It’s a new year, so here are some new events for you to look forward to!

Unbelievably, it’s 2025! With a quarter of the twenty-first century gone, we’re looking forward to the first quarter of this year with some really fantastic author visits!

We’re looking forward to welcoming Elly Griffiths to Linlithgow for the first time, plus the return of Karen Campbell - one of the most interesting speakers we’ve had the privilege of hosting.

In between we’ve got a talk on a new book about Mary Queen of Scots, a novel based on Vermeer’s Woman in Blue, and a gothic tale in a haunted mansion in South Queensferry: it’s all happening!

IN CONVERSATION WITH ELLY GRIFFITHS, THE FROZEN PEOPLE

TUESDAY 18TH FEBRUARY, 2.00PM

ST PETER'S CHURCH, LINLITHGOW

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen - or so their inside joke goes. Most people don't know that they travel back in time to complete their research.
The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London, but fearing for her safety in the middle of a freezing Victorian winter, Ali finds herself stuck in time, unable to make her way back to her life, her beloved colleagues, and her son, Finn, who suddenly finds himself in legal trouble in the present day.
Could the two cases be connected?

Set your clocks to February 2025 and get ready for an original, transportive and characterful new crime novel from no. 1 bestselling author Elly Griffiths. Perfect for those missing the Dr Ruth Galloway series and for any crime and historical fiction fans!

TICKETS £8, includes refreshments and a discount on book sales at the event.

IN CONVERSATION WITH DR JADE SCOTT, CAPTIVE QUEEN

WEDNESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY, 7PM

ST PETER'S CHURCH, LINLITHGOW

Just when you think you've read all the books worth reading about Mary, along comes a brand new and completely fascinating biography of our Captive Queen. Dr Jade Scott's book focuses on Mary's nearly two decades imprisonment at Fotheringhay Castle, with particular regard to the complex ciphers she used in her letters. In this way, Dr Scott interrogates Mary’s complex relationships with friends and enemies throughout her imprisonment, illuminating her strategic expertise and bringing Mary’s captivity to life as never before.

TICKETS £8, includes refreshments and a discount on book sales on the evening.

IN CONVERSATION WITH DOUGLAS BRUTON, WOMAN IN BLUE

WEDNESDAY 12TH OF MARCH, 7PM

ST PETER'S CHURCH, LINLITHGOW

'You will live beyond one lifetime and beyond even two in the painting he makes of you.'

In this beautifully written novel based on The Woman in Blue by Vermeer, Douglas Bruton has created the perfect antidote to the cold. Woman in Blue is a love letter to the painting, to Vermeer and to love itself. Read this novel to warm the cockles of your heart, and come and listen to the author discuss why he chose this particular painting for his latest novel.

TICKETS £8, includes refreshments and a discount on book sales on the evening.

IN CONVERSATION WITH RICHARD STRACHAN, THE UNRECOVERED

THURSDAY 27TH OF MARCH, 7PM

ST PETER'S CHURCH, LINLITHGOW

We do love a novel set in a place of local interest, so we were thrilled to learn that Richard Strachan's debut is set around Hound's Point in South Queensferry. The Unrecovered is a gothic tale with legends of spectral hounds heralding death in a crumbling ancestral home on the Scottish coast. Set during the final, terrible, months of the First World War, the unexpected heir to Gallondean finds more than family secrets are revealed in this chilling tale ideal for fans of Pat Barker's Regeneration, or Michelle Paver's ghost stories.

TICKETS £8, includes refreshments and a discount on book sales on the evening.

IN CONVERSATION WITH KAREN CAMPBELL, THIS BRIGHT LIFE

THURSDAY 3RD OF APRIL, 7PM

ST PETER'S CHURCH, LINLITHGOW

A new novel from Karen Campbell is always something to celebrate - the author of The Sound of the Hours, Paper Cup, This is Where I Am and many others is one of our favourite writers as she so elegantly captures ordinary lives and loves, creating characters and stories that will stay with you long after finishing the book.

In This Bright Life, Gerard is a young tearaway on a Glasgow estate, never happier than when flying through the streets on his bike. But Gerard has a troubled home life and when a bad decision leaves him in unfamiliar and unsettling new surroundings, he'll need all his wits about him to make sure his family can be put back together again.

As always with Karen Campbell's books, This Bright Life is full of uplifting, warm-hearted and above all believable characters and we can't wait to discuss them with her!

TICKETS £8, includes refreshments and a discount on book sales on the evening.