A Journey to Glasgow for MacKenzie and Scougall
Guest Blog by Douglas Watt
Welcome back to our Book Week Scotland guest blog series! Today, we're excited to introduce Douglas Watt, the author of the thrilling crime novel, A Case of Desecration in the West.
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A Case of Desecration in the West, the sixth historical crime novel in the John MacKenzie series, marks a new departure for Edinburgh lawyer/sleuth John MacKenzie and sidekick Davie Scougall.
The case takes them away from the congested streets of Edinburgh to the west of Scotland as they travel to the burgeoning burgh of Glasgow and Hamilton Palace, set in magnificent gardens and parklands beside the River Clyde.
In 1691, the year the book is set, Glasgow is a much smaller town than Edinburgh, although it already possesses impressive buildings, including the Glasgow Tollbooth and the College of Glasgow, as well as a fine eight-arched bridge across the River Clyde. The Gorbals is just a small leafy village on the south bank of the river.
Glasgow was then only beginning its expansion, driven by trade with the Caribbean and the American colonies, including connections with the slave economies of islands like Barbados.
Why are MacKenzie and Scougall in the West? The Duchess of Hamilton, Scotland’s most revered noblewoman, has asked MacKenzie to investigate the drowning of Bethia Porterfield, the granddaughter of one of her ladies-in-waiting – the local worthies in Hamilton think Bethia committed suicide, but the duchess is not so sure.
The journey west quickly sours as MacKenzie and Scougall uncover a web of lies. The paranoid locals are still coming to terms with the political upheaval which ousted King James VII and II in 1688.
The Covenanters, who were persecuted by King James, are now persecuting the small community of Quakers in and around Glasgow.
Scougall witnesses an assault on Quakers in the city and MacKenzie learns of the desecration of a Quaker burial ground in the moors near Hamilton.
They also hear rumours about the mysterious Cadzow Kiss, a secretive society which meets in the ruins of Cadzow Castle.
How is all this connected to Bethia’s death? MacKenzie and Scougall investigate.
