Reading for pleasure

Denzil Meyrick (Birlinn: £8.99; e-book £4.99)

This latest instalment of the DCI Daley series reaches back into an earlier book. Daley and Scott are young officers who find themselves abandoned by senior officers who send them in to deal with a crime. Scott is compromised, but the real corruption lies elsewhere. However, he finds himself drawn ever deeper. The past haunts him but becomes ever more real. Is it corruption or self protection? 

Fast forward to modern day Kinloch, and an old man is found dead on the beach. Who is he? The new owner of the County Hotel becomes the focus of attention of a police enquiry being conducted by officers from Glasgow, with an officer despatched to Kinloch. Daley is initially unhappy about the posting, but soon recognises there is more to this than seems apparent. This heady mix results in an unexpected and frightening event in the centre of Kinloch. The past and present blend and merge, resulting in a satisfying read. 

Jenni Fagan (Birlinn: £10; e-book £7.99)

This is the second Darkland Tales and tells the last hours of Geillis Duncan, convicted of witchcraft during the North Berwick trials of 1591. It is 4 December 1591 and the eve of her execution at Castlehill. She is visited in her cell below the High Street of Edinburgh by a crow, a visitation from the future. We learn the true reason for the violence inflicted on 14 year old Geillis by the elders of North Berwick, whipped up as they were by King James VI’s belief in witches. While Geillis was being interrogated, the king was unable to sail from Denmark due to unexpectedly turbulent seas. This was taken a sign of her witchery and, as young Geillis eventually yielded to the brutality, she confessed to attending a meeting with 200 other witches. As we join her in the cell, she recants and seeks forgiveness for the damage she has done and the lives to be lost. The device of the hex is put to superb effect, highlighting the modern day violence inflicted on women, the thread of violence being a sad continuum of domestic life. Outstanding.