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, 'Bridge of Sighs' by Ken Lussey, published on 14 July 2026, and the same author's World War Two thriller 'Friend or Foe?' 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.
Bridge of Sighs
We will be publishing 'Bridge of Sighs' by Ken Lussey on 14 July 2026, initially as an eBook. This fast-paced contemporary murder mystery is set in Edinburgh and northern Scotland.
In a chilling echo of an event five decades earlier, a light aircraft takes off from a small Scottish airfield and doesn’t return. What caused its one-way flight out over the Atlantic? Callum and Jenny Anderson are asked to investigate.
Meanwhile, someone is trying to deter the developers of the of the Sutherland Viking Haven, a major tourist attraction being built near Kylesku. Who? And could they also be behind the rise in incidents of damage to the vehicles of inconsiderate or irresponsible users of the North Coast 500?
Events take a very sinister turn when a body is found in a burned-out shop in Inverness. And then there’s another killing. It becomes clear that for Callum and Jenny, the risks are coming ever closer to home.
- 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.
Friend or Foe?
‘Friend or Foe?’ is a fast-paced thriller set largely in south-west Scotland during World War Two. We published it in paperback and as an eBook on 14 July 2025.
It’s late June 1943. Bob and Monique Sutherland’s journey home from Malta is interrupted, first in London to hear Soviet claims of a German spy in Scotland and then by a shoot-out between US military units in Lancashire.
Having returned to Edinburgh, they remain only briefly before travelling with a Military Intelligence 11 team to Galloway to track down the spy. How best to catch a ghost who may already have uncovered vital military secrets? Can they find him before it’s too late?
When two Soviet agents arrive in Galloway to help, Bob and Monique need to work out the difference between friend and foe. Does the German spy exist, or is he a Soviet invention intended to lure MI11 into danger?
- Buy the paperback edition direct 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.
Contemporary Thrillers and Murder Mysteries
'Bridge of Sighs' is a fast-paced murder mystery set in Edinburgh and northern Scotland. Someone is
trying to deter the developers of the of the Sutherland Viking Haven. Who? And are they also damaging the vehicles of irresponsible users
of the North Coast 500? Then a body is found...
• Find out more here.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'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.
• Buy the Audible Audiobook.
World War Two Thrillers (And More)
'Friend or Foe?' is set in June-July 1943. Bob and Monique Sutherland are told of Soviet claims of a
German spy in south-west Scotland and go to Galloway to find him. When two Soviet agents arrive to help, Bob and Monique need to work
out if they are a bigger threat than the alleged spy.
• Find out more here.
• Buy the paperback edition.
• Buy the Kindle edition.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
'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.
'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.
