The Castle in the Glen

An absorbing, dual-plotted mystery that resurrects a cold-case murder investigation from Scotland.

Two intricate plots encompass The Castle in the Glen, an ambitious, absorbing historical mystery by Rhys Bowen. 

The primary story is set in 1965 Scotland, where Emma Callander--an Australian writer stalled in her career--is tasked with completing the final installment in a series of mystery novels written by Iris Blackburn, a lauded Australian expat now losing her memory. Iris’s book centers on a murder that occurred in the early 1900s on the Isle of Sky: two young lovers drown under suspicious circumstances, but it’s the disappearance of another woman called “Wild Girl” who emerges front and center. 

As Emma begins to unravel the material Iris has mapped out on the page, she discovers the story might actually be true—a real-life mystery that’s remained unsolved for 50+ years. With the help of Iris’s handsome lawyer, Tony Gordon, Emma joins forces with him as they set off through the Scottish Highlands to learn more, unearthing long-buried family secrets, red herrings, and a host of suspects who might just bridge the past and the present. 

Readers are in for a real treat through atmospheric Scotland, as Bowen (Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure, From Cradle to Grave) entangles a large cast of well-drawn characters amidst two dark and dangerous plots that entwine to form a well-rendered, intriguing conclusion.

Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen

Lake Union Publishing, $28.99 hardcover, 9781662527210, 429 pages

Publishing Date: August 4, 2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Rhys Bowen HERE

The Book of I

A dark, serio-comic novel about how an ancient bloodbath at a monastery on a tiny Scottish island ultimately provokes redemption for three unlikely survivors.

A jarring, bloody opening scene launches The Book of I, a dark, compact, first novel rife with astonishing comical twists by Scottish playwright David Greig.

The setting is the year 825 at a monastery on the tiny isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. Viking Norsemen raid the island in search of a silver reliquary said to house the bones of Saint Columba, an Irish Catholic Priest (and later canonized saint) who established the remote religious enclave. The 70 devout monks who live in humble isolation on the island seem to rejoice at this invasion, willing and eager to be martyred for Christ in order glorify God—all except for one monk: Brother Martin resists the pull of glorified eternity and salvation. Amidst his cowardice, he hides deep in an outhouse—yes, a punishment as fetid as imagined!

In the aftermath of a particularly gruesome and graphically depicted battle (readers will shiver at Greig’s detailed literary descriptions of beheadings and slayings), Brother Martin survives along with, Una, a “handsome woman,” a beekeeper and medicinal mead maker, who is secretly happy to be liberated from her ogre, now dead husband. One of the aging, elder Viking leaders, Grimur, a bombastic brute with a sensitive side, also survives—this after he is mistakenly taken for dead and buried alive. His “resurrection” certainly doesn’t make for congeniality among this unlikely trio. However, there lies the great dramatic irony in Greig’s clever, inventive story that delivers a host of humorous twists about their survival and ultimate forced camaraderie while also reflecting on more sobering issues of forgiveness and trust, love and redemption.  

The Book of I by David Greig

Europa Editions, $21.25 hardcover, 9798889661276, 160 pages

Publication Date: September 9, 2025 

To order this book on Bookshop.org (formerly Indiebound) link HERE

Link HERE to learn more about dramatist/author David Greig

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

An isolated young woman is liberated from a sad, damaged past via the unexpected kindness and caring of new friends.

Thirty-year-old Eleanor Oliphant is a creature of habit who keeps to herself. Plagued with a facial scar and often donning white gloves to conceal flares of psoriasis, the bright, articulate yet lowly office worker lives alone in a small Glasgow flat. She has managed to survive and circumvent the horrors of her early life--including stints in foster care--by taking comfort in books, doing crossword puzzles, watching the BBC, having a weekly chat with her cruel and demeaning "Mummy" and indulging in vodka on a regular basis.

When Eleanor develops a crush--from afar--on a singer in a local rock band, she embarks on a self-improvement crusade that includes hilarious firsts in bikini waxing, manicures and becoming techno-literate in computers and smartphones. Along the way of her transformation, she crosses paths with warmhearted Raymond, who works in the IT department of her company. As the two are leaving the office one day, they stop to help an elderly man who has collapsed in the street. This simple act upends Eleanor's life in enlightening and challenging ways.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman's intriguing, hopeful first novel, explores the power of kindness and how unexpected friendships can liberate lives. Eleanor's lovable, eccentric and original narrative voice is entrancing. It draws readers fully into her damaged, unconventional psyche as she is forced to deal with a deeply repressed past and come to grips with who she is, and who she'd like to be.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, $26.00 Hardcover, 9780735220683, 336 pages

Publication Date: May 9, 2017

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (June 9, 2017), link HERE