books spanning 1986 to 2026. The run opens with A Bird in the Hand (1986) and reaches The Dying Light in 2026. Cleeves wrote the Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn series, and all three have been adapted for television. Raven Black, the first Jimmy Perez novel, won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2006. Other series listings include Palmer-Jones, Inspector Ramsay, Matthew Venn / Two Rivers and Willow Reeves & Jimmy Perez. Subjects include police procedurals, women detectives, England and Scotland.

Lynsay Sands is a Canadian author from Leamington, Ontario, with more than 80 books to the name. Sands writes historical and paranormal romance, is noted for humour, and is best known for the Argeneau series about a modern vampire family. The catalogue lists 80 books from The Deed (1997) to Immortal by Morning (2025). Other series include Highland Brides, Devil of the Highlands, Deed and Madison Sisters, and subjects on file include vampires and Scotland.

Alanna Knight was a British writer based in Edinburgh, born Gladys Allan Cleet, who lived from 1923 to 2020 and held an MBE. Knight wrote over sixty novels across romance, crime, historical and time travel fiction, along with plays, biographies and histories, and sometimes published as Margaret Hope. The Inspector Faro mysteries, set around the Edinburgh police, are her best known series, with Rose McQuinn, Tam Eildor and Annie Kelty beside them. The catalogue records 72 Knight titles between 1970 and 2021.

Karen Hawkins is an American author of historical romance, born in Tennessee, and humour is a noted feature of the novels. The catalogue holds 41 books from The Abduction of Julia (2000) to The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams (2024). Series include the MacLean Curse, the Hurst Amulet, the Oxenburg Princes, the Duchess Diaries, the Talisman Ring and Dove Pond. Scotland, Great Britain, the nobility and social manners recur among the recorded subjects.

Quintin Jardine, born in 1945, is a Scottish crime novelist with three series to his name. Bob Skinner, a police officer in Edinburgh, heads the longest of them, from Skinner's Rules (1993) through Skinner's Festival, Skinner's Trail, Murmuring the Judges and Skinner's Ghosts. Oz Blackstone and Primavera Blackstone carry the other two, starting with Blackstone's Pursuits (1996). Sixty-two books are catalogued through 2026, each around 400 pages, and Scotland supplies the setting throughout.

Caro Ramsay is a Scottish writer of crime fiction. The first ten novels are police procedurals set in Glasgow, with DI Colin Anderson and DS Freddie Costello as the investigating pair; the DCI Christine Caplan books and a set of standalone novels follow. Murder, missing persons and missing children drive the cases. Ramsay's catalogue holds 19 titles dated 2007 to 2026, opening with Absolution (2007) and running through Dark Water (2010), The Blood of Crows (2012), The Night Hunter (2014), Rat Run (2016) and The Sideman (2018). My Sister's Wedding is dated 2026.

Peter Turnbull writes police procedurals. 48 catalogued books run from Deep and Crisp and Even (1981) to Cold Wrath (2018), across three series: Hennessey & Yellich, Harry Vicary and Maurice Mundy. George Hennessey and Somerled Yellich are the recurring detectives, and England and Scotland are both settings across the run. Turnbull, born in Rotherham in 1950, studied at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, at Huddersfield and at Cardiff, and worked as a social worker for Strathclyde Regional Council in Glasgow from 1978 to 1995.

Pat McIntosh writes the Gil Cunningham historical mysteries, set in Scotland during the Middle Ages. Subjects list notaries, murder investigation and missing children. The 11 catalogued books span 2004 to 2016, from The Harper's Quine (2004) through The Nicholas Feast (2005) and A Pig of Cold Poison (2010) to The Lanimer Bride (2016). Median length is 320 pages.

Monica McCarty writes historical romance set in Scotland. Her 26 books appeared between 2007 and 2019, beginning with Highlander Untamed (2007) and ending with Highland Crossfire (2019). Five sequences divide the run: the Highland Guard, the Campbell Trilogy, the MacLeods of Skye Trilogy, Lost Platoon and Rake. Clans, warriors, imaginary wars, revenge and romantic suspense are the recurring subjects. Nothing has been added to the catalogue since 2019.

Mary Wine writes historical romance and erotica, much of it set among Scottish clans, and her stories range from the pages of history to the far reaches of space. Her 42 catalogued books span 2004 to 2024, from Dream Shadow to Master of Mayhem, and include the Highland Weddings, Sutherlands, McJames, English Tudor, Courtly Love, Steam Guardians, Breaking Boundaries, Enchanted Well and Alcandians series. Marriage, inheritance and aristocratic households recur in the subject index. Wine took a 2008 EPPIE Award for erotic western romance, and makes historical garments, from corsets to court dresses of Elizabeth I, when away from the keyboard.

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish historical novelist and poet read across Europe in his own lifetime, the first author writing in English to hold a genuinely international career, with readers in Europe, Australia and North America. Scotland's history and social customs are his subject, from the narrative poems The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805) and Marmion (1808) to the Waverley novels, Tales of My Landlord, Tales of the Crusaders and Chronicles of the Canongate. Toryism is often associated with Scott, though passages of Tales of a Grandfather take a liberal, progressive and Unionist view of Scottish history. Seventy-nine catalogued titles date from 1796 onward.

Anna Smith writes thrillers and suspense fiction set in Scotland. Rosie Gilmour is the recurring character named in the subject headings, which also list women journalists, investigation, social conditions, child abuse and friendship. Twenty books are catalogued from Spit Against the Wind (2003) to The Widows (2026), across the Rosie Gilmour, Kerry Casey and Billie Carson series.

Malcolm Mackay, born on 1 September 1981 in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, writes Scottish crime fiction. The Glasgow Underworld books and the Saviors books make up nine catalogued titles, from The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter (2013) to Saviors (2019), with gangsters, organised crime and hired killers throughout. How a Gunman Says Goodbye took the Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2013. Nothing has followed since 2019.

Diana Gabaldon

33 books• 12 series

Diana Gabaldon is best known for the Outlander book series. Gabaldon, born January 11, 1952, is an American author and television writer whose novels mix historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction or fantasy. Starz premiered a television adaptation of the Outlander novels in 2014. The catalogue lists 33 titles, from Outlander / Cross Stitch (1991) to Besieged (2022), with Dragonfly in Amber (1992) and Voyager (1993) early in the run. Lord John Grey is a second named series. Time travel, Scotland, Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall appear among the subject headings.

Julia London

68 books• 18 series

Julia London writes historical romance, Regency England, the Scottish highlands, nobility and marriage plots, with a contemporary strand beside it. The Rogues of Regent Street, the Highland Grooms, Desperate Debutantes, the Cabot Sisters, Secrets of Hadley Green, Lake Haven and Pine River are among her series. Sixty-seven catalogued books run from The Devil's Love (1998) to Rules for Aging and Larceny in 2026.