The Glencairn Glass launches ‘The Last Dram’

A crime fiction anthology to raise
money for charity

The Glencairn Glass – the world’s favourite whisky glass made by Scottish company Glencairn Crystal – has launched a collection of gripping crime fiction short stories by up-and-coming crime authors. The anthology features tales from 16 different authors, all of whom have previously entered the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story competition over the last three years. All of the profits from the book sales in the run up to Christmas will go to charity.

The Glencairn Glass has supported and celebrated Scottish crime writing talent through its ongoing sponsorship of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime-writing literary awards since 2020. Following this, the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition was then launched in 2021 - an annual competition open to both experienced and novice crime writers around the world.

Working in partnership with Stirling University, a collection of the most enthralling stories from the competition’s entrants has been collated for the creation of the anthology named The Last Dram. Students from Stirling University helped to create various aspects of the final collection, from assisting with the curation of the stories to the design and layout of the book.

The Last Dram has been edited by Heather J. Fitt, a Scottish,  crime fiction author based in Hampshire, who appeared at this year’s annual Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling.  The talented authors whose stories have been featured in The Last Dram are Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition winners and runners up as well as other entrants whose stories impressed the competition judges.

The list of contributing authors, including both experienced and debut writers, is as follows:

Allan Gaw (2022/23 runner up) – Allan has since gone on to win this year’s Bloody Scotland Debut Prize which is an impressive achievement.

Phillip Wilson (2023/24 winner)
Elisabeth Ingram Wallace (2023/24 runner up)
Brid Cummings (2021/22 winner)
Jennifer Harvey (2021/22 runner up)
Judith O’Reilly (2021/22 runner up)
 
Other writers featured in the book include the published crime author Morgan Cry, as well as Gayle Thompson, Louise Sharland, Ewan A. Dougall, Ben Colley, Julian Benson, Shona MacBryer, Anna Wallace, Bryce Main and BV Lawson.
 
Money raised from sales of the anthology book will go to Maggie’s - a cancer care charity that provides free expert care and support in centres across the UK and online.
 
The Last Dram includes grisly tales of murder, retribution and revenge, as well as the chilling confession of a food blogger who sought vengeance on her violent husband. There’s also a disillusioned tourist guide on the Isle of Skye who sends badly behaved tourists to suffer a gruesome fate, a series of murders set in a Glasgow police station in 1928 which the police have to unravel, plus many, many more spine-tingling stories.

Kirsty Nicholson, Design and Marketing Manager at Glencairn Crystal said: “We’ve been blown away by the outstanding quality of the stories that have been entered into our Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition over the last few years. We wanted to showcase these gripping reads for people in a collection to support and celebrate the talented authors and the world of Scottish crime fiction, whilst raising money for Maggie’s – a very special charity.  A fine dram of whisky in a Glencairn Glass is the perfect accompaniment to settling down with a good book over the winter months;  ‘The Last Dram’ also provides the perfect Christmas gift for those friends and relatives who are difficult to buy for.” 

The book is available as both an e-book (priced £5.99) and a limited-edition book in print (£9.99). There is also a special gift pack containing the printed book alongside two Glencairn Glasses (priced £25.99) - the ideal Christmas present for lovers of both whisky and crime fiction! The e-book, print book and gift set with Glencairn Glasses are available via the Glencairn Glass website online shop: Glencairn Anthology. 

@bloodyscotland #BloodyScotland 

‘Shadow of Poison’ by Peter Tonkin

Published by Sharpe Books,
14 September 2024.
ISBN:979-833924242-0 (PB)             
It’s 1586 and Robert Poley, Queen Elizabeth’s intelligencer, is newly returned to England from war in Arnhem, Holland. He has only recently played a part in unmasking Anthony Babington’s plot to murder Queen Elizabeth, replace her with the Queen of Scots and return the country to Catholicism. On his return Poley is taken to Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, who tells him of a suspected plot to kill the Queen. He wants Poley to go under cover as a notorious poisoner to discover more. First, he is placed in a cell in the Tower with suspected plotters spreading the feeling among them that he really is a poisoner. Meanwhile, he learns a lot about different poisons from his “interrogators” when he is supposedly taken for questioning.

The main person coming under suspicion is the Queen’s physician Doctor Lopez, Poley finds this very hard to believe as he seems devoted to Her Majesty, and she thinks the world of him.

One day when Poley and other men are experimenting with different poisons, Archbishop Creagh is accidentally killed and Poley is blamed, leading to him being sent from England. While abroad he starts to investigate plans by King Philip of Spain who plots to poison Queen Elizabeth. The dethroned King of Portugal Dom Antonio also comes under suspicion along with countless spies.

Poley then uncovers more suspicions involving Doctor Lopez and he returns to England in1590 determined to find out more. On his arrival he is approached by Robert Cecil to join his spy network.

Meanwhile the Earl of Essex, recently humiliated on the field of battle, is determined to win the Queen’s favour once more and show himself to be the one to save her from the “poisoner” Doctor Lopez. He becomes a real thorn in the side of the Queen’s intelligencer. The more Poley delves into suspicious plots involving poisons and their poisoners the more confused he becomes, trying to tell friends from enemies. Plus, as much as he wants to believe in the innocence of the Doctor, events make him start to wonder. Can he really take the chance that Lopez may be plotting to poison Her Majesty? The whole affair becomes a real gamble for Poley. Will her doctor be found guilty or innocent, it takes four years for the decision to be made one way or the other.

A really all consuming, intriguing book full of double dealing and perilous plotting times. The story telling brings it all to life dramatically.

Very highly recommended for readers at all interested in the latter years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign with their unsettling events and outcomes.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Peter Tonkin was born 1 January 1950 in Ulster, son of an RAF officer. He spent much of his youth travelling the world from one posting to another. He went to school at Portora Royal, Enniskillen and Palmer's, Grays. He sang, acted, and published poetry, winning the Jan Palac Memorial Prize in 1968. He studied English with Seamus Heaney at Queen's Belfast. His first novel, Killer, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes. He has also written a series of Elizabethan mysteries. Since retiring from teaching he has written mysteries set in Ancient Rome and more recently a series set in Greece.

https://petertonkin.com/

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising, especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

‘Murder in Transit’ by Edward Marston

Published by Allison & Busby,
26 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3017-9 (PB)

It is 1866 and Giles Blanchard, a wealthy estate agent, is travelling by train from Chichester to Portsmouth, after which he intends to take the ferry to the Isle of Wight where he resides. He follows an elegant and attractive woman into a first class carriage and, despite the presence of a man in naval uniform who seems to be sleeping off a drunken binge, Blanchard approaches the woman and makes his lecherous intentions obvious. The woman encourages his advances but Blanchard’s plans for a pleasant interlude go very wrong and, at Portsmouth, a railway official discovers him dead by violence.

The Chief Constable of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Constabulary requests that Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck, popularly known as the Railway Detective, is sent to Hampshire to investigate the crime. Colbeck and his trusted sergeant, Victor Leeming, travel down immediately. When they have been informed of the circumstances surrounding Blanchard’s death, Leeming travels by train to Chichester to question the men at the Haven Club, the gentleman’s club where Blanchard had spent the evening, and Colbeck goes by ferry to the Isle of Wight to talk to the dead man’s family.

Both detectives are told by the people they first interview that, as well as being a shrewd businessman,  Blanchard was a thoroughly decent man, popular and generous, and devoted to his wife and family. However other people, who are less close to the victim, paint a different portrait, describing an ambitious and ruthless man with a roving eye for attractive young women. This does not surprise Colbeck and Leeming who had already speculated about why such a reputedly caring husband should spend so much time staying at his club rather than travelling home, and they wonder if the victim was indeed a man who had had sexual relationships with other women. Blanchard’s killers already know the answer to this question because they have discovered amongst his possessions a very indiscreet notebook and they are delighted to have acquired a new, lucrative source of income that involves less risks than robbery.

The investigation is rendered even more urgent by the detectives’ awareness that the widowed Queen Victoria is residing at Osborne House, her beloved home on the Isle of Wight. Many years ago, Colbeck had been instrumental in saving the lives of the Queen and the Prince Consort, and he is determined that nothing should impair Her Majesty’s pleasure in her island retreat, much less place her in danger, and he is dismayed when their enquiries lead them to the inner circle of the royal residence.

Murder in Transit is the 22nd book in the Railway Detective series. It is a delightful, multi-viewpoint book in which the reader is offered far more information than the detectives. The historical information is fascinating and the central characters are engaging. An enjoyable addition to an excellent series, which I highly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Edward Marston was born and brought up in South Wales. He read Modern History at Oxford then lectured on the subject for three years before becoming a full-time freelance writer. His first historical mystery, The Queen's Head, was published in 1988, launching the Nicholas Bracewell series. A former chairman of the Crime Writers Association Edward has written over forty original plays for radio, film, television and the theatre. Edward lives in Gloucestershire with his wife and author Judith Cutler.  Murder in Transit, is the 22^nd book in the Railway Detective series. 

http://www.edwardmarston.com/

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People.

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman 

‘Nothing But the Truth’ by Robyn Gigl

Published by Verve,
31 October 2024.  
ISBN: 978-0-85730-887-0 (PB)

Erin McCabe has come a long way since she won her first big case; but even as an experienced defence lawyer whose skills are in demand, she still finds herself battling with a politicized and corrupt American legal system. In the fourth book in Robyn Gigl’s powerful series the corruption lies at the heart of the case – but even Robyn doesn’t realize how deep it goes until it’s almost too late.

She is called on to defend Jon Mazer, a policeman accused of killing a journalist, and at first it looks like an open and shut case. But open and shut cases are something of a speciality with Erin; in the face of apparently unassailable evidence, the defendant says he is innocent and she believes him. The journalist, who is black, was working on an exposé of a malicious and prejudiced faction in the police force. The accused man, who is gay and himself a victim of the faction, was one of his sources, but the DNA and fingerprint evidence appear to be watertight.

The prosecution erects hurdle after hurdle as Erin sets out to gather information to build her case. To make things even more complicated, her partner Duane Swisher is black, and Erin is transgender, making them both prime targets for the prejudice, which is wide-ranging as well as deep-rooted.

The battle to build a case for the defence is played out against a background of personal issues which prove almost as complicated. Erin is about to be married to Mark, whose family are refusing to come to terms with her transgender status. His sister Molly is his only supportive relation; she is in a same-sex relationship, and she and her partner are keen to have a child. This triggers a longing in Erin, whose own family have only recently begun to accept her as a woman – all except her mother, who was positive about it from the start.

It would be easy for the sexual politics to take centre stage and overshadow the main event, which of course is Erin and Duane’s determined quest for justice for Jon Mazer. But Robyn Gigl is too skilled a storyteller to allow that to happen; she uses both strands to build a tale which illustrates the flaws which mar the American legal system – and does it through the medium of characters it’s easy to believe in.

The ending carries a hint that the series may be drawing to a close, but I can only hope this isn’t Robyn Gigl’s intention. She has created an engaging cast of regular characters and displays a neat hand with the good and bad guys who people each story. I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping for more of Erin and Duane’s cases.     
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Robyn Gigl is an attorney who has been honoured by the ACLU-NJ for her work with the transgender community. A frequent lecturer on diversity issues, she lives in New Jersey, where she continues to practice law by day, and work on her next Erin McCabe novel by night.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.

‘The Soho Murder’ by Mike Hollow

Published by Allison & Busby,
24 October 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-3039-1 (HB)

It is December 1940, and the imminent New Year celebrations hold little hope of peace and happiness for the people of Britain, who are enduring nightly bombing raids from the Luftwaffe. However, a body is discovered of a man who has not been killed by the German bombing of London; antiquarian bookseller, Samuel Bellamy, has been shot in his own home. Bellamy’s flat in Soho is situated in one of the most dangerous and crime-ridden areas of London.

Detective Inspector John Jago and his assistant, Detective Constable Peter Cradock, are assigned the case. Having visited the scene of crime and inspected the body, Jago’s priority is to find Bellamy’s wife, who is the owner of her own family-inherited bookshop. He discovers Mrs Bellamy sitting despairingly amongst the rubble of her shop, which has been destroyed in the Blitz. Having broken the news, Jago is reluctant to add to her grief by questioning her, but a murder investigation cannot be delayed. Mrs Bellamy married late in life and has always had her own independence, and, despite her distress, she proves a co-operative witness, although she insists that she knows little about her husband’s business and cannot tell whether any valuable books have been stolen. However, she does tell the detectives that her husband had not accompanied her to examine the damage to her shop because he was expecting a visitor, to whom he hoped to make an important book sale.

Mrs Bellamy also suggests some people that had known her husband for longer than she has, and this starts Jago and Cradock on an exploration of the life, interests and character of Samuel Bellamy. This leads them to record shops, a late-night Jazz club, an Italian cafe (which has changed its name since Italy entered the war on Germany’s side), Bellamy’s own bookshop, and the London residences of several wealthy collectors of antique books. Slowly Jago pieces together a picture of Bellamy’s life and realises that his character had many sides. Bellamy was a man who was angry if anyone tried to barter about the price he had set for a book, because he regarded that as an attempt to cheat him, but he was often unscrupulous in his own methods when acquiring books or customers. They discover that Bellamy has been involved in several questionable activities, but Jago thinks a likely motive is that he acquired a valuable book, and somebody has killed him to gain possession of this mysterious treasure. However, he cannot be sure of this and still has to resolve which of Bellamy’s many potential enemies has resorted to murder, a quest that leads him and his constable into peril.

The Soho Murder is the ninth book in the series featuring Jago and Cradock. It is an excellent series, which captures the darkness and desperation of life in the Blitz. The Soho Murder is a fascinating addition to the series, with a superb historical setting and an added dimension of a being located in one of London’s least salubrious areas. The plot is complex and interesting, highlighting many social and political issues of the time. Jago and Cradock are engaging protagonists, who are doing a difficult job under appalling conditions’ Jago often finds dealing with death and violence especially hard because he is one of the men who fought and suffered in the trenches during the First World War and still bears the mental and emotional scars of that time. The Soho Murder is an excellent read, which I wholeheartedly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Mike Hollow was born in West Ham, on the eastern edge of London, and grew up in Romford, Essex. He studied Russian and French at the University of Cambridge and then worked for the BBC and later Tearfund. In 2002 he went freelance as a copywriter, journalist and editor. He's a published poet, and nowadays when not writing about the Blitz Detective he makes his living as a translator. He lives in Hampshire, England, with his wife Margaret. 

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries.Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman