Books published by Birlinn General

The unvarnished, human story behind the infamous Burke and Hare murders.

A unique, concise guide to wine based on Nikki Welch's acclaimed wine tube map. Includes useful information on what to look for in wine and what to avoid, getting the most from wine, getting the best value for money, food matching, wine for different occasions.

A condensed bilingual dictionary based on Angus Watson's best-selling Gaelic/English dictionary.

New, updated edition in advance of the unveiling of a statue of Wojtek next to the Scott Monument, Edinburgh, in May 2014. Journalist and historian Neal Ascherson reflects on the Polish experience in the Second World War. Wojtek has memorials at the Imperial War Museum, London, Edinburgh Zoo and in Canada, and he is a national hero in Poland

First in a compelling new series of crime novels, packed with accurate police procedure and gritty, dark humour.

The autobiography of Margaret Rhodes, Queen Elizabeth II's first cousin. Full of charming anecdotes, fascinating characters, and personal photographs, this book gives an unparalleled insight into the intimate moments of the British monarchy.

Only one period in history is immediately linked to the whole area of the Scottish and English Border country, and that is the time of the Reivers. Whenever anyone mentions Reiver, no-one hesitates to add Border. This book tells the tale of a land that was a no-man's-land but a land over which blood was shed on both sides of an invisible border.

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell spent the autumn of 1773 touring through the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland as far west as the islands of Skye, Raasay, Coll, Mull, Inchkenneth and Iona. Here, they paint a picture of a society which was still almost unknown to the Europe of the Enlightenment.

Secret Histories of the Cairngorms is a series of journeys exploring barely known human and natural stories of the Cairngorm Mountains. It looks at a unique British landscape, its last great wilderness, with new eyes.

In this passionate and poetic appreciation of the Great Wood of Caledon, Jim Crumley thoughtfully explores the past myths, present remnants and future prospects of the historic native forest of Highland Scotland.

In Tobermory, on the Scottish island of Mull, there lives a very special cat. But once upon a time he didn't think he was very special at all.

A history of the social and political changes over the course of the first millenieum AD, charting the leadership of tribal chiefs and Roman Generals, and how the initiative was seized after their departure by the dynamic warrior kings of the Picts, Scots, Vikings, Britons, and Anglo-Saxons.

Spend some time with the grand old man of Scottish poetry, Norman McCaig, and revisit the beauty of his poems with this collection to commemorate a life well lived.

This book tells the story of this unique undertaking - one of the biggest community arts projects ever to take place in Scotland - and reproduces in full colour a selection of the panels from the completed tapestry, together with descriptive and explanatory material

A classic and hugely influential thriller. May 1914, Richard Hannay is asked for help by an American spy who has uncovered an assasination plot. The spy is promptly murdered in Hannay's flat, and Hannay is compelled to flee and prevent the assasination while on the run from the police in Scotland. Introduced by Stuart Kelly.