S.G. MacLean, also known as Shona MacLean, is a Scottish author who was born in Inverness and raised in the Scottish Highlands. She received her MA and Ph.D. in History from Aberdeen University, and began writing fiction while raising her four children and a Labrador on the Banffshire coast. She has since returned to live in the Highlands.
MacLean's first book, "The Redemption of Alexander Seaton," was shortlisted for both the Saltire First Book Award and the CWA Historical Dagger. She has won the Historical Dagger twice, in 2015 for "The Seeker" and in 2019 for "Destroying Angel." She has also written a standalone Jacobite thriller, "The Bookseller of Inverness," which was voted Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2023.
When faced with plot problems, missing characters or issues of setting, MacLean turns to the great outdoors for inspiration. She states, "My search for a solution tends to involve the dog and a pair of wellies. Most things can be solved by a stomp through the woods or along the banks of the Conon river. The dog is much more conducive to this kind of thing than the children, although I have realized that a close reading of my books reveals the true hero of most of them to be a canine." She goes on to say, "Those dogs are, by seventeenth-century necessity, 'hounds', but I like to believe that in each of them beats the heart of a Labrador." To avoid work altogether, she suggests getting a bike.
MacLean is active on social media and can be found on Instagram @shonamacleanauthor and on Threads @shonamacleanauthor.