A NORTH EAST AUTHOR has been thanking Moray library users for their continued support after his work topped the list of most borrowed books for a second successive year.
Moray’s library service published their annual charts this week with Stuart McBride once again topping the list with his ‘In The Cold Dark Ground’, repeating the success he enjoyed in Moray in 2015 with his previous novel, ‘The Missing and the Dead’.
McBride beat off strong competition in the top ten thrillers list with Ian Rankin’s latest ‘Rebus’ novel, ‘Even Dogs in the Wild’ coming second. Perhaps surprisingly, the latest in Ann Cleeves best-selling Shetland series, Thin Air, only manged seventh place on the list – below McBride’s 2015 chart-topper which remained in the top ten at sixth place.
Aberdeenshire-based McBride was a strong supporter of a campaign in Moray to save several libraries from closure – and warned that the public had to do all they could to retain library services.
He said: “I’m pleased that the fine folk of Moray have been hitting the libraries and borrowing not just my books but those of everyone on the list. It is hard to overstate the importance of using our libraries – because if we don’t then councils have reason to close them down.”
Mr McBride admitted that he drew a deal of his inspiration for the popular Detective McRae series from Moray: “It is gratifying to know that Logan’s trials and tribulations are so popular in Moray, the area is always great for getting inspiration when I am writing.”
Other popular titles on the Moray Library lists saw Bill Bryson’s ‘The Road to Little Dribbling’ top the non-fiction list, while in the children’s section David McKee’s ‘Elmer and the Rainbow’ was the title most requested by young Moray readers.