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IT was still dark when Robb and Susan Swimm were woken by loud pounding on the front door of their Colorado home. They jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs in a panic. 'It was the kind of knock that makes your heart stop,' said Susan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AS editor of American Elle magazine, Elaina Richardson embodied glamour; her 44th floor Manhattan office had a skyline vista; on call was a chauffeur-driven limousine to whisk her from the coveted front row of couture shows to star-packed cocktail parties. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A HEAD of her birthday Annie Lennox got her first tattoo; two small black birds hovering around a pulsating crimson heart. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AFTER a long, chaotic shift on the wards as a junior doctor, Gordon Mackay would throw his scrubs and stethoscope in his locker, grab his football kit and head out to training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WHEN Angela MacVicar set up the charity Rainbow Valley in memory of her precious daughter Johanna, there was one woman she trusted more than any other to run it: the best friend who had been by her side through the darkest of times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

FROM the dusty old workshop of woodcarver Callum Robinson, objects of alluring beauty emerge: the cigar cabinet of cedar and gold, encased in butter-soft Scottish leather destined for Bond Street; a bespoke chest in sculpted oak sourced from the ancestral estate of Princess Diana and commissioned to hold a million-dollar Swiss watch. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

IN October 1977, when teenagers Helen Scott and Christine Eadie were found brutally murdered after a night out at Edinburgh's World's End pub, fear stalked the young women of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

IN 2001, when producer Sarah Purser moved into the architectural splendour of Grosvenor Terrace in Glasgow's West End, the previous owners left a welcome gift; a paperback of the epic novel Wax Fruit. The literary classic chronicles the lives and dizzying social ascent of the fictional Moorhouse dynasty, from humble beginnings on a Highland farm to the powerhouse of Victorian Glasgow's high society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

IT is through a child's eyes that Sabina Kadic-Mackenzie recalls the signs of creeping conflict in her former hometown in Bosnia: the school friends who shunned her; the Serb soldiers who began appearing on the streets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AS five major publishers in London were locked in a fierce bidding war for the rights to his debut novel, James Oswald was on his Fife farm, cold and wet and battling a snowstorm while frantically rounding up escaped cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SHE left the tea towels drying by the hearth. On the table was a tub of salt, a tin of biscuits, a pair of spectacles and a newspaper. The kettle still perched on the stove was barely cold. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TO the sound of a lament played by a lone piper, Alex Salmond returned home yesterday for the final time. The former First Minister's body arrived in Scotland almost a week after he died of a heart attack in North Macedonia aged 69. His coffin was met at Aberdeen International Airport by close friends and family including his wife, Moira, and sister Gail. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

THE new admission to the hospital's coronary unit had appeared straightforward to auxiliary nurse Eileen Palmer: routinely she had logged the female patient's personal belongings; she neatly folded the woman's clothes and placed them in a bedside locker. Later she brought her breakfast on a tray. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ON a storm-lashed night, her body engulfed in fury, poet Kathleen Raine pressed her palm against the mystical rowan tree and cursed the object of her indignation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

THE clearly nervous owner of the Vauxhall Cavalier opened the boot gingerly... taking great care not to put his trembling hands inside. And as the lid sprang open, the reason for his timidity became all too obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WHEN John Kirby put his elderly mother's home on the market to pay her care home fees, he should have been guaranteed an easy sale. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AS British Airways Flight 149 refuelled on the runway of Kuwait International Airport, steward Charlie Kristianson slipped into routine - checking the catering, handing blankets to sleepy passengers, making tea for the crew. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AS a little girl, Sally would lie in bed, staving off sleep, terrified she might die in the night and be cast to the fires of Hell. This paralysing fear wasn't just childish imagination but had been drummed into her by the fire and brimstone teachings of the underground Christian cult in which she grew up. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ASPIRING actor Luke Ford's infatuation with the movie America Psycho was fanatical. He had watched the film hundreds of times and could quote, verbatim, chilling dialogue from the titular character Patrick Bateman. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

VITAL rewilding in the Highlands won't work unless the Scottish Government and private investors inject more cash, campaigners have warned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SPORTS presenter Gabby Logan has revealed how her husband Kenny's dyslexia led him to make an embarrassing blunder when they first met in a London pub. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AN actor who claimed he was a body double for Brad Pitt has been jailed for 16 years for the rape and violent assault of multiple women he had targeted on dating apps. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

THE invitation that landed on the producer's desk at the BBC radio show, Steve Wright in the Afternoon, was as intriguing as it was cryptic: 'The KLF require your presence at a celebratory event to mark the summer solstice. You will be met at a location to be announced and transported to the lost continent of Mu.' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

STANDING in the doorway, she surveys the murder scene. Her mental checklist runs through the places likely to yield clues: light switches where the DNA from a suspect's careless touch may be harvested; taps where tiny blood spots left in the haste to clean up a crime could unmask a killer. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

THE victim of a violent domestic abuser has said it was 'terrifying' that he was able to sneak back into Scotland only 17 days after being deported. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A VALENTINE'S Day rendezvous in Spain's Costa Blanca gave police the 'eureka moment' needed to snare one of the UK's most wanted criminals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BOSSES at a crisis-hit health board have created a 'toxic culture' of bullying and cover-ups which is harming patients and staff, according to a bombshell report. A survey of hundreds of staff across Forth Valley Health Board found workers pushed to 'breaking point' by the senior leadership team. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

IT IS an iconic action film that showcases some of Scotland's most stunning scenery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AN aspiring actor has become the first man in Scotland to be convicted of rape for secretly not using a condom during sex. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]