STATELY HOME’S INSIDE STORY

SARA Sheridan’s popular books featuring 50s sleuth Mirabelle Bevan are often described as “cosy crime noir”. But there’s nothing cosy about the subject in her short story for Bloody Scotland.

Kinneil House, a stately home in Bo’ness, West Lothian, is the setting for a murderous tale with its roots in domestic violence.

Built in 1677, the house was saved from demolition in 1936 when 16th-century murals were discovered and it is now in the care of Historic Scotland.

Edinburgh-born Sara, who was recently named as one of Scotland’s 365 most influential women past and present by the Saltire Society, says she was excited when asked to choose a historical location for her story.

She added: “I didn’t know where I wanted to set my short story. I’m a history junkie so I was a kid in a sweetie shop.

“History is really as much my genre as crime. I visited Kinneil House after a friend who worked at Historic Scotland suggested it.

“She was right, it had a great atmosphere – half-abandoned, half-habitable, with stories in every stone.

“I liked that I hadn’t heard of it before and that there were faded murals that looked as if they were growing out of the walls. Right up my street.

“There is a legend about a woman who committed suicide at the house because of ‘her cruel lord’. She jumped from the tower. When I went to look around, I was allowed into the part of the house which is semi-derelict where the public don’t normally get to go. I felt this sense of desperation about the place. That was it for me. A writer’s over-active imagination or a whisper from history.”

Full-time writer Sara is promoting two books out this year. Russian Roulette, her sixth novel featuring Bevan, came out in July and next month she releases Victoria, a tie-in based on ITV’s hit drama series about the life of Queen Victoria.

Sara Sheridan