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This is the fourth and final volume in a series begun by Isobel Murray and Bob Tait in 1984. Authors covered in previous volumes include: 1. George Mackay Brown, Jessie Kesson, Norman MacCaig, William McIlvanney, and David Toulmin. 2. Iain Banks, Bernard MacLaverty, Naomi Mitchison, Iain Crichton Smith,Alan Spence. 3. Janice Galloway, John Herdman, Robin Jenkins, Joan Lingard, Ali Smith. Extracts from Reviews for Volume 3 Murray is a fine interviewer as well as an incisive critic, academic and biographer. These aren't the kind of interviews that merely gift-wrap the books under discussion; here she's putting whole careers up for lively discussion, and unless she has read every word she wouldn't dream of pressing the tape recorder's "on" button. This is one book it would be impossible to read without wanting to re-read at least half a dozen more straight away. David Robinson, The Scotsman One woman has for several years been circumventing the tired old restrictions and distortions of the formula. Isobel Murray, Honorary Professor in Modern Scottish Literature at Aberdeen University, has been getting writers to talk, at length, on tape ...It is an utterly gripping collection.Because the writers are allowed to express themselves without being manipulated or paraphrased, their conversation evolves into real revelation. Murray's consummate skill as an interviewer. She never intrudes, or interrupts, or postures. Her deep knowledge and understanding of literature and writing act as a sort of psychological water diviner, drawing out descriptions and confidences that a less clever interrogator would never bring to the surface. The obvious luminaries of this series may be the writers, but the pole star is Murray. Most other interviewers are mere astral dust by comparison. Rosemary Goring, The Herald Simply indispensable. Hugh MacDonald,The Herald ... Read more

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This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. ... Read more

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Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories, which all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular novels.Now his two critically acclaimed short story collections - A GOOD HANGING and BEGGARS BANQUET - come together in one volume, along with ATONEMENT - a new Rebus story, written especially for this collection. A GOOD HANGING - Twelve Inspector Rebus mysteries, including the hanging of a student during the Edinburgh Festival, a gruesome arson attack, and the apparent witnessing of a miracle. Step off the tourist trail and into the macabre heart of Rebus's Edinburgh. BEGGARS BANQUET - Ranging from suburban murders to the sinister workings of a serial killer's mind, here are twenty-one tales all bearing the hallmark of great crime writing.Included are seven Inspector Rebus mysteries, and the Dagger award-winning story 'Herbert in Motion'. ATONEMENT - When Rebus comes to the aid of an old friend, he uncovers some hard-to-swallow truths about life, and death, at a local home for the elderly. ... Read more

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A shooting incident at a private school just north of Edinburgh.Two seventeen-year olds killed by an ex-Army loner who has gone off the rails. As Detective Inspector John Rebus puts it, 'there's no mystery'...except the why.But this question takes Rebus into the heart of a shattered community. Ex-Army himself, Rebus becomes fascinated by the killer, and finds he is not alone.Army investigators are on the scene, and won't be shaken off.The killer had friends and enemies to spare - ranging from civic leaders to the local Goths - leaving behind a legacy of secrets and lies.Rebus has more than his share of personal problems, too.He's fresh out of hospital, hands heavily bandaged, and he won't say how it happened.Could there be a connection with a house-fire and the unfortunate death of a petty criminal who had been harrassing Rebus's colleague Siobhan Clarke?Rebus's bosses seem to think so... ... Read more

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Published in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson drafted The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde over just a few days while confined to bed. It can't be known whether this feat of writing drove him into a fever, or if his illness inspired the feverish plot. But this background helped to justify at the time the invention of Mr Hyde, the terrifying alter ego of a respectable man, whose depravity was so extreme that his worst criminal pleasures are tantalisingly omitted from a still violent story. At first shunned by booksellers, Jekyll and Hyde went on to be quoted as a moral allegory and enjoyed by an enormous public. It remains a frighteningly compelling crime thriller with an enduring vision of the dark side of the psyche with an unforgettable plot which puts it at the head of its genre. ... Read more

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On the eve of the first Scottish parliament in three hundred years, Edinburgh is a city rife with political passions and expectations. Queensbury House, the home of Scotland's new rulers, falls in the middle Rebus' turf, keeping him busy with ceremonial tasks. That quickly changes, however, when a long-dead body is discovered in a Queensbury House fireplace, a homeless man throws himself off a bridgeleaving behind a suitcase full of cash, and an up-and-coming politician is found murdered. The links between the three deaths lead Rebus to a confrontation with one of Edinburgh's most notorious criminals, a man he thought he'd put in jail for life. Someone's going to make a lot of money out of Scotland's independenceas Rebus knows, where there's big money at stake, darkness gathers.

Description in Spanish: "Edimburgo está a punto de convertirse, al cabo de casi tres siglos, en anfitriona del primer Parlamento escocés, un hito histórico y político que enciende pasiones. El inspector Rebus ha sido destinado al comité de enlace de seguridad del Parlamento, en Queensberry House, centro mismo del distrito de la comisaría de St. Leonard. De Queensberry House,futura sede del gobierno de la nueva Escocia, perdura la maldición de una leyenda, una maldición que según algunos recaerá sobre los nuevos inquilinos.Los problemas empiezan cuando, en la antigua chimenea donde de acuerdo con la leyenda murió asado un joven, aparece el cadáver de Roddy Grieve,candidato a un escaño en el nuevo Parlamento." ... Read more