A struggling Scottish scientist holds a potential unicorn skull in his hands. If he proves it’s authentic, his career will be made. If he dies trying, he won’t be the first.
Gillan McArdle’s academic career is ending because of one stupid lapse of judgement. But he’s the most talented young archaeologist in Scotland, and a Dundee based media outfit can use his skills. Offered a short term contract, he lands on the Hebridean island of Harris to investigate obscure animal bones. Quickly dismissing the unicorn skull as a thinly disguised fake, he can’t deny there’s something unusual about these bones. Baited by rumours of a majestic tusked horse roaming the upland moors, Gill begins to suspect someone is manipulating him. As he gradually unravels the mystery of the skull, he arrives at one disturbing conclusion. If this creature does exist, all the evidence suggests it’s a killer.
Investigative magazine “Mysterious Scotland” launched less than a year ago with a stellar first issue. Now, the magazine and everyone associated with it is struggling. Editor Gill McArdle criss-crosses Scotland pursuing stories in an energetic attempt to halt the slide in sales. When an unusual animal carcase is discovered in Caithness his investigations lead him, reluctantly, to the banks of Loch Ness. Sceptical about the increasing sightings around the loch, Gill reopens an old archaeological site in his search for answers. Little by little, he is forced to acknowledge that danger lurks in the Great Glen’s deepest waters.
Magazine editor and part-time archaeologist, Gill McArdle is getting it together. Or at least, he thinks he is, until the death of a friend throws his life into turmoil. He’s on Orkney, researching an etched stone carrying an ancient religious motif. But he’s perplexed as the carving long predates any previous incidence of the symbol’s first use. Either someone is tampering with Orcadian archaeology, or Gill is facing a puzzle that can’t be resolved. During his research, an anonymous teenager passes Gill a notebook, packed full of numbers. Unexplained and impenetrable, the analysis points to a mystery among the stars. As Gill battles to unlock the truth he realises he’s on the cusp of his most startling discovery yet.
Journalist Gill McArdle is on the trail of an ancient clue. This time, he hopes he’s wrong.
Following the coronation of Charles III, Scotland’s most revered artefact, ‘The Stone of Destiny’ arrives at its long-term home in Perth Museum. Desperate to rebuild his shattered credibility, Gill is working hard on several stories along the Firth of Forth. But he’s presented with a problem when the discovery of an ancient inscription in a ruined church throws question marks against the authenticity of The Stone. On the trail of an age-old story, Gill finds himself opposed by someone prepared to kill to prevent the truth from being revealed. Obstructed at every turn, Gill realises his discovery exposes a stark choice –for him, and all of Scotland.
In the moment where the darkness of a Scottish winter meets the saddest moment for a human soul, promises have been made.
DI George Wiley is calling in a favour. As head of a new unit tackling cold and unusual cases, he presents Gill McArdle with a bag of human teeth. His evaluation – a serial killer has been operating undetected in Scotland for decades. With no leads in the case, Wiley wants Gill to leverage his contacts. But Gill McArdle feels under no obligation as he has a puzzle of his own to solve. Roadworks in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered an old battlefield site and now the race is on to complete an archaeological dig before the site is buried under tarmac. Making steady progress under challenging conditions, Gill and the team are suddenly wrong-footed by a disturbing discovery. Face to face with a powerful new enemy, Gill walks into the darkest moments of his life.
Gill McArdle is on the island of Iona searching for the burial places of kings. What begins as an archaeological survey risks descending into a treasure hunt and Gill suspects subterfuge from new enemies as well as old. And when a find on Iona sheds a little light on the nature of ‘The Torn Isle’, Gill doesn’t like what he sees.
Cassy Tullen meanwhile has gone home to lick her wounds. But before long, her indomitable spirit is rising to challenge the dark forces in her life and take back what is rightfully hers. She’s all alone, with the odds stacked against her. That’s until the day she meets a fierce, freckle-faced girl on the bus from Harris. If these two powerful women can comprehend each other, Cassy might just have evened the odds. When finally, she’s pushed into a corner, Cassy still values decency. But she’s done running. This time she’s coming out fighting.
DCI George Wiley has been keeping half an eye on the “Spectral Bandit” for six months now and has come to the conclusion he’s got a ghost problem. An escalating string of audacious thefts is creeping onto the newsfeeds and Wiley’s bosses need him to catch the culprit. The only evidence he holds are short snatches of CCTV. And the solitary conclusion he has reached is that the spectral figure is a woman. He needs to provoke new lines of inquiry, so reluctantly, Wiley calls in the assistance of an old ally.
Stumped by Wiley’s new case, Gill McArdle is on a ghost hunt of his own. But he’s not prioritising the detective’s pleas for help. He’s in Morayshire, where recent finds put him on the trail of the lost village of Culbin. Only after witnessing a wraithlike apparition, does Gill realise it’s time to return Wiley’s calls. Because as he unravels the mystery, he realises, this illusive phantom might be something quite tangible.
It’s been two years since Lorna Cheyne went to prison, and tension is building in the Armour Group. While they debate if Lorna is one of them or not, DI Alex Lillico finds himself in the minority view. So, he’s happy to be shipped off to Wigtownshire, where a collapsed sea cliff has revealed not one, but two dark mysteries in the belly of a forgotten cave. One of these challenges is urgent police work while the other tilts at an old Scottish myth that even Gill McArdle will struggle to explain.
While the team is rocked by an unforeseen crisis, Adina Mofaz is uniquely aware of a calamity just around the corner. Burdened by knowledge and sworn to secrecy, only she can finally see ahead to the moment when Scotland will need The Crystal Armour.
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