The Shetland Poisonings

The fifth book in Marsali Taylor's thrilling Shetland Sailing Mysteries series. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Val McDermid, Faith Martin, J.R. Ellis, LJ Ross and Ann Cleeves! 'This series is a must-read for anyone who loves the sea, or islands, or joyous, intricate story-telling.' ANN CLEEVES It's the opening night of a touring opera in Shetland, and while the show is a success, it soon becomes clear that tensions are even higher backstage than they have been on it. When the company's star performer dies suddenly under suspicious circumstances, sailing skipper and amateur sleuth, Cass Lynch is determined to get to the bottom of the tragedy. But the wind rises and the power cuts out. Can Cass brave a raging gale to uncover the scheme of another ruthless killer . . . before the killer finds her? Previously published as Ghosts of the Vikings. _____________________________ PRAISE FOR THE CHILLINGLY ADDICTIVE, NAIL-BITING SERIES: 'A brilliant series beautifully written something for every taste in these stories!' 5* Reader review 'The story is fast-paced with some good build up of tension and some quirky humour to enliven the proceedings too... I cannot wait to buy number 6' 5* Reader review 'Once again Marsali Taylor combines her love of sailing and of Shetland to create a murder mystery that kept me guessing' 5* Reader review '...the author's love of the subject drew me in and I found the whole thing fascinating. And it was an excellent mystery too' 5* Reader review

Marsali grew up near Edinburgh, Scotland. Her summer family holidays were spent in a remote cottage in the West Highlands, the region where her detective Gavin Macrae lives. Like her sailing heroine, Cass, she has always been used to boats, and used her 'gap year' earnings to buy her first sailing dinghy, Lady Blue. She studied English at Dundee University, did a year of teacher training and took up her first post, teaching English and French to secondary children in Aith, Shetland. Gradually her role expanded to doing drama too, and both primary and secondary pupils have won prizes performing her plays at the local Drama Festival. Some of these plays were in Shetlandic, the local dialect. Marsali teaches dinghy sailing at her local club, and is a keen single-handed sailor in her Offshore 8 m yacht, Karima S - the double of Cass's Khalida. A qualified STGA green badge tourist guide for Shetland, she now spends a good deal of her summer sharing her home with visitors from overseas. She is particularly interested in women's history, and has published Women's Suffrage in Shetland, two years' worth of original research. She followed this with The Story of Busta House, the romantic tale of the house which is the setting for part of Death on a Longship. Marsali also writes for the monthly magazine Shetland Life - a mixture of travel writing, interviews, investigative journalism and historical research.