The Malt Whisky Murders – Shortlisted for the 2025 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize

Our summary description

As Independent Scottish booksellers, we write all of our descriptions personally, we hope you enjoy this one.

Eilidh and her wife Morag arrive in rural Kintyre with plans as clear as the whisky they hope to make. A neglected distillery offers the chance to build something new, and to do it on their own terms. The past, however, has other ideas. When two bodies are discovered sealed inside old barrels, perfectly preserved in single malt, the dream acquires a darker undertow.

The Malt Whisky Murders unfolds in a community where nothing stays hidden for long. As Eilidh becomes increasingly drawn into the mystery, she finds herself balancing tastings and paperwork with rumours, resistance, and the sharp scrutiny reserved for outsiders who ask too many questions. The landscape is beautiful, the welcome conditional.

Set against protest marches, village gatherings, and the slow rituals of whisky-making, the novel blends crime with a keen sense of place. It listens closely to how communities protect their stories, and what happens when ambition meets inherited silence. Some secrets mature quietly over time. Others demand to be uncorked, no matter the cost.