Title: Murder in Court Three by Ian Simpson
Publisher: Matador 179 pp
Genre: cozy, scottish, murder mystery,
4 stars
Author:
Since retiring from a law career in Scotland, Ian Simpson has been writing traditional police procedurals. As a judge in Scotland's High Court on murder trials, he is well qualified to write crime fiction, and obviously enjoys doing so. His descriptive writing style is entertaining and laced with humor. His characters  are well drawn and distinctive, so don't be worried when you see the daunting three page list. I reviewed the previous book Murder on the Second Tee and also recommended his first, Murder on Page One. His work was shortlisted for Debut Dagger. The intersecting lives of DI (ex) Osborne, DI Flick Fortune and Constable Bagawath (Baggo) Chandavarkar continue with interesting character development over these novels. Read in order if you can, and note that Kindle has the first two on sale $1.49!
Story Line:
As usual, the story is told from several points of view as we progress with the various leads and intersecting cases.  A high profile real estate fraud trial, with 4.5 million pound sterling missing and a non existent golf course, now in its fourth week, should be wrapping up. DI Fortune is the senior investigating officer, and has only two weeks left before maternity leave will change her life. But the body of one Farquhar Knox QC complicates the proceedings.
Baggo remains ambitious, DI(ex) No remains politically incorrect, although improving slightly, realistically, and Flick and her husband DI Fergus Maxwell, shine. And the dialogue and locale gave me a quick trip to Edinburgh. Simpson writes a clever page-turner on legal matters in Scotland. This was a fast, delightful read, perfect for summer days and armchair travel. I shall look forward to more (this series or new) by this author.
Read On:
If you like Agatha Christie, Perry Mason, John Buchan
For Scottish mysteries, AD Scott, Alexander McCall Smith (he recommends these mysteries, as do the local Scottish papers and law society) or Chris Brookmyre
Quotes:
...his own day of judgement has arrived.
It's the talk of the steamie, as we say.
(Flick as)... a rugby fan, this conversation made her feel like a full-back waiting to catch a high ball with the opposing scrum thundering towards her.
He had discovered that a shoulder of lamb, slowly roasted at a low heat, required the same cooking time as he took for a round of golf and a pint, so was perfect for a Sunday morning.
There were more than 400 people who, in theory, might have killed Knox.
I expected some cracking stories, true-life Rebus stuff you know...
You are in a very deep hole yet you continue to dig.
Read as an ARC from Netgalley. Thank you!

Scottish Summers

Scotia, darling Scotia

I have missed Scotland, after a planned trip was cancelled. I wouldn't have read Diana Gabaldon's new book if I hadn't been going over soon (even though the Scots are in America now, fighting in the revolution). I am in Vermont where I am often reminded of the Scottish hills/Bonnie braes and Highlands albeit without the heather. A delightful summer tea at the Perennial Gardens had Scottish breakfast tea on the menu (and described as a brisk broken leaf tea with spine stiffening qualities; really, how could I resist?) Pipes are often heard as there is a long heritage here. The hieland coos grazing in local pastures. Recent guy dreich weather (stormy, rainy, cloudy, chilly) has felt like northern Scotland. And then a wee trip to my library brought home an old friend, the latest in a Scottish mystery series by AD Scott. Beneath the Abbey Wall and then an ARC copy of The Low Road, are the fourth and fifth installment of this saga set in the 1950s in the Great Glen. It is easily recognisable to me (not that different from my 1980s, but rapid change in the last 20 years makes this a reminisce).
I find these to be detailed mysteries dependent on character, personality development and sense of place. There is a wonderful use of language (vocabulary, colloquialisms, and proverbs) which I miss (thrawn, dwam, dreich, corrie, neb, teuchtar) characteristic of local authors (and Scott is from the Highlands, although she now lives in Vietnam and Australia). Her books explore the transformation of rural Scotland, the restrictions of small town life, with a common thread of loyalty. You will be immersed in another culture and another time.
There are many characters in this town and these stories. I am delighted to be reacquainted with them as  we follow their growth, changes, challenges and trials. Murder never brings out the best, but life in the Highlands has always been full of strife, never forgotten. In Abbey Wall, Mrs Archibald Smart was murdered (née Joyce Mackenzie) and it is her story that is the mystery that once again involves the Tinkers (especially a favourite character of mine,  Jenny McPhee). Joyce was the incomparable office manager of the Highland Gazette (and yet we know hardly anything about her, from the previous novels). McAllister is the newspaper editor who is trying to make changes to the local paper while also favouring a new reporter Joanne Ross (we met her earlier, moving on from an abusive marriage; acceptable now, impossible then). Neil Stewart provides a stark contrast as a young Canadian over to do research, but also in search of his birth mother. I haven't quite recovered from the urban depiction of desolate Glasgow slums in The Low Road, but adored McAllister's mum, a 'guidwife'. And I should have known from the title that the deaths in The Low Road would be haunting. This is an excellent depiction of the contrast between the highlands and city life, both of which have changed tremendously since these novels. Or not, if you read current crime novels. But this is an authentic voice with remarkable insight. I am very much looking forward to the continuation of this series.

If you like Ian Rankin, PD James, or Peter Robinson mysteries, you will like these.
4 stars with the continuing story line (and the next installment is being written). And don't forget to read Clifford Hanley's Scottish fiction.

Book Quotes for Beneath the Abbey Wall:
The opening line:
"Ten past nine on a mid-September night. Everything in the town was tight shut. Including the sky. It must have known it was the Sabbath."

"But this Sunday, winter gave advance notice with a gray drench-damp cold shroud, covering the town and mountains spiced up with a steady nor'easterly straight off the North Sea that sent even the seagulls inland. It seemed a fitting day to end in death."
"She had never met a man who was not Scottish."
"GlenFarclas 110 proof, a whisky he called the Lazarus cure."
"In order to borrow two books of fiction, two books of nonfiction had to be checked out."


The Low Road was read as a Net Galley ARC.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894
The best loved literary figure of his time as much for his personality as for his authorship of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson was born today in Edinburgh on 13 November 1850. He described his childhood in detail in his autobiographical essays and vividly recalled its emotions and pleasures in A Child's Garden of Verses (1885). Kidnapped was chosen by the Edinburgh City of Literature as their first "One City, One Book" title.

He wanted to become a writer at an early age; he compromised to study Law (instead of engineering at University of Edinburgh, as his family had been involved in building lighthouses for years). He was admitted Advocate in 1875 but never practiced. During these years he rebelled against the conventions of respectable Edinburgh society and there were bitter quarrels with his father (a devout Presbyterian) about religion.

In 1873 he met the critic Prof. Sidney Colvin who became his lifelong friend and literary mentor. With Colvin's help he began to achieve a reputation with his essays and short stories (collected in Virginibus Puerisque, (1881) and New Arabian Nights, 1882). Another close friendship was formed with poet and critic WE Henley, writing 4 unsuccessful plays (including Deacon Brodie, 1880).

The closest friend of his youth was his painter cousin RAM (Bob) Stevenson, and he spent much time with him in France. His early travels were undertaken so that he could write books about them. A Wand Voyage (1878) described a canoe journey, Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes (1878; a classic account of the city whose climate he hated but which always haunted his imagination).

In the art colony of Grez (1876) he fell in love with Fanny Vandegrift Osboume, an American 10 years older than himself who was estranged from her husband. She returned to California in 1878 for divorce. In 1879 Stevenson followed, travelling cheaply by immigrant ship, then by train across America, recording his experiences in Amateur Emigrant (1895) and Across the Plans (1892). The hardships of the journey and the poverty wrecked his health and he suffered the first of the haemorrhages which plagued the rest of his life.

Stevenson and Fanny were married in May 1880, following a telegram from his father assuring them of financial support. They returned to Edinburgh. Stevenson's illness, diagnosed as tuberculosis, meant that he spent much time in bed, his life undoubtedly prolonged by Fanny's nursing. The next 7 years were spent in the vain search for health: two summer in Scotland, 2 winters in Davos, Switzerland, 18 months in the South of France, then Bournemouth for 3 years One rainy summer afternoon, Stevenson painted a map of an imaginary island to entertain his new stepson, and in a single month, he wrote his first great novel, Treasure Island(1883). He wrote it in Braemar (1882), one of the best children's stories. It's been in print for over 125 years.

He's also the author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1885), about a scientist who invents a chemical that changes his personality from a mild-mannered gentleman to a savage criminal. Wider recognition came with this allegorical thriller on the dual nature of man, and then Kidnapped (1886) a skilful evocation of 18th century Scotland. He then produced The Black Arrow (1888), an historical potboiler for children. Stevenson made no claim to be a major poet, but Underwoods (1897) showed him to be graceful and original in both English and Scots. He developed a warm and lasting friendship with Henry James.

At the death of his father, the family traveled to America, spending the winter 1887/8 at Saranac Lake, Adirondacks. He wrote a series of essays and began his tragic novel The Master of Ballantrae (1889) set in 18P century Scotland and America. In June 1888 they chartered a yacht and sailed from San Francisco to the South Seas, describing the journeys in South Seas (1896), and The Wrecker (1892). The climate suited, he regained some health for outdoor activity so they settled in Samoa in 1890. However, Fanny had mental health issues and he overworked himself to earn money needed to maintain the estate.

Catriona (1894), the sequel to Kidnapped, was followed by work on the unfinished St Ives (1897) both set largely in Edinburgh during the Napoleonic wars. He was working at the height of his mature powers on his unfinished masterpiece Weir of Hermiston (1896), set in early 19th century Edinburgh and the Lammermuirs, its main character based on Robert MacQueen, Lord Braxfield, when he died suddenly and unexpectedly of cerebral haemorrhage on 3 December 1894.

The romantic legend created by sentimental admirers has helped obscure the recognition of Stevenson as a serious writer, and academic critics have largely ignored or patronized him. Those readers exploring beyond the popular works that made him famous will find a wealth of 'good things'.

The Works: Tusitala Edition, 3 5 vols. 1923 –4; Collected Poems, ed JA Smith, 1971.
Life. G Balfour, 1901; Voyage to Windward JC Furnas, 1952; RLS A Life Study, J. Calder, 1980.
Check out BooksfromScotland.com for additional information and titles.

David Hume

Today is the birthday (May 7, 1711) of Scottish Philosopher David Hume, born in Edinburgh.

One of Hume's important contributions was his philosophy, which was presented in his book "A Treatise of Human Nature (1739) and still a college textbook of Introductory Philosophy classes. (although please note that it was a failed publication!).

David Hume said "reading and sauntering and lounging and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme Happiness". I loved the line that he was a great cook but a better eater!

I have been reading quite a bit about his colleague Adam Smith lately, he of the economics fame during the Enlightenment phase. (esp PJ O'Rourke's On the wealth of nations, and James Buchan The Authentic Adam Smith). I started Buchan's Crowded with Genius, Edinburgh's Englightenment a couple of years ago. It is excellent, and interesting to read too. And has opened up more historical nonfiction books (and biography) for me to peruse.


Still trying to figure out why this will not cut and paste from the Note I wrote on the facebook site. sigh.