As a veteran craftsman of both SF and mystery novels, Mackay delighted critics with his entirely earthbound crime thriller, The Angel of the Glade (2010), featuring Clyde Deacon, a former personal physician to President McKinley, newly removed to Fairfield, New York. While still grieving the loss of his wife and his failure to save the president from an assassin's bullet, Deacon has nonetheless quickly become a respected Fairfield fixture, healing local patients while moonlighting as a crime-fighting deputy. When a philandering business tycoon named Ephraim Purcell is murdered while the sheriff is away on business, the doctor offers to track the killer. But before he can break in a new, infatuated nurse and mend a misunderstanding with his lady friend Olive Wade, Deacon finds himself having to sort through a bewildering array of suspects, including a financially ruined blacksmith and Purcell's own vengeful stepdaughter… Mackay's period detail and crisp, engaging prose will satisfy fans of well-crafted historical mysteries. -- Booklist

Widower Clyde Deacon arrives in the small town of Fairfield, New York, to take up the post of doctor. He is regarded with some suspicion by the town’s inhabitants, not only for being from Tennessee, but also because Dr Deacon was personal physician to President McKinley at the time of the president's assassination. When a beautiful young actress from Fairfield is found murdered, the county sheriff, Stanley Armstrong, asks Deacon to assist him in the case. Dr Deacon works diligently to solve the crime, only to discover that the inhabitants of Fairfield are not as innocent as they seem, his fetching and talented victim not as blameless as she appears, and the truth more shocking than anyone could have imagined.

"Scott Mackay makes his cops' first case as crisp and snappy as a Canadian winterland and a lot more light-footed." Kirkus Reviews

"This nifty mystery provides snappy action, comfortable characters, excellent local atmosphere, and high readbility." The Toronto Star

"Mackay plays out the evidence to keep the plot spinning along even when icicles freeze on our eyebrows. A cool tale for a hot day from a new crime author." Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

"The twists and turns of the investigation recall the work of procedural master Hilary Waugh." Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

***** Starred Review! "The third entry in the Gilbert series is devilishly plotted and populated with carefully drawn, motivated suspects. The whole is superbly anchored by Gilbert, a decent hard-working family man who forges ahead despite the possibility that all he holds close may soon collapse around him. A fine, fine effort." Booklist

"Soon Barry Gilbert will be to Toronto what Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch is to Los Angeles ... This series has a good chance to survive and even thrive. In OLD SCORES, Mackay has concocted a plot that is bound to hold his readers, and in Gilbert, he has invented a hero certain to elicit sympathy. As a bonus, Mackay has the knack of drawing his readers into moral dilemmas faced by his characters ... OLD SCORES should prove to be a stepping stone to greater success for Mackay."
Halifax Chronicle Herald

"A clever procedural ... Mackay is a skillful storyteller. This has the makings of a good series." Booklist

"This is a great story, as Gilbert and Lombardo delve into the secrets of Toronto's Chinatown, where nothing is as it appears, and history is remembered -- and avenged." The Globe and Mail

"In the end, when the whole story is revealed, it is a raw and painful account in which no one can claim a moral victory. The story behind Lau's death could have been a saga worthy of James Clavell. Instead, it is a quietly satisfying piece of police work that reveals few absolutes other than that the detectives have survived to serve another day." Houston Chronicle

As the balance for control in World War II starts to shift towards the Allies, Hermann Goerlitz leads a crew of hastily trained submariners aboard a new, specially armed U-Boat capable of breaking through the Allied naval defense. When his inexperienced crew is overpowered by a chlorine gas leak, they mutiny, surface and surrender to the British rather than scuttle the boat to preserve the Reich's secrets. What follows is Goerlitz's dramatic escape and a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase as the German tries to reach his man in Barcelona, with the fate of the Allied Naval Command at stake.

"A Second World War version of The Hunt for Red October." The Globe and Mail

"Keeps one turning the pages, the ultimate thriller test." Quill & Quire