Last year marked the arrival of a new ‘dark academia’ novel set in St Andrews: When We Were Killers  by C. F. Barrington. The novel found a home in bookshop window displays for months, and was even named Waterstones’ Scottish Book of the Month in May 2025. When We Were Killers  certainly received a positive marketing push, but is it actually worth your time? Window display in Topping and Company, (January 2026) The novel’s protagonist is Finn Nethercott, an ‘outcast’ first-ye