The Scottish Prisoner: A Novel (Lord John Grey)
Gabaldon left Outlander fans breathless and gasping for both air and answers at the end of An Echo in the Bone, and the next installment in the megapopular time-travel series isn’t due to be published until 2013. Still, she tosses her loyal followers a meaty bone—pardon the pun—by featuring Outlander hero Jamie Fraser heavily in her latest Lord John Grey crime novel. In fact, though Jamie often pops up in these spin-off novels as a minor character, this time around he shares center stage with Grey. After being paroled from Ardsmuir Prison, Jamie’s anonymous and relatively quiet routine at the estate that houses his illegitimate young son is abruptly disrupted by the unexpected arrival of Irishman and fellow Jacobite Tobias Quinn, who is hoping to unearth the legendary Druid’s Cup, thereby inciting rebellion against England. When Lord John Grey reluctantly seeks Jamie’s assistance to clear the name of a friend and fellow officer and to bring the true criminal to justice, a classic case of strange bedfellows ensues. The strong chemistry between these two stalwart, yet supremely dissimilar, protagonists crackles as they travel to Ireland and face a daunting series of moral and physical obstacles and quandaries.       HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This could be the worthy Lord John Grey’s breakout novel, as readers are treated to large dollops of Outlander heartthrob and hero Jamie Fraser. Two supermen for the price of one—Gabaldon fans everywhere will be standing in line. --Margaret Flanagan