At the end of the seventeenth century, a brave group of Scots sail for a jungle-coastline on the other side of the world, the junction between North and South America. Their objective: to establish a trading colony that would assure their hard-strapped country’s future, as the East India Company had done for England. Their plan? To open a passage through Panama, a true “door of the seas and key to the universe.” Instead, what begins as a dream of prosperity quickly turns into a nightmare that bankrupts an already impoverished nation and propels it towards political union with England.

Written as a series of letters home from expedition scientist Dr. James Wallace to his wife Eliza and Sir Robert Sibbald, Scotland’s first Geographer Royal, This Door of the Seas offers a devastating account of the infamous Darien Scheme, the colonial misadventure that completely changed the history of Scotland.

Praise for This Door of the Seas:

“An immersive tale of betrayal and injustice that reverberates with a howl of anguish three centuries old.”—Chris Brookmyre, author of The Cracked Mirror

“As the story unfolds, you realize the horror of the Darien scheme, hardly mentioned in received history . . . a powerful story of creeping betrayal.”—Sara Sheridan, author of The Secrets of Blythswood Square

Praise for Val McDermid:

“Clear-eyed, vigorous, unpretentious and mesmerizing.”—Seattle Times, on Forensics

“McDermid has not lost her early journalistic genius for telling a good story plainly and with passion.”—Times Saturday Review (UK), on Forensics

“McDermid is at the top of her game and readers will be highly rewarded for taking this new journey at her side.”—CrimeReads, on Still Life

“McDermid remains unrivaled . . . brilliant.”—Observer (UK), on How the Dead Speak