If you read Lesa’s Book Critiques on Thursdays when we all talk about books, you might recognize Rosemary Kaye’s name. She writes from Scotland, and I’ve always loved her descriptions of the books she’s reading as well as her stories of her life there. It’s interesting to see the slight differences in her life and our daily life in the U.S.
Rosemary recently offered to write a few posts for the blog, and I jumped at the chance to share her writing with a larger audience. I’m taking her up on it. She’s written her first piece to share with us today. Thank you, Rosemary.
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When people think of Scottish fiction, most of them probably think of Edinburgh; Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, Walter Scott, Irvine Welsh …At a pinch they might remember Glasgow – after all, Peter May started life there, and Alasdair Gray was born in Riddrie. But I have news for you – there is life beyond the ‘Central Belt’, and I am currently living it. So I thought I would talk a little about some authors who either come from, or write about, Northern Scotland; some old, some new, some you may well have heard of, and some you probably haven’t. I’m going to start today (since this is Lesa’s blog!) with detective stories.
Stuart MacBride lives in Turriff, a market town in Aberdeenshire, where he says he spends all day in his pyjamas writing about Logan McRae, a police officer in Aberdeen city, and his motley band of colleagues. Cold Granite is the first in the series, and it’s now been followed by twelve more, all extremely successful. MacBride’s writing isn’t for the fainthearted – it’s grim and gory and there’s quite a lot of violence – but his plots are excellent, his style first class, and he addresses issues, some of which are especially relevant to ‘the oil capital of Europe’, and some more general, such as child abduction, but always within the framework of a good story. Here’s an excerpt from book two, Dying Light:
‘Summertime in the Granite City, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the morgue is getting crowded: burnt bodies, murdered junkies, dismembered Labradors and battered prostitutes. And if that wasn’t enough to worry about, there’s a PC lying in A & E with a bullet in him, and it’s all Logan’s fault.’
Sticking with Aberdeen, Claire McLeary is a relatively new writer. Her main characters are, for a change, neither male, ex-police, rich nor alcoholic. Maggie Laird has inherited her late husband’s private detective agency, Wilma Harcus is her friend, neighbour and now somewhat unlooked-for sidekick. While middle-class Maggie is desperate to keep financially solvent and pay her son’s school fees, brash Wilma – ‘all fake tan and sprayed-on leggings’ – is more interested in bettering herself with a proper career; she spends time each day at the library, teaching herself new words in an effort to improve on her patchy education. Both women have to make ends meet with poorly paid second jobs, both have their own, perhaps more realistic, problems – children, parents, partners, bills. Maggie is cautious and wants to stick to instances of insurance fraud and as regular an income as possible; reckless, determined, Wilma wants to take on the more exciting cases – thefts, kidnapping and murder. In Payback, the murder of a PR consultant interests Wilma – Maggie wants her to steer well clear and concentrate on a series of petty thefts, but when connections start to appear between the two, the women are drawn in and end up taking big risks to solve the cases and find the perpetrator.
MacLeary’s novels focus more on the lives of women today – from the girls themselves to a lonely academic, a high-flying businesswoman and a bereaved mother – than on graphic violence, but her plots are still convincing, and her depiction of Aberdeen, and indeed of Aberdonians, is spot on. There are three other novels in this series, Runaway, Burnout and Cross Purpose.
Ann Cleeves is well known to all by now. She’s written numerous books, but achieved mega-fame when her series about Northumbrian detective Vera Stanhope was adapted for television (Vera has been voted the UK’s fourth favourite detective, beaten only by the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse) and followed by adaptations of her Shetland novels, featuring detective Jimmy Perez. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I prefer Perez to Stanhope, although it may well be because he is played on TV by the wonderful Douglas Henshall…but whatever your view, Cleeves’ writing really evokes life on these Northern Atlantic islands (15 of which are inhabited) over one hundred miles from the Scottish mainland, where it is light at midnight in summer – and dark before 3pm in winter. Shetland has made a fortune out of North Sea oil, but still retains its Scottish/Norse heritage; crofting, knitting and fishing all remain very important. Perez’s investigations frequently come up against old family feuds in a community where everyone knows one another – and one another’s secrets.
Although Ian Rankin’s troubled detective John Rebus is very much Edinburgh-based, in Black and Blue (the eighth book in the series) he is obliged to leave the city when he investigates a recent spate of murders bearing similarities to the notorious ‘cold’ case of Bible John. The trail takes Rebus to Aberdeen and then to Shetland, and involves corruption in the oil industry and ecological protests as he tries to find out if Bible John has reappeared, or if these are copycat killings – and if so, by whom? Rankin is a key player in the ‘Tartan Noir’ genre, whose other well-kent members include Val McDermid and Caro Ramsay.
Thanks, Rosemary (and Lesa). The one who immediately came to mind to me was the first one you picked, Stuart MacBride. While I enjoyed the first three books in the series, they were very dark and very long. I will get back to them some day, but not now.
But you left out my favorite Scottish writer, and certainly one of the best mystery writers going at this time: Val McDermid. Her non series A PLace of Execution is simply one of the best mysteries I have read in my 50 years as a mystery fan. I don't love her Tony Hill series, but I like the Karen Pirie books a lot, especially the later ones. Another non series book of hers I would recommend is Killing the Shadows.
Nice post!
Jeff, Rosemary is going to write another post or two for us. I bet she'll cover Val McDermid at some time. I really need to read the Karen Pirie books since you like them so well.
I enjoy Stuart MacBride as well, but they are a bit gory. James Oswald is another good author whose books are set in Scotland. The first book is Natural Causes.
Welcome and Thanks, Rosemary! I enjoyed reading your column. Like Jeff, I would have to say A Place of Execution might be one of the best mysteries I've ever read. Another Scottish author I enjoy quite a lot is Craig Robertson.
This hit me at the right time. Have somehow missed Stuart MacBride, so will read the first in that series. Adore Vera Stanhope in the TV series, and still plan to read the books. Have not read Mary Stewart for years and was delighted to find my library has a copy, so am reserving it, too. Can't go wrong with Ian Rankin and this is nudging me to revisit the series. Thank you for a great post.
Thanks everyone for your kind words. This time I was focusing on writers from northern Scotland and books set in this area – I’m hoping to do another one about Edinburgh-based writers and books, and Val McDermid may well appear then as she currently lives in Edinburgh, although she comes from Fife, on the other side of the Firth of Forth. She is a great woman! Glasgow has of course also produced many great authors, but in typical Central Belt fashion, I am not really familiar with that side of the country at all. Considering that Glasgow and Edinburgh are only about an hour’s train ride apart, you might be surprised at how little the inhabitants of each one know about the other, and how rarely they visit.
Kaye, I have to admit I had never heard of Craig Robertson, so I am away to look him up! And Jennifer, the same goes for James Oswald – I have heard the name but not read anything by him, so again, I’m off to search the library catalogue.
And yes, I do agree, Stuart MacBride can be very gory. I saw him at the Edinburgh Book Festival a few years ago – he is quite eccentric and as soon as the session began, he announced that he had no intention of talking about his books at all, and went off on a completely different tangent. I can’t remember what it was now, but it was entertaining, and did make a change from all the ‘buy my book!’ celebrity sessions, which are becoming all too prevalent at some festivals.
If anyone has any particular aspect of Scotland that they’d like me to cover, please let me know (just so long as it’s not football or rugby, about which I know nothing 🙂
Thanks for the great post, love all these authors, but had not heard about Claire MacLeary yet. Will look for her's. I am just finishing up rewatching Bloody Scotland on YouTube and have heard many of them speak. Watched Ian Rankin interviewing Larry Block yesterday.
Since I can't travel during the pandemic, have been spending many enjoyable hours in Ireland and Scotland via mystery reading.
As a visitor and non-resident, I can attest to what Rosemary said about Edinburgh (a city I love) and Glasgow. For years I avoided the latter on our book buying trips north, then took a friend's advice and took the short train ride there once. After that, we'd drive to Glasgow upon leaving Edinburgh, as there was one HUGE bookshop that had a ton of mystery and science fiction stuff for sale.
Hi Rosemary,
Enjoyed your blog very much. On Goodreads, I have belonged to the Read Scotland group for several years. I enjoy the authors you wrote about. A new one for me is Claire MacLeary so I will search out one of her books.
I read mainly mysteries so other authors that I enjoy is A.D.Scott, Denise Mina, Aline Templeton and Peter May. A. D. Scott wrote only 6 books based on a Highland newspaper featuring Joanna Ross. The time period is the 1950's. Conviction so far is my favorite by Denise Mina. Looking forward to more of your future posts as I am always looking for new authors to read.
Rosemary, Thank you, again, for writing this post. It sounds as if everyone enjoyed it, and enjoyed talking about the authors they like from Scotland. I appreciate it!