Reviews:

A Double Death on the Black Isle

BOOKLIST: Starred Review.
Issue: September 27, 2011

A DOUBLE DEATH ON THE BLACK ISLE

Author: Scott, A.D. 

Review Date: August 1, 2011
Publisher:Atria Books
Pages: 384
Price ( Paperback ): $15.00
Publication Date: September 27, 2011
ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-1-4391-5494-6
Category: Fiction
Classification: Mystery

Prejudice, class differences and murder meet on the Black Isle.

Typist and budding reporter Joanne Ross is that rara avis of 1950s Scotland, a single mother working to support her two girls after leaving her abusive husband. At least she's not pregnant, which is more (or less) than can be said for her upper-crust boarding-school friend Patricia Ord Mackenzie. Perhaps to spite her wealthy, domineering mother, Patricia marries the father, a fisherman with an eye for advancement. Despite their years of friendship, Joanne has somehow always felt used by Patricia. Now she wonders what to make of it when Patricia's husband is killed in a fall on the same day Fraser Munro, the reviled son of Patricia's farm manager, is found dead in a ditch near the home farm. Two Tinker lads who were involved in a brawl with him stand accused of manslaughter. Patricia, by contrast, is cleared of any suspicion and quite happy to be rid of her husband. Joanne and her fellow staff of the Highland Gazette are always on the lookout for a scoop, but two unexpected deaths in one day are an embarrassment of riches. Ambitious reporter Rob is especially suspicious of the death of Patricia's husband. Working together like members of a family, the newspaper staff investigate the two deaths as shocking new evidence is revealed.

— Kirkus Review

---

BookPage.com. September 2011

A.D. Scott’s intriguing mystery, A Double Death on the Black Isle, is set in the 1950s in the Scottish Highlands. If townsfolk want to keep tongues from wagging and dodge the stares of neighbors, they better avoid pregnancy before marriage, working on the Sabbath and being caught in a public bar (only if they’re female). In this community, local customs and gossip play commanding roles, and though it’s a small enough town, there’s still room for a little enmity between the farmers and the fishermen, the year-rounders and the nomadic Traveling People.

The mystery kicks in when fisherman Sandy Skinner, newly married “above his station” to Patricia Ord Mackenzie—a member of the estate-owning Highland gentry—dramatically plunges over the Falls of Foyers to certain death. That same day, the volatile Fraser Munro, whose family manages the estate’s lands, is found dead in a ditch near Devil’s Den. Coincidence or connection? 

We join the cast and crew of the Highland Gazette, a newly re-launched newspaper, as they rush to cover the story of a fishing boat that’s been bombed and sunk, followed in quick succession by the two unexplained deaths on neighboring Black Isle. Scott, who is also the author of A Small Death in the Great Glen, book one in this Highland series, draws readers right into the sights, sounds and nostalgia of a small-town newspaper, where reporters still hit the streets in search of a story and deadline day is an adrenaline rush of untangling loose ends.

Joanne Ross, a typist and budding reporter at the Gazette, is the protagonist of this novel, although my favorite character may be reporter Rob McLean, who is ambitious, funny and quick at nosing out a story. He’s got his eye on the future, although readers will be very disappointed if he takes another job and exits this series. Memorable characters also include Hector Bain—he of the green cap and orange hair and a passion for photography—and the Black Isle residents themselves, who sneak one and all into your reading consciousness, like Janet Ord Mackenzie (mother of Patricia), whose gothic air and ring-bedecked pointy finger remind Joanne’s young daughter of the queen in Snow White.

A Double Death on the Black Isle is filled with alliteration and atmosphere. Just about every character seems to be related somehow, and it’s occasionally difficult to keep the Allies, Agneses and Alistairs all straight. However, the end result is worth sticking around for and readers will be left anticipating the next installment.

— Barbara Clark

---

 

A Small Death in the Great Glen

BOOKLIST: Starred Review.
Issue: May 1, 2010

This splendid debut mystery has everything going for it—and a bit more, if you count sly Scottish charm.

Scott’s writing is engaging, and her plotting Macbethian. The setting is a village in the Great Glen (roughly encompassing what the author describes as the “fierce and stunning landscape” between Fort William and Inverness) in the Highlands of Scotland.

The time, 1956, is fairly calm but close enough to WWII to have residents still recovering from its devastating effects. The main characters cluster in the tiny newspaper offices of the Highland Gazette, a local weekly that is supposed to concentrate on livestock prices, auctions, and obits. Scott brings back the sounds of a precomputerized newsroom, the smells of ink and acid, and the feel of banging out stories (with copy paper!) on an old Underwood.

When a little boy is found murdered in the canal just outside the village, the newspaper’s new editor in chief recruits the parttime typist, whose daughters know the murdered child, to help him investigate the case. They uncover a host of secrets and a number of people with a vested interest in keeping the mystery of the boy’s death unsolved.

The characters of the crusading small-town newspaperman and the part-time typist (a battered wife at home) are skillfully drawn and will have readers rooting for them unequivocally. This is the first entry in a projected series, and it is captivating on every level.

— Connie Fletcher

---

"Oh what a delight, this book!  From its marvelous Highland setting and flawlessly-drawn village characters to the difficult and compelling issues it addresses, from its moments of laughter to the gut-wrenching darkness at its center, A Small Death in the Great Glen is almost perfect in every way.  A.D. Scott’s fine debut novel deserves a spot this year on everyone’s “must read” list."
— Kent Kureger
Award-winning author of the Cork O'Connor Series

---

"A. D. Scott’s A Small Death in the Great Glen (Atria), in which the plucky editor of the Highland Gazette joins forces with a troubled staffer to solve the murder of a young boy in a creepy-yet-bonnie 1950s Scotland."

 

– US Vogue.com
Summer’s Hottest Beach Reads

---

"This atmospheric novel sets you firmly in small town Scotland of the 1950's. The suspense mounts along with a growing sense of dread as events surrounding the death of a young boy unfold. Once you start reading, you'll find it hard to put down."

– Peter Robinson
Author of the "inspector Banks" series

---

"An impressive first novel.  I'd have imagined 1950s Inverness as grey and humourless, but Scott uses the background of religious intolerance, prejudice and petty jealousies, to bring together an engaging cast of warm and colourful characters.  The central protaganists, all of whom work for a local newspaper, are interesting, well-rounded and sympathetic.  I hope to meet them again."

 

– Ann Cleaves
Award-winning crime writer

---

A.D. Scott’s beautifully written debut novel brims with intimate knowledge of the Scottish Highlands and of the dark secrets that lie behind the walls of a quaint rural village. Vividly realized with memorable characters and a stunning setting, A Small Death in the Great Glen is a novel to savour. 

– Malla Nunn
Author of the "A Beautiful Place to Die" series

---

The post-WWII town featured in A.D. Scott’s enjoyable novel is not a happy place. The weather in this Scottish Highlands village is often dismal and the people are hidebound, which leads too often to downtrodden women, mistreated children and a reflexive distrust of strangers. Then a little boy dies. At first it’s assumed that his death was accidental, but the town is gripped by horror as it’s revealed that the child was murdered. Who could have done such a thing? The crime is of special interest to the staff of the Highland Gazette: Joanne, the typist, married to a brute who beats both her and their children; Rob, the charming cub reporter; McAllister, the editor-inchief; and McLeod, “the subeditor and all-around fusspot know-it-all.” As the mystery of the boy’s death grows more tangled and frustrating, it’s McAllister who finds a possible clue to solving the crime in a secret trauma he’s been nursing for years. Scott shows us that many in the town have secrets. Some are trivial, like the secrets children keep to stay out of trouble. But some are monstrous. Scott not only captures the townsfolk’s insularity and way of speaking, but writes beautifully about the natural world that surrounds them. Written with humor, compassion and a fine sense of tragedy, A Small Death in the Great Glen is the first in a series by this promising new author.

— Arlene McKanic
BookPage Review Dazzling Debut Authors