Welcome to Arachnid Press
Arachnid Press Ltd is an independent Scottish publisher set up in late 2020. Our aim is to develop a full range of publishing services.
We are not currently open to submissions: we will announce here when that changes. At present we are focusing on a small number of projects beyond our latest books, 'The Eye of Horus' by Ken Lussey, which we published on 18 June 2024, and the same author's contemporary thriller 'A Tangled Web'. These include our work with an external author on the production of a cookbook with a fascinating twist. Watch this space...
Our Story
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? You'd expect a book to come about because of a publisher. In our case, a publisher came about because of a book.
Arachnid Press grew out of the remarkable success of Carolyn Henry's superb compilation of 'Kirkliston COVID-19 Isolation Portraits'.
The story of the book is told in our page about it, together with that of the exhibition it spawned at St John's Hospital in Livingston. Suffice it to say that Carolyn's production of her book brought about the realisation that her skills, combined with those of Maureen Lussey, owner of the highly successful website Undiscovered Scotland, and the work of author Ken Lussey, gave us everything we needed to begin to establish Arachnid Press Ltd as an independent Scottish publisher.
The Eye of Horus
'The Eye of Horus' is an atmospheric World War Two thriller with settings that move from the Highlands of Scotland via Gibraltar to Malta. We published it in paperback and Kindle on 18 June 2024.
It’s June 1943. Bob and Monique Sutherland are on honeymoon in Kyle of Lochalsh when an unexpected visitor arrives to spoil their idyll.
They agree to travel to Malta to search for two missing men, a young naval lieutenant and an MI6 officer who has disappeared while looking for him. The aerial siege of the island is over and the tide of war has turned but, after three years of bombing, Malta remains a shattered place.
The available leads produce more questions than answers and progress is impeded by lies. As Bob and Monique come closer to discovering what became of the two men, events take a dangerous turn and their priority shifts from enjoying their honeymoon to surviving it.
- Buy the paperback edition from Arachnid Press.
This may be signed and dedicated at no extra cost if you wish. - Buy the Kindle edition from Amazon.
- Buy the eBook from Kobo.
- Buy the eBook from Apple.
- Find out more about the book on our page about it.
- Visit Ken Lussey's website to read excerpts and find out about the locations used.
Revised Second Editions
We have published revised second editions of Ken Lussey's first two thrillers set in Scotland during World War Two, initially as eBooks. 'Eyes Turned Skywards' and 'The Danger of Life' were published by Fledgling Press in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and republished by us on 12 August 2024.
Thicker Than Water
We are publishing 'Thicker Than Water' by Ken Lussey on 15 September 2024, initially as an eBook. This compelling murder mystery set in northern Scotland.
Callum Anderson and Jenny Mackay are spending Hogmanay at Sarclet Castle in Caithness when they are asked to investigate the brutal murder of a young woman at nearby Sarclet Broch in 1943, a woman whose ghost is believed to haunt the castle.
What seems the coldest of cold cases is not the first murder of a young woman at the broch: there was another nearly two thousand years earlier. Nor is it the last. On the day that Callum and Jenny arrive, there is a third fatal stabbing there.
Their investigation into the 1943 murder uncovers shoddy police work and the possibility of a serial killer: but can anything be proved after eight decades? Meanwhile they find themselves drawn into the increasingly dangerous hunt for the latest murderer.
- Buy the Kindle edition from Amazon.
- Buy the eBook from Kobo.
- Buy the eBook from Apple.
- Find out more about the book on our page about it.
- Visit Ken Lussey's website to read excerpts and find out about the locations used.
World War Two Thrillers
'The Eye of Horus' is set in June 1943. Bob and Monique
are on honeymoon in Kyle of Lochalsh when they are asked to travel to the war-shattered island of Malta
to search for two missing men, a young naval lieutenant
and an MI6 officer who has disappeared while looking for him.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'Hide and Seek' is set in April 1943. A grisly murder at Stirling Castle
echoes a dark episode in the castle's history and the disappearance of a young woman threatens national security.
Bob Sutherland investigates the murder while Monique Dubois hunts for the missing woman.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'The Stockholm Run' is set in March 1943. A violent death reveals a secret
buried beneath Edinburgh Castle. But then Bob Sutherland and Monique Dubois are sent to Stockholm, a city
supposedly at peace in a world at war, to take delivery of a message of critical national importance.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'Bloody Orkney' is set in November 1942. Bob Sutherland, Monique Dubois
and the Military Intelligence 11 team fly in to review security in Orkney, home to one of the most important
naval anchorages in the world. But then an unidentified body is found and things get far too personal.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'The Danger of Life' is set in October 1942. Bob Sutherland has taken charge of
Military Intelligence 11's operations in Scotland and investigates two murders at the Commando Basic Training Centre
and the attempted theft of an aircraft. Then Monique Dubois of MI5 turns up.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'Eyes Turned Skywards' Wing Commander Robert Sutherland is asked to investigate the air
crash in Caithness that has killed Duke of Kent, brother of King George VI, is killed in northern Scotland. We
follow Bob as he unravels layers of deceit and intrigue far beyond anything he expects.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
Contemporary Novels
'Thicker Than Water' is a compelling murder mystery set in northern Scotland. Callum Anderson and Jenny Mackay are
asked to investigate an eight-decade-old murder at Sarclet Broch. But there was another murder there two
millennia earlier; and then a third on the day they arrive.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'A Tangled Web' is the second in the Callum Anderson series. Callum returns to
north-west Sutherland to help local GP Jenny Mackay investigate the death of her
husband. The authorities say he committed suicide but she’s convinced he was murdered. Things soon get very dangerous.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'The High Road', is a fast-paced contemporary thriller. Callum Anderson
is in Scotland to scatter his father’s ashes when he’s asked by a cousin to look for her missing sister, Alexandra.
With his life in London in tatters and suspended from duty by the Metropolitan Police, why not?
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'The House With 46 Chimneys' is a spooky adventure story for younger readers
involving a two-century-old family mystery and the haunting of Dunmore Park, a ruined house in central Scotland.
Set against the background of the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown it captures a singular moment in time.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
