Search results for ""author douglas watt""

Superstition and logic collide in a 17th century Edinburgh witch hunt, written by the winner of the 2008 Hume Brown Senior Prize for Scottish history.

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The Price of Scotland covers a well-known episode in Scottish history, the ill-fated Darien Scheme. It recounts for the first time in almost forty years, the history of the Company of Scotland, looking at previously unexamined evidence and considering the failure in light of the Company''s financial records. Douglas Watt offers the reader a new way of looking at this key moment in history, from the attempt to raise capital in London in 1695 through to the shareholder bail-out as part of the Treaty of Union in 1707. With the tercentenary of the Union in May 2007, The Price of Scotland provides a timely reassessment of this national disaster.

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Set in Edinburgh in 1690. The body of a wealthy merchant is discovered in his home in the city centre. Was his killing the result of a robbery gone wrong? The vicious mode of his death seems to suggest otherwise. Scotland is in upheaval as political and religious tensions boil, and there is mystery concealed behind the walls of Van Diemen's Land. MacKenzie and Scougall investigate.

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I confess that I am a witch. I have sold myself body and soul unto Satan. My mother took me to the Blinkbonny Woods where we met other witches. I put a hand on the crown of my head and the other on the sole of my foot. I gave everything between unto him.Scotland, late seventeeth century. A young woman is accused of witchcraft. Tortured with pins and sleep deprivation, she is using all of her the Scottish witch-hunt began.Probably more than a thousand men and women were exectued for witchcraft before the frenzy died down. When Edinburgh-based Advocate John MacKenzie and his assistant Davie Scougall investigate the suspicious death of a woman denounced as a witch, they find themselves in a village overwhelmed by superstition, resentment and puritanical religion. In a time of spiritual, political and social upheaval, will reason allow MacKenzie to reveal the true evil lurking in the town, before the witch-hunt claims yet another victim?

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Mystery surrounds the murder of Sir Lachlan MacLean, an impoverished Highland laird. With bad debts, family quarrels, and shady associates, Sir Lachlan had many enemies. But while motives are not hard to find, evidence is another thing entirely. Lawyer John MacKenzie and scribe Davie Scougall turn investigator to try to track down the murderer.

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Step into the thrilling world of historical crime with A Case of Desecration in the West, the sixth instalment in the gripping John MacKenzie series set in late 17th-century Scotland. Join investigative advocate John MacKenzie and his witty sidekick Davie Scougall as they embark on a riveting journey to Glasgow and the opulent Hamilton Palace.Unravel the mystery surrounding the drowning of Bethia Porterfield in the Avon Water. Was it a tragic accident, suicide, or something more sinister like murder? What secrets lie behind the desecration of a Quaker burial ground near Hamilton, and what connection does it have to the clandestine Cadzow Kiss, a forbidden club meeting in the ruins of Cadzow Castle? Prepare for a rollercoaster of suspense and intrigue as MacKenzie and Scougall navigate the treacherous waters of deception. A Case of Desecration in the West is a journey into a cesspit of dark secrets that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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Scotland in 1688 – a nation bitterly divided by religion and politics where the King’s pro-Catholic policies have unleashed the sectarian hatred of extreme Protestants.Edinburgh is a powder-keg, packed with plotters planning revolution. The mob is on the High Street each night burning effigies of the Pope and causing mayhem.When a nobleman is assassinated by a Catholic fanatic, Protestant anger reaches fever pitch. Lawyers John MacKenzie and Davie Scougall must investigate the killing, but their relationship is tested as never before when they find themselves on opposing sides of the political divide.To make matters worse, a killer is stalking the stinking streets; a disciple of revolution; a butcher in the name of God; a pilgrim of slaughter.

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It’s 1689 and the body of a young lawyer has been discovered near Craigleith Quarry, Edinburgh. Meanwhile, in the Highlands, an army is trying to crush the government in the hope of restoring James Stewart to the throne. Bonnie Dundee is at the head of an army in the Highlands looking to crush the government forces and help restore James Stewart. Was the discovered body anything to do with the rise of the Jacobites? Or was it simple the result of an office rivalry? Did the young man perhaps have connections to criminals in the city? Investigative lawyer John MacKenzie and his assistant Scougall search for the truth in this gripping new instalment of Douglas Watt’s John MacKenzie series.

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I confess that I am a witch. I have sold myself body and soul unto Satan. My mother took me to the Blinkbonny Woods where we met other witches. I put a hand on the crown of my head and the other on the sole of my foot. I gave everything between unto him.Scotland, late seventeeth century. A young woman is accused of witchcraft. Tortured with pins and sleep deprivation, she is using all of her the Scottish witch-hunt began.Probably more than a thousand men and women were exectued for witchcraft before the frenzy died down. When Edinburgh-based Advocate John MacKenzie and his assistant Davie Scougall investigate the suspicious death of a woman denounced as a witch, they find themselves in a village overwhelmed by superstition, resentment and puritanical religion. In a time of spiritual, political and social upheaval, will reason allow MacKenzie to reveal the true evil lurking in the town, before the witch-hunt claims yet another victim?

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