The Hollow Tree

February 15, 2024
A second darkly atmospheric mystery takes journalist Shona Sandison far from her Edinburgh base, the present day, and whatever passes for her comfort zone. "DEATH SHOCK AT HOTEL WEDDING" screeches a tabloid headline after Daniel Merrygill, an old school friend of the bride, Vivienne Banks, steps off the roof of the Poet's Hotel before the horrified gaze of Shona, who'd been invited to Dunoon by Viv, the longtime editorial secretary at the Edinburgh Post, where Shona worked before she was made redundant. The wedding is put on indefinite hold as the police question Shona and try to figure out why Dan killed himself. As it turns out, he's not the only school chum of Viv whose life has been shortened. He and his sixth-form classmates at Ullathorne Comprehensive have been bound together for 32 years, ever since Viv's brother, Andrew, went missing, presumed dead, at the tender age of 18. Shona, who's unhappy about having to freelance as a practitioner of "churnalism," is certain that Dan's suicide is linked to a series of cryptic messages she's received, and nearly as certain that the crux of the mystery concerns Gary Watson, the Member of Parliament for Tyrdale whose star has been rising despite two things Shona doesn't know about: the violent death of his wife years ago and the scandalous conduct of his private life. But how can she possibly put all the pieces together when no one involved, including Viv, will talk to her, and she keeps getting urgent messages about the health and welfare of her aged father back home? No wonder most readers will figure out where this is all going long before she does. Auld acquaintances who should be forgot.

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March 15, 2024
On the eve of a wedding at a baronial hotel in Argyll, Scotland, a male wedding guest--naked, yet covered in occult tattoos--jumps to his death from a rampart. Another guest, freelance journalist Shona Sandison, witnesses the plunge. This is former Edinburgh journalist and arts critic Philip Miller's second entry in the Shona Sandison Investigation series, following The Goldenacre (2023); here, Shona's probe into the suicide uncovers dangerous secrets from her friends' pasts and that of a UK Member of Parliament. Shona is a wonderfully spiky, intrepid character. As a victim of cutbacks at her Edinburgh newspaper, she's moved from working as an investigative reporter to scratching out an existence as a freelancer, all while sorely missing the bustle and camaraderie of her old newsroom. Her current investigation is personal, undertaken for the bride, a long-time friend to Shona and to the man who jumped. Shona unearths a longtime unholy alliance among the bride's former friends. This is an absorbing mystery, backed up by settings in Argyll and Edinburgh, incisive social commentary, and Shona's quirky detective work.

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