August 24, 2015
Scott’s solid sixth novel set in 1950s Scotland (after 2014’s The Low Road) revolves around enigmatic artist and herbalist Alice Ramsay, who lives in deliberate seclusion on an isolated Highlands estate and has been accused and acquitted of witchcraft. Scenting a story, freelance journalist Joanne Ross feels an immediate kinship with the older woman when she takes the three-hour drive to make an unannounced visit, but Alice severs all communication after Joanne inadvertently violates her privacy by leaking details of her life to the national press. When the artist is later found hanged in her barn, Joanne’s guilt drives her to probe the verdict of suicide. With her second husband, newspaper editor John McAllister, she buys some of Alice’s paintings and papers, among which appears to be coded information. Scott ably integrates the period’s Cold War intrigues into a story about the power of small communities both to sustain and to sabotage lives. Agent: Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media.
August 1, 2015
A woman's feelings of guilt over the death of someone she admired enmesh her in a dangerous search for the truth.Joanne Ross still suffers from low self-esteem caused by a bullying father, an abusive former husband, and a near-death experience at the hands of a colleague. Now married to John McAllister, editor of the Highland Gazette, she's given up her job, but not her curiosity, to stay home with her two girls and work on a novel. In 1959, life in the Scottish Highlands remains old-fashioned in many ways, so Joanne's not entirely surprised to read about a woman tried and acquitted for witchcraft. Determined to write an article about the woman, Alice Ramsay, she sets off for Sutherland. Alice is an artist in her late 40s, and though she tells Joanne that she doesn't want an article written about her, she kindly invites her into her house for tea. Joanne is enchanted by the ambiance of her cottage and the quality of Alice's artwork. Unfortunately, a colleague-the local art critic-cajoles Joanne into speaking unwisely. When he publishes a story about the witch trial, with details about Alice's house that only Joanne could have known, Alice is furious and refuses to speak to her again. Then Alice is found dead, an apparent suicide, though Joanne is convinced there's more to the story. She and McAllister buy some of Alice's paintings, sketches, and books at the auction of her property, a purchase that brings them afoul of one of Britain's secret agencies, desperate to regain its reputation after the Burgess/Maclean case has made them a laughingstock. Although they're threatened with the Official Secrets Act, McAllister, anxious to see Joanne become whole again, does not demur when she stubbornly insists on investigating Alice's background and tries to find what the nameless secret agency is so desperate to hide. Scott (The Low Road, 2014, etc.) skillfully uses the beauty of the Highlands as a backdrop for an entrancing mystery whose characters repeatedly and pleasurably upstage its action.
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October 1, 2015
Joanne Ross is a modern woman in 1950s Scotland. When she sees a headline about a woman charged with witchcraft, the freelance writer can't resist the urge to investigate. After meeting the accused, Alice Ramsay, Joanne inadvertently reveals private details about Alice to another journalist. Soon after, Alice is found dead. Wracked with guilt but convinced someone from the woman's past played a part in her death, Joanne can't seem to accept what everyone else accepts as fact. VERDICT In Scott's sixth series outing (after The Low Road) masterly storytelling weaves a complex plot while vivid details add authenticity to the setting and bring characters to life. Joanne is expertly portrayed as a woman wanting to find her own place in a society that isn't quite ready for her, while her husband is a man ahead of his time. Despite the beautiful writing and characterizations, the book's conclusion fails to connect several minor plot lines to the main story. Still, series fans will enjoy.--Vicki Briner, Westminster, CO
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from September 1, 2015
The sixth mystery in Scott's Highland Gazette series goes far afield, both to the far north of Scotland and back to the remnants of witch-hunting. Series heroine Joanne Ross has developed quite a bit over the span covering the early to late 1950s. In the debut novel, A Small Death in the Great Glen (2010), Ross had a precarious hold on the world, having recently fled an abusive husband and obtained a job as a part-time typist at the Highland Gazette. Over the last few novels, she has gained in confidence, moving from typist to journalist. Now, Ross is married to her editor, no longer in the newsroom, and eager to write a book. When she learns that a woman artist in the far north has been accused of, and tried for, witchcraft, Ross travels north to interview the woman and, later, reveals details about the woman's cottage and paintings, which an unscrupulous art critic publicizes. The woman is found hanged in her cottage, and Ross, trying to assuage her guilt, investigates the woman's life. A marvelous series of twists and turns follows. Series readers will miss the deadline frenzy and in-house printing press pounding in the Highland Gazette offices, but this is still a riveting read starring one of the genre's most entertaining new leads.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)