Byline: William Lyons

BIRLINN, the publisher behind Alexander McCall Smith's successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, has become the biggest creator of Scottish interest books by snapping up Edinburgh rival Mercat Press.

The deal, signed on Friday evening for an undisclosed sum, gives Birlinn more than a 1,000 Scottish titles in print, making it the largest publisher of Scottish interest material. Birlinn's managing director Hugh Andrew said it was a major step towards creating a very strong force in Scotland representing local interests.

He said: "It was something I thought was an obvious match for a long time. It is a very similar list to Birlinn's in many ways and the author list is very compatible with ours.

"So there is a lot...