Cultural Crofter is a very apt description for Nancy Nicolson - she is a Sottish folk singer and a tradition bearer, a songwriter and a storyteller and a melodeon player. Brought up on a croft in Caithness, the former Edinburgh teacher has worked with the BBC, Celtic Connections, and the New Makars Trust. It was high time that her songs were collected and published, and Grace Note Publications has done just that, to coincide with her 75th birthday in 2016. They sent a Wumman: The Collected Songs of Nancy Nicolson contains an autobiographical piece by Nancy herself, as well as contributions by her fellow-Caithnessian writer George Gunn, by singer, songwriter, actor and director Gerda Stevenson and the folk singer, songwriter and publisher Ewan McVicar. But the focus is, as editor Paddy Bort writes in his introduction, firmly on the songs, in all their glorious diversity. Like few others, Nancy Nicolson has the gift - as writer, singer and storyteller - to communicate the life and culture of Scotland, with rare warmth and energy and her very own brand of wit and wisdom. As can be seen in this volume, Nancy Nicolson covers (nearly) every subject under the sun - from bootleg whisky to the Miners' Strike, from bairns' play to the grim and cruel games of war, and from 'hauf-hinget' Maggie to 'Maggie's Pit Ponies'. Some of her songs have assumed almost 'traditional' status by now - among them Nancy's greatest hits: "Listen tae the Teacher', 'The Moon in the Morning', 'The Brickie's Ballad' and, of course, 'They Sent a Wumman'. Among others, Gerda Stevenson, The McCalmans and Ed Miller have recorded her songs.

In the third book of the Andalusian Mystery Series, DI Leon Prado with translators, American videographer Amanda Salisbury, and ex-British soldier Phillip Armitage, continue their hunt for an elusive criminal mastermind and investigate an intriguing new case in the world of Flamenco. Salome Mendosa was adopted as a baby and knows nothing of her roots. Her idyllic life as one of Spain's top Flamenco dancers is turned upside down when she is invited to a lawyer's office in the ancient town of Velez-Malaga to receive information concerning her birth family. Desperate but nervous to learn of her heritage, she begs Amanda Salisbury, her former college roommate, to accompany her. Salome's ancestors were not as angelic as she'd wished for. A poisonous legend concerning her late grandfather leads them on a dangerous journey back to the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, pits them against the local gypsy community, and seriously strains their relationship.