John Mackenzie Collection
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Death of a Chief; 9781913025274
Testament of a Witch; 9781913025281
Pilgrims of Slaughter; 9781913025298
The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite; 9781912147618
A Killing in Van Diemen's Land: 9781913025458
A Case of Desecration in the West: 9781804251386
About Death of a Chief:
‘It seems your father has been poisoned, sir.’
Hector’s lips trembled slightly. ‘Then it is murder, Mr Stirling?’
‘Murder... or suicide.’
The year is 1686. Sir Lachlan MacLean, chief of a proud but poverty-striken Highland clan, has met with a macabre death in his Edinburgh lodgings. With a history of bad debts, family quarrels, and some very shady associates, Sir Lachlan had many enemies. But while motives are not hard to find, evidence is another thing entirely. It falls to lawyer John MacKenzie and his scribe Davie Scougall to investigate the mystery surrounding the death of the chief, but among the endless possibilities, can Reason prevail in a time of witchcraft, superstition and religious turmoil?
This thrilling tale of suspense plays out against a wonderfully realised backdrop of pre-Enlightenment Scotland, a country on the brink of financial ruin, ruled from London, a country divided politically by religion and geography. The first in the series featuring investigative advocate John MacKenzie, Death of a Chiefcomes from a time long before police detectives existed.
Reviews:
Move over Rebus. There’s a new – or should that be old – detective in town. This excellent thriller introduces John Mackenzie and Davie Scougall, an Advocate and his notary in late 17th century Edinburgh. They set out to solve the murder of their client, the Chief of a down-at-heel clan. The result is a plot as twisted as Rowan on a mountain pass and wonderful characters who are perfectly set up for many novels to come. I certainly hope so. I thoroughly enjoyed this accomplished debut and I look forward to many more adventures with the capital’s newest sleuths. I-ON EDINBURGH
About Testament of a Witch:
I confess that I am a witch. I have sold myself body and soul unto Satan. My mother took me to the Blinkbonny Woods where we met other witches. I put a hand on the crown of my head and the other on the sole of my foot. I gave everything between unto him.
Scotland, late seventeeth century. A young woman is accused of witchcraft. Tortured with pins and sleep deprivation, she is using all of her the Scottish witch-hunt began.
Probably more than a thousand men and women were exectued for witchcraft before the frenzy died down. When Edinburgh-based Advocate John MacKenzie and his assistant Davie Scougall investigate the suspicious death of a woman denounced as a witch, they find themselves in a village overwhelmed by superstition, resentment and puritanical religion. In a time of spiritual, political and social upheaval, will reason allow MacKenzie to reveal the true evil lurking in the town, before the witch-hunt claims yet another victim?
About Pilgrim of Slaughter:
I fear that everything is pre-ordained, sir. There’s nothing we can do to change the course of events. The killer’s actions are predetermined. We’re all being slaughtered one by one.
Scotland, 1688. A nation bitterly divided by religion and politics where the King’s pro-Catholic policies have unleashed the sectarian hatred of extreme Protestants. Edinburgh is a powder-keg, packed with plotters planning revolution. The mob is on the High Street each night burning effigies of the Pope and causing mayhem.
When a nobleman is assassinated by a Catholic fanatic, Protestant anger reaches fever pitch. Investigative advocate John MacKenzie and his assistant Davie Scougall must investigate the killing, but their relationship is tested like never before when they find themselves on opposing sides of the political divide.
To make matters worse, a killer is stalking the stinking streets. A disciple of revolution. A butcher in the name of God. A pilgrim of slaughter.
About The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite:
MacKenzie and Scougall are back.
1689. Scotland is in the grip of Jacobite fever. Bonnie Dundee leads a Highland Army looking to crush the government and restore James Stewart as King. Meanwhile, in the dark streets of Edinburgh, there are even darker goings on. A gruesome discovery near the city’s quarry takes investigative advocate John MacKenzie and side-kick Davie Scougall on a dangerous journey through the criminal underworld and clandestine clubs of the old capital.
Reviews:
The novels are first and foremost crime stories but they are also a journey through a relatively unknown period of Scottish history. The late 17th century was a fascinating, but paradoxical, time of witch hunts, blasphemy trials and religious fanaticism, which also saw the green shoots of the Scottish Enlightenment. The Scotsman
Watt keeps the action moving along and conjures up a convincingly dark atmosphere at this cusp of the age of reason. The Herald
Exceptionally well written… If you’re not Scottish and live here – read it. If you’re Scottish read it anyway. I-On Edinburgh on The Price of Scotland
Read a Q&A with Douglas Watt about The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite with BooksfromScotland.
Take a look at a 17th century map of Edinburgh in the National Library of Scotland archives.
Want to follow in the footsteps of MacKenzie? You can explore the history and geography of Edinburgh’s Craigleith Quarry, where MacKenzie discovers the body, via a walking trail plotted by the Edinburgh Geological Society.
Compare photographs of famous sites in 17th century Scotland to how they look now.
Learn more about Life and Death in Old Edinburgh with Edinburgh Dungeons, or get a more general overview of Scotland’s place in historic Europe from the BBC.
Find out more about the Jacobites and their modern-day counterparts from this article about The Royal Oak Society.
About A Killing in Van Diemen's Land:
Edinburgh, 1690. Jacob Kerr, a wealthy city merchant and church elder, has been found stabbed to death in his own home. Is it a routine robbery gone wrong, as the evidence suggests?
John MacKenzie is dragged from happy retirement by the irresistible pull of a murder that is not as simple as it seems. With King William and James Stewart about to do battle in Ireland, the Scottish people are in a frenzy of doubt and paranoia. The family who reside behind the mysterious walls of Van Diemen’s Land are no exception. Can MacKenzie and Scougall cut through the fog of fear to reach the truth of the matter?
About A Case of Desecration in the West:
Book 6 in the John Mackenzie series.
‘All is secrecy. All is lies… Does anyone tell us the truth here?’
Scotland, 1691. Hooded figures have been seen in the woods and the dead have been wrenched from their resting place under the cover of darkness and their graves desecrated. A body is found floating in the River Clyde and a Duchess is determined to find answers.
John MacKenzie’s latest case takes him and his loyal assistant Davie Scougall to Hamilton Palace to discover the truth behind the curious drowning of local woman Bethia Porterfield. The kirk and sheriff have pronounced a verdict of self-murder, but the Duchess is unconvinced, and every soul connected to the case is guarding secrets of their own.
Despite mounting pressure to leave the West, MacKenzie and Scougall must navigate the murky waters of the Clyde, where nothing is as it seems, to uncover the truth –
was Bethia’s death an accident, a suicide, or part of something much more sinister?
About the Author:
DOUGLAS WATT was born in Edinburgh and brought up there and in Aberdeen. He was educated at Edinburgh University where he gained an MA and PhD in Scottish History. Douglas is the author of a series of historical crime novels set in late 17th century Scotland featuring investigative advocate John MacKenzie and his side-kick Davie Scougall. He is also the author of The Price of Scotland, a prize-winning history of Scotland’s Darien Disaster. He lives in Midlothian with his wife Julie.