An audio trail of John Buchan's life in the borders is launched in Eastgate Theatre in Peebles tomorrow.
Here are ten action-filled novels by other writers from Scotland.
Ordinary Thunderstorms
William Boyd
In London for a job interview, Adam Kindred finds himself without passport, money or reputation, thanks to a decision he will forever regret. With a hit-man on his heels, he turns homeless in this, an homage to John Buchan that would applaud for its brio and pace and the way the author leaps effortless over plot holes.
A Case of Knives
Candia McWilliam
McWilliam's only thriller-like tale, it is the story of an Eidnburgh heart-surgeon, Lucas Salik, who has to put his medical skills to unexpected use. Containing echoes of RLS and Muriel Spark, to name but two, it was a brilliant debut, announcing a fiersome new talent. Anita Brookner called it "poised, startling and innovative".
The Existential Detective
Alice Thomson
William Blake is a detective, charged with finding a scientist's missing wife. In the process of sleuthing in the seaside Edinburgh suburb of Portobello, he finds out as much about himself as about the woman who has gone awol. Thomson's novel is not crime as most of us understand it. It's much more original than that.
Berlin Noir
Philip Kerr
The name given to Kerr's trilogy, featuring the German detective Bernie Gunther, whose beat is 1930s Berlin. Fictionalised shades of his hometown of Edinburgh can be found in his evocation of a once noble place shrouded in gathering fear and gloom.
Under the Skin, by Michel Faber
One of the country's best-known thrillers, thanks to the Hollywood adaptation starring xxxx xxxxx. The book, of course, is better, Faber's depiction of a seemingly innocent and engaging hitchhiker slowly sliding into horror with a calmness only he can muster.
The Driver's Seat
Muriel Spark
Possibly Spark's darkest novel, there is no surprise that the central character, Lise, is murdered, though there are shocks in store right to the end. As she flies to an unnamed city in her flamboyant dress, Lise makes an impression wherever she goes. As always with Spark, the mystery the novel contains is as much existential as worldly.
Death in Bordeaux, by Allan Massie
Although it could be called crime fiction, Massie's wonderfully seedy first foray into classic detective fiction is more about the wartime city under occupation than the crimes his melancholy hero,war veteran Inspector? Lannes, is obliged to solve. Two sequels have been published, and more might be in the pipeline.
The Illuminations
Andrew O'Hagan
An elderly and reclusive photographer , Anne Quirk, living in Scotland, and her soldier grandson Luke, newly back from service in Afghanistan, set out on a search to grasp the meaning of war and truth, as they revisit Anne's old haunts in Blackpool, where the past rushes to meet them.
The People's Act of Love
James Meek
Set in post-revolutionary Russia on the route of the Trans-Siberian railway, where locals are waiting in fear for the arrival of Bolsheviks, Meek's gripping story of passion both sensual and political is as full of atmosphere as of history.
Glister
John Burnside
Superbly un-nerving tale of a small coastal town where boys have been disappearing regularly, presumed runaway rather than killed. But the local policeman thinks otherwise, and needs to find out who's to blame. A lyrical thriller with a savage heart.
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