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Author

Malcolm Archibald

54 fiction

Malcolm Archibald is a Scottish historian and author of historical fiction, military adventure, crime and historical fantasy. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he entered higher education as a mature student and graduated from the University of Dundee with an honours degree in history. He subsequently worked as a historical researcher and college lecturer, including at Inverness College, before becoming a full-time writer. His nonfiction is particularly concerned with Scottish maritime and social history, including the whaling industry, crime, folklore and the experiences of Scots overseas.

Archibald’s principal military fiction includes the long-running Jack Windrush series, which follows a British officer through the Crimean War, the Indian Rebellion, imperial campaigns in Asia and later Victorian conflicts. The Soldier’s Son moves through the Anglo-Zulu War, the South African War, Burma and the North-West Frontier, while Tulloch at War follows Scottish soldiers during the First World War. His other work includes the Victorian Detective Watters Mysteries, the eighteenth-century Warrior’s Path novels and the historically inspired fantasy sequence beginning with The Swordswoman. Blood Oath received the Society for Army Historical Research Prize for Military Fiction for 2020–21.

Periods and events

Allied Invasion of Sicily1943 Anglo-Zulu War1879 Battle of France and Dunkirk EvacuationMay–June 1940 CE Caribbean Campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars1793–1802 CE Chartist Movement1838–1857 CE Crimean War1853–1856 CE German Spring Offensive of 1918March–July 1918 CE Indian Rebellion of 18571857–1858 CE Liberation of the Netherlands and Rhine Campaign1944–1945 CE Mahdist War1881–1899 Norse Exploration of the North Atlanticc. 870–1100 CE North African Campaign1940–1943 CE North-West Frontier Campaigns1849–1947 CE Resumption of War with France1803–1805 CE Second Anglo-Afghan War1878–1880 CE Second Battle of El Alamein1942 CE Second Boer War1899–1902 CE Seven Years’ War1756–1763 CE Smuggling on the Georgian Coast1714–1830 CE Victorian Crime1837–1901 Victorian London1837–1901 CE Viking Age793–1066 CE War of the Spanish Succession1701–1714 CE World War I1914–1918 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Malcolm Archibald (10 series)

Jack Windrush in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 12 books 4.4(8,920)

The Jack Windrush series follows a Victorian army officer from the Second Anglo-Burmese War through the Crimea, the Indian Rebellion, frontier campaigns, West Africa, Afghanistan, Egypt and the Sudan. Beginning as an ambitious young lieutenant in the disregarded 113th Foot, Windrush becomes an experienced commander increasingly sceptical of…

Tulloch at War in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 6 books 4.4(4,419)

Tulloch at War follows Douglas Tulloch and the Lothian Rifles from the troubled 1930s through the final campaigns of the Second World War. Frontier service in India leads into the retreat to Dunkirk, North and East Africa, El Alamein, Sicily, Normandy, the Netherlands and the advance toward Germany.…

Warrior’s Path in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 3 books 4.4(2,271)

Warrior’s Path follows Highland soldier Hugh MacKim from the aftermath of Culloden into the global conflict of the Seven Years’ War. His pursuit of vengeance carries him through service with Fraser’s Highlanders in North America, winter warfare around Quebec and campaigns against French possessions in the Caribbean. The…

The Rise of an English Lawbreaker in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 3 books 4.4(837)

The Rise of an English Lawbreaker traces John Smith’s ascent through the violent smuggling economy of eighteenth-century Kent. Returning to his home district with a grievance against the landowner responsible for his father’s death, Smith builds influence among the Free Traders while preventive officers and rival gangs close…

Kennett’s Campaigns in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 2 books 4.4(355)

Kennett’s Campaigns follow Gregory Kennett, an inexperienced officer of the 136th Foot, through the French Revolutionary Wars. The first novel places him amid the collapsing Allied campaign in Flanders; the second carries him into Caribbean warfare and naval unrest while he hunts an enemy agent within British ranks.…

The Swordswoman in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 5 books 4.3(1,399)

The Swordswoman series follows Melcorka of Alba and the traveller Bradan through a mythic early-medieval world. Beginning with Norse attacks on Scotland, their journeys reach the Western Isles, the North Atlantic, North America and distant legendary lands, where historical cultures coexist with magical weapons, supernatural beings and material…

Detective Watters Mysteries in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 7 books 4.2(1,966)

The Detective Watters Mysteries are set principally in Dundee during the 1860s and 1870s, as Sergeant and later Inspector George Watters investigates crimes arising from the city’s mills, docks, lodging houses, shops and respectable drawing rooms. Cases involving arson, murder, burglary, kidnapping and railway theft repeatedly reveal connections…

The Soldier’s Son in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 6 books 2.5(30)

The Soldier’s Son follows Andrew Baird, son of Jack Windrush, as he tries to establish a military identity of his own in the late Victorian empire. His service begins in southern Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War and continues through the First Boer War, the conquest of Upper Burma,…

Detective Mendick Mysteries in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 3 books 2.5(15)

The Detective Mendick Mysteries follow James Mendick through the emergence of modern policing in mid-Victorian Britain. His investigations move from Chartist agitation and political surveillance to murder and corruption in industrial Dundee, before a maritime case carries him into the criminal world of the South Atlantic. Archibald uses…

Matthew Pryde Adventures in Order

by Malcolm Archibald 2 books 2.5(10)

Matthew Pryde is an engineer whose practical skills repeatedly draw him into danger during the renewed wars with revolutionary and Napoleonic France. The novels begin on the Northumberland coast, where lighthouse construction, wrecking and smuggling entangle Pryde with the secret of his own origins, then send him into…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Malcolm Archibald (5 books)

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