Publication Date: October 14, 2025
A new holiday story set in the Scottish Highlands to warm booklovers’ hearts by Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop.
Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great aunt’s attic. Now, as Christmas approaches, she’s been hired by Jamie McPherson, the surprisingly young and handsome laird of a Highland clan whose ancestral holdings include a vast crumbling castle. Family lore suggests that the McPherson family’s collection includes a rare book so valuable that it could save the entire estate—if they only knew where it was. Jamie needs Mirren to help him track down this treasure, which he believes is hidden in his own home.
But on the train to the Highlands, Mirren runs into rival book hunter Theo Palliser, and instantly knows that it’s not a chance meeting. She’s all too familiar with Theo’s good looks and smooth talk, and his uncanny ability to appear whenever there’s a treasure that needs locating.
Almost as soon as Mirren and Theo arrive at the castle, a deep snow blankets the Highlands, cutting off the outside world. Stuck inside, the three of them plot their search as the wind whistles outside. Mirren knows that Jamie’s grandfather, the castle’s most recent laird, had been a book collector, a hoarder, and a great lover of treasure hunts. Now they must unpuzzle his clues, discovering the secrets of the house—forming and breaking alliances in a race against time.
A treat for booklovers and treasure hunters alike, The Secret Christmas Library serves up a delicious mystery with a hint of romance, and plenty of holiday spirit!
Mirren Sutherland absolutely adores books. If she could only find a career as a professional book finder, that would be simply magical.
Author Jenny Colgan takes readers to the Scottish Highlands for a delightful bookish mystery in The Secret Christmas Library. Mirren and rival Theo are paired up to find a valuable book.
The Secret Christmas Library adds plenty of holiday flavor along with the intricacies of a hunt for an unknown book that might help the castle’s new laird.
For book lovers, a dilapidated castle filled to the brim with books would be quite an experience. To help Jamie, Mirren, and Theo must join forces to figure out the clues that identify the book.
The engaging banter among the characters serves to underscore an unexpected romantic angle culminating in an enjoyable holiday adventure.
The Secret Christmas Library delivers a holiday mystery full of secrets hidden away in a book.
Jenny Colgan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including The Christmas Bookshop, The Bookshop on the Corner, Little Beach Street Bakery, and Christmas at the Cupcake Café. Jenny, her husband, and three children live in a genuine castle in Scotland.
