Shirley Mckay Books In Order

Publication Order of 1588: A Calendar of Crime Books

Publication Order of Hew Cullan Mystery Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Shirley McKay is a published author often known for her Hew Cullan Mystery series as well as her series 1588: A Calendar of Crime.

Shirley was born in Tynemouth and was only eight years old when she moved with her family to Scotland. There she grew up and would eventually attend the University of St. Andrews, where she studied English as well as linguistics. Then she moved to Durham University to do her postgraduate study on romantic and seventeenth-century prose.

The author currently resides in Crail, which is located on the north-east coast of Fife. There she keeps busy working as an academic proofreader.

Her Hew Cullan novels are published by Polygon and Birlinn. The series takes place in Scotland during the sixteenth century, where James VI is reigning. The stories follow a St. Andrews University academic lawyer and his adventures, along with the other characters Giles Locke (a physician) and Meg (his sister). The author was established in the crime fiction world when her outline for the first book in this series (Hue and Cry) made the shortlist for the Debut Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association.

Today the author resides with her family in Fife. She has had several awards throughout the course of her career, including winning a Young Observer play writing competition when she was just fifteen years old. The play that she composed was put on at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs.

Hue and Cry is the first novel in the Hew Cullan Mystery series of fictional novels by Shirley McKay. This debut in the series first came out for readers to enjoy in 2009 and introduces the audience to the character of Hew Cullan for the first time. This is a Scottish lawyer doing his best in the sixteenth century to solve cases while being very new to sleuthing. Check this book out and see why others are describing this mystery as ‘gripping’!

The time is the year 1579, and the place is St. Andrews. Things go awry from the start when a victim meets an untimely death that they never saw coming. In this particular instance, the victim is a 13 year old boy who has passed away right on the streets.

He’s expired on the university city of St. Andrews’ streets, and someone has to be responsible. Immediately people start looking around to cast suspicion, and they find that one of the regents that works at the university may be responsible– a one Nicholas Colp.

Enter onto the scene the main character, Hew Cullan. He’s a young man who also happens to be a lawyer. He has recently come back from Paris and on his way back from the city has dug up a strange and complicated tale of duplicity and passion as well as sexual desire that contrasts with the Protestant Kirk’s repressive tendencies as well as the academic world’s propensity to learn towards all things austere.

When the case of the young boy reaches his ears, Hew wonders whether he will be able to take this case on and solve it even though he has no real experience when it comes to detective work. But with the potential of more deaths on the horizon, it is starting to become very clear to him that someone is going to have to catch this killer or they are going to strike again.

No one is safe until the culprit is hunted down and brought to justice. Cullan is only used to arguing for justice in the courtroom and is not at all experienced with dealing with it in real life. This is going to be a brand new attempt of his, and he’s hoping that it pays off. Can the young lawyer get to the bottom of what has been going on, or will he find that merely attempting to find a killer means that he himself is put into the sights of someone who is very dangerous indeed? Read this fascinating mystery from Shirley McKay to find out!

Fate and Fortune is the second novel in the Hew Cullan Mystery series of fictional novels by Shirley McKay. The second installment in this mystery series first came out in 2010 and continues the adventures of the main character Hew Cullan. Check out this book and see what you think, especially if you read the first and loved it!

In 1581, Hew Cullan is an academic at St. Andrews. He is completely unhappy with the way that his life is going and worse, is beginning to become disillusioned when it comes to all things having to do with the law.

When his father passes away, Richard Cunningham invites him to come to Edinburgh. This way, the advocate thinks that he will be able to finish his legal education there while serving as Richard’s very own pupil at the bar.

Hew is looking through his father’s things when he discovers a manuscript. It is labeled In Defense of the Law and it is directed to Christian Hall, the Edinburgh printer. Hew resists it at first. Then a young girl is discovered dead on the St. Andrews beach, and he feels both confused and unsettled.

The lawyer decides that he’s going to have to do something and so decides that he is going to take the book and bring it to press. He takes on Richard’s offer and sets out to start again and begin an entirely new life established in the capital.

The last thing that he expected was to fall in love along the way. But the relationships that he tries to build are full of secrets and lies and end up culminating in a terrible murder. Hew thinks that it could be related to the dead beach girl.

Hew starts his search to track down a killer. But the more that he starts to look into things, the more that he finds that the answers he is looking for might not be so far away after all. Can he bring down a killer, or will things end up being the other way around instead? Read this book to find out!