A Double Death on the Black Isle

July 11, 2011
In Scott's solid second suspense novel set in 1950s Scotland (after A Small Death in the Great Glen), Joanne Ross, newly promoted from typist to full-time reporter at the Highland Gazette, finds herself writing about two tragic stories connected to an old friend, Patricia Ord Mackenzie, who has alienated her upper-class family by marrying a fishing boat captain, Alexander "Sandy" Skinner. On the same day that Sandy plummets fatally over a waterfall, Fraser Munro, the rebellious adult son of Patricia's family servants, is found dead on a county road. Two teenage Travelers, a nomadic, discriminated-against group, are charged with manslaughter for Fraser's death, while Sandy's fall is quickly explained away as an accident. Readers willing to forgive slow pacing and some unresolved story points should enjoy Scott's careful attention to creating characters who convincingly belong to a past era's attitudes and values.

August 1, 2011

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.

Set against the bleak beauty of the Highlands, Scott's second (A Small Death In a Great Glenn, 2010) continues to explore the slow transformation of Scotland from a highly ordered society while presenting a fine mystery with engaging characters.

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Starred review from September 1, 2011
Scott's second mystery set in a mid-1950s Scottish Highlands newsroom and beyond is another stunner. It would be well worth reading for its evocation of an old-time newsroom alone. Scott nails the sense of the entire world opening out from the crowded, noisy space that rocks when the presses deep below start up, where the manual typewriters, phones, and shouts from desk to desk form a constant chorus. But there's more to the novel than its setting, beginning with wholly sympathetic Joanne Ross, who has made the bold move of leaving an abusive husband and supporting her child by working at the paper as a typist and, increasingly, a reporter. Ross and a full-fledged reporter respond to a call about a boat on fire in a canal just outside a distillery. The boat turns out to have been firebombed. Circumstances grow more and more suspicious, culminating in two deaths on the same small Black Isle. Ross is an old friend of the just-married and just-widowed wife of the firebombed boat skipper, and a host of ethical conflicts in her reporting ensue. Lots of action, lots of atmosphere, and above all, lots of fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)