James Oswald: Murder, Mystery and a dash of Mysticism
Thursday 12 November 2026, 7.30pm. Porteous, 589 Lanark Road, Juniper Green, EH14 5DA
James Oswald is, primarily, a Scottish farmer who doubles up as an author. His storytelling started during his university days penning comic strip books.
His debut novel, Natural Causes, was the first in the Inspector McLean series, which now numbers 15 novels, with the latest, The Violent Hour, published this July. The main protagonist is Inspector Anthony McLean, and the series follows his challenges as an Edinburgh-based police inspector, where he gets all the weird cases whilst he negotiates a somewhat difficult personal life.
James has also written a three-book series featuring DC Constance Fairchild, a London-based police constable, whose life and career are far from straightforward! Despite cutting all links with her aristocratic family, she finds that such ties are not easily broken.
And, to demonstrate his versatility, James has written a five-book epic fantasy series The Ballad of Sir Benfro under the name JD Oswald. An epic tale of young Benfro, the first male dragon to be hatched in a thousand years. Also under his JD Oswald name, and very different from his other work, James has recently published a standalone gothic coming of age novel, Broken Ghosts.
Pentlands Book Festival: Nov each year 