From the author of Death Stalk and Over the Sea to Die-the contents of an attic trunk lead to a trail of IRA murder and conspiracy.

Richard Grindal is able to evoke the rough and dangerous beauty of his native Scotland as few suspense writers can. In The Tartan Conspiracy, Grindal has created a taut, realistic thriller, with the Scottish Highlands as the starting point for IRA-fueled international intrigue.

Ian Blackie's discovery of some documents and newspaper clippings in a trunk in his father's attic leads him to investigate further the death of his father's old school friend General Alexander Ballantine. Ian's tug on this loose thread of his father's life begins to unravel a complex series of IRA plots, culminating in a race-against assassination finish reminiscent of Day of the Jackal.

After the intensely disquieting small town mysteries of Over the Sea to Die, Grindal has returned with a broader novel of espionage, danger, and personal vengeance.

An example of the wonderful character development in Grindal's writing is shown by this excerpt after the burning down of the heroine's cottage by mysterious forces.

"They walked in the ruins of the cottage and she pointed out the different rooms, where her writing table had been and her bed and her dressing table and the cupboard in which she had kept her clothes. The old-fashioned iron stove had survived the fire almost unmarked, but the bathroom suite which Isobel had herself installed had evidently been acrylic and must have been one of the first things to burst into flames.

At first Ian had thought that her reason for walking in what was left of her cottage must simply be nostalgia, but he could see no sorrow in her face. She seemed more curious than upset, studying everything she saw carefully, as though she wished to memorize every detail. Was this a writer's habit, he wondered, storing impressions so that one day they could be used in a description of the scene in a book?

When they walked across to the neighbour's croft, they found no one there and the barn, which was not much more than a shed, was locked.

'Did you not tell me that up here people don't lock their doors?' Ian teased Isobel.

'They do when they are looking after the property of other folk. And Angus is from Skye, so he'll be jealous of the reputation that the islanders have.'

'What reputation?'

She told him the story of how on Skye not so many years previously Dunvegan Castle had caught fire. The Macleods, who owned the castle, had fought the fire with the help of scores of local folk, and had been forced to bring their possessions out into the grounds: paintings, silver, armour, and even the legendary Fairy Flag. Scarcely had they done so when heavy rain began to fall, an event not unknown on Skye. Quickly the islanders had carried off everything that might be damaged to the safety of their own homes. When the representatives of the Macleods' insurers arrived at the castle, they were appalled, convinced that many, if not all, of the valuables would never be seen again. They were wrong. On the day when the Macleods were able to re-occupy the castle, crofters from all over the island arrived, on foot, on horseback, in farm carts, vans, and lorries, bringing back what had been in their safekeeping. Every painting, every piece of furniture, every heirloom was returned.

'That's your Highland folk,' Isobel said when her story was finished.

'For a Sassenach you seem to have taken quite a shine to the Highlanders!'

'Listen to him! You're a Sassenach yourself'"

Scottish Radiance is an Associate of Amazon.com Books and you can order this book from them by going to Tartan Conspiracy.