"A Small Death In The Great Glen"

"A Small Death In The Great Glen" by A.D. Scott is her first novel and I hope we'll be seeing much more of her work. This almost 400 page paperback book comes complete with a readers club guide.

When a young boy is discovered dead in a canal, what first appears to be an innocent drowning turns out to be a case of murder. Local Inspector Tompson conveniently places the blame on a Polish sailor who has gone missing from a docked Russian ship and he seems disinterested in looking at any other possibilities. The local community is reassured because they already distrust foreigners -- even those who have lived in their midst for years -- and believe no one from their own community could have possibly committed such a dastardly deed.

The cast of this novel (set in 1950's Scotland) centers around the staff of the local newspaper, the Highland Gazette, whose new editor-in-chief, John McAllister, is determined to update this century-old newspaper. He has his task cut out for him, though, initially going head to head with veteran editor, Don McLeod. Rob is the cub reporter on the paper and Joanne Ross is a part-time employee. Joanne is the mother of two young girls and comes to work hiding bruises received from her spouse.

The solving of the young boy's murder is methodical and includes a large cast of characters who work together to piece together the details that lead to the actual murderer. At one point Chief Inspector Westland is brought in to oversee the case and, when he returns home to his family for Christmas, he has some thoughts (page 367) about his time in the Highlands that might be telling about society in general:

"What the chief inspector hated most of all--and he acknowledged that this was not exclusive to this part of the world--was the denial, the complicity, the hiding of society's ills in order to maintain that all-pervading moral imperative, respectability."

In addition to writing each scene with rich detail, Scott does an excellent job of fleshing out the lives of all these characters as well as their friends and family so I felt like I was getting to know them intimately by the end of the novel. I was left with the feeling that there must be a second book coming in this series because there has to be more to their life stories - this just seemed like a beginning. I was right - She has a second book due out 9/27/11 - "A Double Death on the Black Isle."

Please check out this new author -- I don't think you'll be disappointed if you like a good mystery.

pazt