The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by Shona Maclean;
1626, Banff Scotland, no this isnt a kiltfest. There is not one verra or dye ken. Possibly because the writer is a Scotswoman and you never hear your own accented speech. What you have here is a very well written mystery, set in a time which to me is the bleakest of all periods in western civilization. The Stuarts were not a popular dynasty, the Protestant Reformation was only a couple of generations old and Europe was in turmoil. Plague and witches and whispers of foreign plots.
In the fishing village of Banff in north eastern Scotland, disgraced minister Alexander Seaton is working as a junior school master. When on a dark and stormy night a young apothecarys assistance is murdered and is found at Alexander Seatons desk in the morning. Poison is obviously the cause, but who would have killed the likable young man? Alexander feels guilty because he passed the young man by, thinking him only drunk and he was cold and wet and a little drunk himself, and he didnt need any more dealings with the towns bailiff, who looked at the schoolmaster with suspicion. But how did he get into the school room? Also could his good friend Charles Thom be the murderer? Hoping to help his friend, he and the town doctor begin to look into the death of the apothecarys apprentice...
Now I will say it took me a little time to get into this book, the beginning was slow and I had to refer back several times to get the characters straight. But soon I was immersed in the world of Banff and the secrets of the inhabitances in this insulated part of Scotland. I love to learn things, and there was a lot of new information, which sent me to Wikipedia. 3.75 stars. I have the second book in the series A Game of Sorrows to be continued.
1626, Banff Scotland, no this isnt a kiltfest. There is not one verra or dye ken. Possibly because the writer is a Scotswoman and you never hear your own accented speech. What you have here is a very well written mystery, set in a time which to me is the bleakest of all periods in western civilization. The Stuarts were not a popular dynasty, the Protestant Reformation was only a couple of generations old and Europe was in turmoil. Plague and witches and whispers of foreign plots.
In the fishing village of Banff in north eastern Scotland, disgraced minister Alexander Seaton is working as a junior school master. When on a dark and stormy night a young apothecarys assistance is murdered and is found at Alexander Seatons desk in the morning. Poison is obviously the cause, but who would have killed the likable young man? Alexander feels guilty because he passed the young man by, thinking him only drunk and he was cold and wet and a little drunk himself, and he didnt need any more dealings with the towns bailiff, who looked at the schoolmaster with suspicion. But how did he get into the school room? Also could his good friend Charles Thom be the murderer? Hoping to help his friend, he and the town doctor begin to look into the death of the apothecarys apprentice...
Now I will say it took me a little time to get into this book, the beginning was slow and I had to refer back several times to get the characters straight. But soon I was immersed in the world of Banff and the secrets of the inhabitances in this insulated part of Scotland. I love to learn things, and there was a lot of new information, which sent me to Wikipedia. 3.75 stars. I have the second book in the series A Game of Sorrows to be continued.
