I initially planned a post called "five writers/novels who/that evoke Scotland". I had in mind something literary and well written. I would start with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...and then I got stuck. But it did occur to me that Ian Rankin's crime novels give you a chance to visit Edinburgh in imagination - even to follow Rebus around the city on a map. Then I remembered a couple of other crime series with Scottish settings, and tracked down a few more.
These books don't give you the Scottish tourist board view of the country, but they all give you a feel for the different cities and regions, including local dialect and delicacies. Despite showing the underbelly they all make me want to pack a bag and head North.
Ian Rankin. The Rebus novels - 19 of them in total. Set largely in Edinburgh and the Kingdom of Fife many of the places, down to the bars, are real and can be visited by the devotee. Expect views from the Forth bridge, bars, tenements, prisons and pints of 80/-.
Unlike Ian Rankin Anne Cleeves isn't actually from Scotland, and doesn't even live there. Her Shetland Quartet has crofting, incomers, tightly knit communities and island life.
Aline Templeton grew up on the east of Scotland, but sets her D I Marjory Fleming novels in Galloway. Market towns, Glaswegian second-homers, lifeboats and lighthouses, and the reality of farming life give these books their flavour.
Denise Mina sets her Garnethill trilogy in Glasgow, the city where she lives. It's a city of Celtic shirts, views of the Campsie hills, burgers, bridies and hospitals.
Stuart MacBride also sets his novels in his home town, the Granite City, aka Aberdeen. D S Logan McRae eats stovies, drinks Irn Bru, everyone either chain smokes or lives on sweets, and it only stops raining when it snows.
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