Insider's Choice: New Scottish books to look out for in June

New Scottish books to look out for in June | Contributed

Next month’s most eagerly-anticipated release is surely Maggie O’Farrell’s Land (Tinder Press, 2 June, £25). The Edinburgh-based author, winner of the Women’s Prize for fiction for her bestselling 2020 novel Hamnet, uses her own family history to give us an extraordinary multi-generational historical epic that blends the personal and the political in Ireland over the last two centuries.

Summer brings with it a flurry of releases ideal for beach reading. Lorraine Kelly returns to Orkney in her second novel, The Island Secret (Orion, 18 June, £20), while Lindz McLeod continues her Austentatious series with the spicy Sapphic romance The Miseducation of Caroline Bingley (Carina Adores, 18 June, £10.99). In crime writing, Abir Mukerjee releases The Pinnacle (Harvill, 18 June, £16.99), a satirical thriller set in the Bollywood industry in Mumbai, while David Goodman’s espionage thriller, Solitary Agents (Headline, 4 June, £20), is perfect for fans of Herron or Le Carré.

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Robert J Harris clearly had a great time writing his latest mystery, Crescendo (Polygon, 4 June, £9.99). The novel pays tribute to the films of Alfred Hitchcock and sees the legendary director employ a fledgling writer, Bobby Burgoyne, to help him with his latest screenplay, telling the story of an icy blonde driven to madness by amnesia following a brief disappearance. When deadly accidents start to derail filming, Hitchcock asks Burgoyne to investigate who could want to stop the film from being released. What follows is an entertaining romp through noir’s most recognisable tropes, from femme fatales to wise-cracking dames, as well as hard drinking, car chases, gangster goons, family secrets and lucky escapes.

Staying with crime fiction, we move to Kirsty Lockwood’s debut, We Know What You Did (Orion, 4 June, £20), which opens with 19-year-old Odette Adin arriving at a Glasgow police station, arrested for the murder of her 80-year-old friend, and fellow social media influencer, Amos Michaels. His death has been witnessed the world over in a TikTok livestream and her guilt is undeniable. But then we find out about their relationship when the cameras are not rolling, and of each of their pasts. This is an impressive, assured psychological thriller that says crucial things about power, status and control. It has the required big twists, yet it’s rooted in a recognisable reality that places it above many novels in a genre where credulity is often stretched to the limit.

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Another writer having fantastic fun is Graeme Armstrong in his new novel, Raveheart by (Fourth Estate, 4 June, £16.99). It’s set in an imagined near-future with a far right government and state censorship (in this case, it’s dance music that’s verboten). There’s surveillance and enforcement brigades, political violence, prison camps, and media compliance and cowardice. There is resonant commentary on class, power, consumerism, and masculinity, but Raveheart is also an absolute riot of a read. It's narrated by DJ Turbo, rave rebel, in a propulsive rush of Scots bursting with proselytising, mythologising, pop culture and historical references, conspiracy theories, brand names, bad language, drug advice, playlists, stage directions and dialogue with his friends and enemies ripe with patter and insult one-upmanship. Turbo is both gloriously delusional and completely self-aware. Raveheart is a novel that is an unashamedly full-hearted and full-throated celebration of working class culture and language that feels necessary, new, and just damned good fun.

Vikki Reilly has worked in Scottish books for over 20 years and now works for Publishing Scotland, the trade and networking body for Scotland’s book publishing sector. She also edits BooksfromScotland.com, a website that promotes the best in Scottish writing, contemporary and classic, and supports Scottish publishers and authors to find new audiences.

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