Rebecca Connolly (Douglas Skelton) Books in Order

Rebecca Connolly is a journalist, which means these books usually start with a story everyone else would rather leave alone. A not proven verdict. A body on Culloden battlefield. A murder that may connect to an old miscarriage of justice. A woman found dead in a pentagram. A man who vanished into the woods years ago. Rebecca does not walk into these cases as a detective with official backing. She goes in with curiosity, stubbornness and a notebook, which is often more dangerous.

The series moves around Inverness, the Highlands and the islands, with Stoirm becoming an especially important place. Skelton uses these settings brilliantly. Weather matters. Sea crossings matter. Small communities matter. People know each other too well, grudges last too long, and the landscape can feel beautiful and exposed at the same time. You can see why Rebecca keeps getting pulled back, even when common sense says she should stop.

The past is always standing nearby.

That is what gives the Rebecca Connolly books their particular flavour. Thunder Bay digs into an old island killing and family secrets. The Blood Is Still brings the aftermath of Culloden crashing into the present. A Rattle of Bones works with echoes of the James of the Glens case and questions of guilt, prejudice and power. Where Demons Hide mixes murder with cult panic and criminal revenge. Children of the Mist and The Hollow Mountain keep stretching the series into older histories, folklore and long-buried lies.

Rebecca herself is easy to root for because she is not superhuman. She makes mistakes, pushes too hard, gets scared, gets angry, and still keeps going. Friends and allies help, especially when island loyalties or local criminals start closing ranks, but she is very much the sort of protagonist who has to earn every answer. The books also let her personal life carry weight, so the danger never feels like an abstract puzzle.

These are quieter books than Skelton's Glasgow gangland novels, but they are not softer.

Expect atmospheric crime fiction rather than cosy mystery. The pleasures are in the layering: history, rumour, landscape, family damage, and the way one modern death can open a door onto something much older. If you like investigations that respect place, and if you like a reporter who keeps asking the awkward question after everyone else has moved on, Rebecca Connolly is a very good guide.