When strangers like 'the Big J' come into small towns on the edge of the sea, they will be noticed. And for Robbie Strachan and his crowd, the Big J stands out anyway -- ultra-cool and a little bit older, someone to look up to, someone to imitate. He has a motorbike and the poise of a born leader. But then an innocent summe romance goes terribly wrong...

Full of lively humour and evocative local detail and set against the drama of the red sandstone stacks and hidden beaches of the Scottish North East coast, soundtracked by seagulls, The Big J is a read that is hard to set down.

The author's site is at: www.andrewmurrayscott.com.

Born in Aberdeen, Andrew Murray Scott graduated in English and Modern History and his first novel, Tumulus, won the inaugural Dundee Book Prize in 1999, being described as 'a tour de force, the work of an extremely talented, confident, sophisticated and imaginative writer'. He has written two further novels, Estuary Blue and The Mushroom Club, as well as a number of nonfiction books.

'I read this latest novel from the multi-talented Andrew Murray Scott with great interest and pleasure ... Scott writes like a poet -- and like a typical teenaged boy, but the two voices sit well together ... I believed in all the characters -- I've met most of them. I didn't foresee the ending, but it was just right ... Robbie and the enigmatic Big J will stay with you for a long time.'
-- Eileen Ramsay, Leopard

'No seaside idyll -- a novel that lifts the lid on village life ... the events that engulf Dounby ... are not pretty and this is not the most comfortable of reads. These quaint North-East villages will never look the same to me again.'
-- Maurice Fleming, The Scots Magazine

'His characters are realistically full of life ... describes the area so well you feel you are part of it ... This was a book I found easy to read and couldn't wait to pick it up again to find out what was happening in the lives of the people of Dounby. I was eager to find out what happened to Robbie and Big J and was stunned by an unexpected twist toward the end of the book. I would highly recommend you try this refreshing writing style. This is the first of Andrew's books I have read but I will certainly be seeking out his other fiction titles.'
-- Margaret Hamilton, Scots Independent

'One thing you could never describe acclaimed Dundee author Andrew Murray Scott of is being predictable ... he has always prided himself as being a writer who doesn't stand still and now with his latest novel The Big J he has moved closer towards the mainstream, while at the same time maintaining the literary sensibilities that have marked all of his previous work.'
-- Stuart Johnstone, Dundee Evening Telegraph