The author brings clarity to each case by her contextualise-summarise-analyse approach. It is timely too, given the highly charged debate about reforms to Scottish criminal trials driven by changing attitudes to sexual and domestic crime.

The time covered is substantial, from 1700 to 2000, from the last execution for witchcraft to the first modern prosecution for marital rape, the violent crimes sensitively examined consider masculinity, female agency, emancipation and tolerance.

Using selected cases to explore how society has and does perceive different violent crimes, the role of gender, attitudes towards homosexuality, fear of ‘the other’ and attitudes to capital punishment, Dr Heren compares Scottish crimes with others elsewhere to contribute to the debates about gender, crime and the law.

This is no mere narrative though: charting the social and legal developments that emerged in response to violent crime, Dr Heren seeks to discover why people commit such crimes, who they and their victims were, and the extent of any progress in modern attitudes to and treatment of violence.

Timely, thoughtful and informative, this book is recommended reading for anyone with an interest in criminal law in Scotland.

Scottish History in 15 Violent Crimes – Gender, Society and the Law by Louise Heren. Published by Bloomsbury Academic 291pp, hardback £17.99