Nigel Tranter

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Nigel Tranter's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    85 Books (2 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1940
  • Latest Book:
    January 2017
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Full Series List in Order

The House of Stewart Trilogy

Folly of Princes (1977)

The MacGregor Trilogy

3 - Gold for Prince Charlie (1962)
MacGregor's Gathering (1957)

Book List in Order: 85 titles

  • Harsh Heritage

    The story opens in the western Highlands of Scotland in 1817. The Highland Clearances have begun, and everywhere landowners are brutally evicting their tenants, condemning them to a grim future of starvation and despair. Amid this unfolding tragedy, ...

  • MacGregor's Gathering

    The MacGregor Trilogy

    The heroic story of one clan's struggle to survive, supporting a king without a crown At the beginning of the eighteenth century, one of the most exciting and romantic periods of British history, the famous Rob Roy MacGregor and his gallant nephe...

  • The Stone

    Plundered from Scotland by Edward I in 1296, the Stone of Destiny lay beneath the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey for 700 years -- but for centuries rumour and speculation have surrounded the origins of this legendary symbol of Royal power. Was...

  • The Clansman

    The heroic story of one clan's struggle to survive, supporting a king without a crown THE CLANSMAN Rob Roy MacGregor - outlawed supporter of the Stuart cause This second exciting novel about the brave MacGregors takes the reader through the...

  • Gold for Prince Charlie

    The MacGregor Trilogy - 3

    The heroic story of one clan's struggle to survive and protect their rightful Prince Charlie In 1745 the Highlanders limped away from the bitter field of Culloden. Soon the Duke of Cumberland was offering a huge sum for the capture of Prince Charl...

  • Chain of Destiny

    Following the murder of his father at Bannockburn in 1488, fifteen-year-old James Stewart was crowned James IV of Scotland. From those inauspicious beginnings, the inexperienced boy-king was to become one of the finest and most popular kings in Scotl...

  • Robert the Bruce

  • Lords of Misrule

    In turbulent 14th century Scotland, the ruling House of Stewart was a house divided, beset by hatred and jealousy. Descendants of the Bruce's daughter, they only kept the throne by an astonishing genius for survival -- or, as many said, the luck of...

  • The Captive Crown

    With the heir to the throne murdered, King Robert III a sick weakling, and his remaining son a child, Scotland and the Stewarts were in a bad way three generations on from the great Bruce. But two young men stood out: Alex Stewart, bastard son of the...



  • Folly of Princes

    The House of Stewart Trilogy

    Scotland at the dawn of the 15th century was a wretched spectacle. While the feeble Robert III still clung to the throne, his kingdom rang with the sound of conflict as his son and brother grappled for power. Sir James Douglas of Aberdour, married...

  • True Thomas

    Little is known about Thomas Learmonth of Ercildoune, vassal and esquire of the Earl of Dunbar, poet and prophesier known as 'Thomas the Rhymer'. During the reign of the Scottish King Alexander III, a time when the sword ruled over all and the treach...

  • The Bruce Trilogy

    Hero or traitor? King or outlaw? Discover the life of Scottish hero Robert the Bruce in this thrilling trilogy.

    Master storyteller Nigel Tranter tells the tale of the legendary warrior, and future King of Scots. Tutored and encouraged by Wi...

  • Children of the Mist

    A conflict between Scottish clans of the 16th century. Alastair MacGregor of Glen Strae is challenged for the vestiges of his clan's once vast lairdships by Black Duncan of the Cowl, Campbell of Glenorchy, a dangerous foe who has the ear of King Jame...

  • Tinker's Pride

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • Wallace

    William Wallace -- a man of violent passions and unquenchable spirit, the natural leader of a proud race. Scotland at the end of the 13th century was a blood-torn country suffering under the harsh domination of a tyrant usurper, the hated Planta...

  • Bridal Path

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • Poetic Justice

    Laird of a small estate, Will Alexander of Menstrie, poet and tutor, was a man of modest ambitions. But when James VI learned of his poetic genius, the king had other plans for him. In 1603, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England, he...

  • The Lion's Whlep

    The brutal murder of James I, King of Scots, at Perth in 1437 left his seven-year-old son to rule over a troubled kingdom. Power-hungry lords seized their chance to gain control over the boy-king James II and his realm. When young Alexander Lyon,...

  • The Marchman

    During the 16th century, the Boderland between Scotland and England was something of a world apart, with its own strange laws, beliefs and customs. Young John Maxwell, Warden of the West March, did his best to control a motley crew of dalesmen and mo...



  • A Flame for the Fire

    David, Master of Kennedy, was a determined and purposeful man, blessed with great mental prowess. All he desired, however, was a quiet family life, together with peace and prosperity for his people of Carrick. But it was not his valuable personal ...

  • High Kings & Vikings

    As Christendom approached the first Millennium, conflict and war prevailed throughout a troubled Scotland. The population remained under constant threat from bloodthirsty Viking raids, and the High Kings of Scots came and went, their brief reigns usu...

  • Envoy Extraordinary

    Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, was a man of modest ambitiions, less interested in warfare and matters of state than in the welfare of the folk of his earldoms and encouraging the trade generated by the great wool production of his sheep-strewn Lammermuir H...

  • The Gilded Fleece

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

  • Sword of State

    The youthful Alexander II, who ascended the Scottish throne in 1214 at the age of sixteen, was delighted to welcome to his court a young man of royal blood, heir to the ancient - and all but rival - line of the Cospatricks, Earls of Dunbar. Rather th...

  • End of the Line

    The dawn of the 15th century and Scotland was plunged into chaos. With the new king, Robert III, ailing and weak, his younger brother, the Earl of Fife, seized his chance to become Regent and Governor of the realm. Sent to London to appease the En...

  • Courting Favour

    Younger son of the ninth Earl of Dunbar and March, John Cospatrick expected to inherit neither title nor estate. But when his mother, the formidable Black Agnes, bequeathed him the earldom of Moray in the far north of Scotland, John was to find himse...

  • Triple Alliance

    Following his victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sought to bring Scotland too under his protectorate. On his return south, he left General George Monk in command and, among others, Colonel James Stanf...

  • Fast & Loose

  • The Admiral

    Determined to avenge his father, slain by English privateers off the coast of the Isle of May, Andrew Wood's national renown as a fearless pirate-slayer brought him to the attention of King James III. Eventually promoted to become Baron of Largo ...



  • Right Royal Friend

    David Murray, the young son of Sir Andrew, a Perthshire laird, has no aspirations to greatness. Then a chance encounter with King James the Sixth leads to him becoming Cup Bearer and Master of the Horse to his young liege. Together with James's foste...

  • The Isleman

    This is the story of Angus Og MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, grandson of the great Angus Mor, direct descendant and successor of Somerled himself. The semi-independent prince of the Hebrides and much of the West Highland mainland, he was a worthy r...

  • Marie and Mary

    The turbulent sixteenth century is the background for the story of Scotland's most fascinating queens. Marie de Guise ruled Scotland alone after the death of her husband James V. She foiled Henry Tudor of England's plans to marry her baby daughter...

  • Hope Endures

    Sir Thomas Hope's life unfolded in an age of change, violence and upheaval in Scotland. The son of an Edinburgh merchant, Hope had a spectacular beginning to his career: at the age of seventeen, before he had even finished his legal education, he ...

  • The Islesman

    This is the thrilling story of Angus Og MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, during the turbulent days of Robert the Bruce.The grandson of the great Angus Mor, direct descendant and successor of Somerled himself, the semi-independent prince of the Hebrides ...

  • Lion Let Loose

    James the First of Scots was an extraordinary man: poet, thinker warrior, athlete and statesman. And prisoner - for he was held captive for almost half his adult life. He possessed that fatal Stewart capacity to arouse both love and hatred; to a...

  • Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles

    Nigel Tranter's gift for bringing Scottish history to life is demonstrated in this lively book which details 45 of the nation's castles with associated tales and traditions. With a broad geographical spread, Tranter breathes life into many of Scotlan...

  • Black Douglas

    It was almost inevitable that in the 15th century the new Scots royal house of Stewart would have to come to a reckoning with the great house of Douglas.Young Will Douglas, the eight earl, was born to vast power, influence - and trouble. And with the...

  • Columba

    Written by the author of The Bruce Trilogy, The Captive Crown, and Margaret the Queen, this is the story of a very human, fallible but courageous and indomitable man, born an Irish prince in the troubled and pagan sixth century, who rejected the high...

  • Crusader

    Alexander III of Scotland was just seven years old when he inherited thethrone. South of the border, England's King Henry III saw this as hischance to assert his paramountcy over the kingdom. At the age of ten,the boy was married to Henry's daughter....



  • David the Prince

    Half-Celt and half-Saxon, King David determined to take hold of hisbackward, patriarchal, strife-ridden country and, against all the odds,pushed and dragged it into the forefront of Christendom's advancingnations.This is a story of independence, sing...

  • Highness in Hiding

    The quashing of the Jacobite Rising of 1745 saw an end to the ambitions of the exiled house of Stuart. But somehow the young pretender, Prince Charles Edward, otherwise known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, manage to avoid arrest.For six extraordinary mont...

  • Honours Even

    In 1649 Charles II left his exile in the Netherlands and sailed toScotland. Arriving at the small fishing village of Garmouth, he faced amixed reception from the minister of the Kirk.The exiled king was to remain in Scotland for a year, learning more...

  • Lion's Whelp

    The brutal murder of James I, King of Scots, at Perth in 1437 left hisseven-year-old son to rule over a troubled kingdom. Power-hungry lordsseized their chance to gain control over the boy-king James II and hisrealm.When young Alexander Lyon, son of...

  • Macbeth the King

    Across a huge colourful canvas, ranging from the wilds of Scotland toNorway, Denmark and Rome, here is the story of the real MacBeth.Set aside Shakespeare's portrait: read instead of his struggle to makeand save a united Scotland.In this impressively...

  • Margaret the Queen

    First she was Margaret the refugee. A Saxon princess, sister of EdgarAtheling who, but for William the Conqueror, would have been King ofEngland. She came to Scotland in 1069.Beautiful, sympathetic and devout, she was an unlikely consort to therough ...

  • Montrose, the Captain General

    A brilliant leader, a renowned strategist, a talented moderate in a bigoted age: James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, is a man of great charm and steadfast loyalty. Devoting his life to King Charles I leads him to reluctant involvement in nati...

  • Past Master

    Past Master tells the story of Patrick, Master of Gray, in the era of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, and of his remarkable daughter Mary.

    With the end of Elizabeth I's long reign in sight, Patrick, Master of Gray, is determined ...

  • The Patriot

    In 1678, Scotland liesunder the dark threat of union with England. In an era of intrigue and bloodshed, Andrew Fletcher, laird of Saltoun, stands out as a man of ideals and integrity. His fearless and dogged opposition to the Treaty becomes a thirt...

  • Wisest Fool

    Son of the doomed Mary Queen of Scots, raised to rule two countries, James was one of the oddest kings ever to ascent any throne. Neither noble nor heroic, he confounded those who despised him by being shrewd enough to reign for fifty-eight years,...



  • The Courtesan

    The second in the Master of Gray trilogy takes this seventeenth-century story of war and intrigue in Scotland to the next generation - the Master's illegitimate daughter.

    Unacknowledged daughter of the Master of Gray, the young Mary inherit...

  • James, By the Grace of God

    In the wake of the Battle of Flodden, Scotland was ruled in name only. The boy king, James V was at the mercy of ambitous rival factions, and beyond them, the ever-watchful, looming presence of Henry VIII of England. Escaping from the clutches of t...

  • Lord and Master

    Born of one of Scotland's noblest families, Patrick Gray was fascinating, irresistible, ambitious and ruthless. Involved in a daring plot to free the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots, and immersed in the intrigues of Elizabeth I's Tudor court, he str...

  • Lord in Waiting

    In 1460, when clan feuds were rife, and the threat of English invasionwas ever-present, James III, one of Scotland's weakest monarchs, came tothe throne.Before long, John, Lord of Douglas, a born leader and a man ofconscience and vision, found himsel...

  • The Riven Realm

    1513; King James IV lies dead on Flodden's field, his young heir entrusted to two low-born lairds. There are many who seek to supplant or control the boy-king, and only his loyal protectors stand in their way . . . Two hundred years earlier, Robert ...

  • Rough Wooing

    The final volume in the trilogy spanning the turbulent reign of King James V of Scotland. The young James, King of Scots is a beleaguered man. Still grief stricken at the untimely death of his queen, Madeleine, the king is without an heir. Both he ...

  • Cable From Kabul

    MACREADY BELIEVED DEAD STOP PROJECT IN BALANCE STOP PLEASE COME STOP said the cable which reached the respectable Fenchurch Street office of Cranstoun and Macready, Importers and Exporters. Plain words, but enough to baffle David Cranstoun, since his...

  • Drug on the Market

    A stealthy fishing-boat, blacked-out in the dead of night, and strange blinking lights on the shores of Aberlady Bay add up to a mystery that Lieutenant-Commander Philip Hepburn can't ignore. Following a chance sighting of the elusive vessel while ...

  • The Enduring Flame

    Angus Guthrie, Scottish sailor and undercover oil-prospector, gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to accompany an archaeological expedition into the forbidden heart of the Arabian desert. The group must overcome the suspicions and supers...

  • Spanish Galleon

    An old story from the loose lips of a whiskey-sodden seaman sets Glaswegian giant Roddy Roy MacGregor off in search of wealth beyond his wildest dreams. On the tiny Hebridean Isle of Inishewen, he soon finds himself embroiled in a devious and highl...

  • Rum Week

  • High Spirits

  • Trespass

  • Delayed Action

  • Colours Flying

  • Ducks and Drakes

  • Mammon's Daughter

  • Eagle's Feathers

  • Watershed

  • Man's Estate

    John Thriepwood comes to Scotland in 1946 with his small son after inheriting the family estate. The now Lord Thriepwood finds a ruined and neglected estate. This absorbing and easily read story quickly captures the readers interest and sympathy, as ...

  • FLIGHT OF DUTCHMEN

  • The Chosen Course

  • Fair Game

  • Fast and Loose

  • Tidewrack

  • Kenneth

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    Norse-Slayer and nation-builder, Kenneth, son of Alpin mac Eochaidh, Kingof Galloway, was the visionary who brought together the ancient kingdomsof Alba, Dalriada, Strathclyde and Galloway to create the country ofScotland.Yet his vision was wider sti...

  • The Long Coffin

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

  • Lord of the Isles

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    By the power of his sword arm, his dragon fleet and his sheerpersonality, Somerled Norse Slayer carved an enduring name for himselfin Scottish legend.Inheriting his father's shattered thanedom in Argyll in the twelfthcentury, he enlarged it by courag...

  • Mail Royal

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    A casket of incriminating letters from Mary, Queen of Scots. The letters would be an instrument of persuasion - or blackmail as others might call it. Whoever held them had a hold over the James VI King of Scots, now also King James I of England.But...

  • Price of a Princess

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    After young James the Third's accession to the Scottish throne, theambitious Boyd family of Kilmarnock seized power in a bloodless coup. Mary Stewart, James' eldest sister, was at first unwilling to marryThomas Boyd, future Earl of Arran - but she ha...

  • A Rage of Regents

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    In 1568, the defeat of Mary, Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside and her subsequent flight to England left Scotland a troubled nation. Mary's infant son was crowned James VI, with her illegitimate half-brother, the earl of Moray, as Regent. The ...

  • A Stake in the Kingdom

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    Seventh son of the penurious Laird of Balfour, the fiercely ambitiousDavid Beaton was determined to rise in the world - by whatever meansavailable. Never one to be burdened by scruples, he cynically used theChurch for his own ends to become one of t...

  • Tapestry of the Boar

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    During the reign of Malcolm IV, King of the Scots, Hugh de Swinton andhis fellow mosstroopers helped keep the rampaging Galloway rebels atbay. But it was for his expertise in the killing of wild boars, asprotector of the Swintons' sheep flocks, that...

  • Unicorn Rampant

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    The year 1617 was a fateful one for Scotland - and especially for youngJohn Stewart of Methven, bastard son of the Duke of Lennox.King James VI of Scotland and I of England made a rare and disastrousvisit to his homeland of which he had been an absen...

  • Warden of the Queen's March

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    Only eighteen years old when she returned to Scotland to rule, the beautiful but unfortunate Mary Stuart was in dire need of protection: from the savage religious intolerance of the time, from scoundrels in high places, even from the men she injudic...

  • The Young Montrose

    • / Historical
    • Buy Buy

    Nigel Tranter tells the fascinating yet desperate story of a gallant nobleman from the initial snub he received from Charles I, the monarch he is to devote his life to serving. A brilliant leader, a renowned strategist, a talented moderate in a bigo...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Nigel Tranter has published 85 books.

Nigel Tranter does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Tidewrack, was published in January 2017.

The first book by Nigel Tranter, Harsh Heritage, was published in January 1940.

Yes. Nigel Tranter has 2 series.
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