Since newspapers began it has been found that crime stories sell copies. People can be fascinated, horrified or simply entertained by the scandals and wrong-doings of their fellows. This book gathers together a selection of stories which span the period 1801 to 1900. With a few digressions, they relate to the people and places of Linlithgowshire, the administrative area of the time which roughly corresponds to today's West Lothian. As well as the human interest in the people, and the crimes which they may, or may not, have committed, these stories offer a window into everyday life in a period when Linlithgowshire, along with the rest of Britain, was being transformed in many ways.

Who lived in Linlithgow in 1851? What did they do? Where did they come from? Linlithgow is a traditional burgh in central Scotland. This book traces the people of the town from the end of the Eighteenth Century through to 1851. That year saw the most detailed census to that date. Interwoven with information from other contemporary sources, this reveals a wealth of detail about the residents and their way of life.