Oban DI is back on a trail of murder
Just outside Oban, within sight of the Connel Bridge, there’s a burned-out car containing the charred remains of a human body.
A woman is missing – but is the body hers?
In a high stakes game of business and politics, what secret does the bustling port of Oban hide that is worth killing for?
That's the teaser for a West Coast crime thriller, The Dead in Appin, the third in the Oban-based Inspector Angus Blue series, following The Peat Dead and The Dead of Jura.
The author, Allan Martin, although born in Glasgow, has long connections to Jura and Colonsay, where his father's family hail from.
He has worked as a teacher, teacher-trainer and university lecturer, and turned to writing fiction only after taking early retirement: 'The best decision
I ever made,' he said.
'It was natural to set the books in places I know and love, and feel a real affinity for,' he said. 'These are special places with unique land and seascapes. And, of course, Angus Blue's favourite whiskies! As a product of this area, Angus Blue is a man of integrity who believes in justice as a moral as well as a legal concept.'
Martin's first novel, The Peat Dead, featuring DI Angus Blue, was shortlisted for the inaugural McIlvanney Debut Prize in 2019. On the Isle of Islay, 'five corpses are dug up by a peat-cutter. All of them have been shot in the back of the head, execution style.
'Sent across from the mainland to investigate, Inspector Angus Blue and his team slowly piece together the little evidence they have, and discover the men were killed on a wartime base, more than 70 years ago. But there are still secrets worth protecting - and even killing for. Who can Inspector Blue trust?'
It was followed by The Dead of Jura, an island 'where the rich and the powerful come to play away from the prying eyes of the press. But when there is an assassination attempt on a Cabinet Minister whiles he's on his island estate, questions must be asked, and Inspector Angus Blue and his team return to the Hebrides to investigate.'
Deemed a matter of 'National Security' by London, local protocols are overruled, and Special Branch officers are sent to hunt down the assassin. By the time Inspector Blue and his team arrive the estate staff have been scared into silence, and the crime scene has been disturbed. His investigation hampered at every turn, Inspector Blue must discover what Special Branch are hiding - and who they are protecting.
Martin lives just north of Glasgow with his wife Vivien (also a writer). They regularly visit the Highlands and Islands, as well as Germany and Estonia. In addition to the Angus Blue series, he writes crime novels set in 1930s Estonia, and he has also translated from Estonian a closed-room mystery, The Oracle, originally published in 1937.
The Dead of Appin
The car was well alight by then; probably doused with petrol before being torched. Renault Clio, by the way.
We put a pipe into the loch and gave it a good drenching. We gave the back end of the cottage a splash too, just in case. The car was pretty burnt out in the end.
It wasn’t till then we could get close enough to see inside with the spotlight from the engine, and realised there was something there.
I must admit, it wasn’t easy to spot; it had slumped down from the passenger seat into the footwell, and suffered a lot of fire damage. Looked more like a charred lump than a corpse. So you’re going to have a bit of trouble identifying it, I guess.
We’re just hanging on now to make sure it doesn’t reignite. That could happen if there were something flammable in the boot, for instance. Anything obvious would have gone up by now. Probably easier to wait till it gets a wee bit lighter and the car’s a bit cooler before you get too close.
The corpse is not going to run away, and the car won’t be going anywhere either.
In my final column of 2021, I hoped for a slightly more exciting Hogmanay than last year’s.
Unfortunately, my mum and dad both testing positive for Covid kicked this hope right into touch and condemned me to my second isolation period within a month!
I am still testing negative but clearly there was no first footing on the cards for a second year running!
Thankfully, there was some great viewing on television and congratulations must go to everyone involved in this year’s Cèilidh na Bliadhn’ Ùire – BBC Alba’s live Hogmanay ceilidh which was broadcast, conveniently for this column, from Glasgow.
The lack of a live audience often makes a gig like that very difficult for performers, but I thought the whole show generated a really lively, natural atmosphere.
The set design, made from fishing nets and creels, was very appropriate for a true West Highland cèilidh led, as ever, by the fantastic house band, the Glenfinnan Ceilidh Band, who were joined by New Tradition, led by Iain Costello MacIver. These two bands complemented each other perfectly – the Glenfinnan crew leading the cèilidh dances and playing some great traditional Gaelic songs, whilst New Tradition played a variety of Gaelic songs with Costello’s trademark country twist.
There was a fine line-up of singers for both these bands to accompany: Emma MacLeod from Scalpay, Chloe Steele from Uist, and Iain 'Spanish' Mackay from Lewis making sure most Hebridean bases were covered! And a special mention should go to Glenuig’s Iain MacMaster who put down the box for a song half way through the evening.
The show was augmented by pre-recorded performances from the Stornoway Youth Pipe Band, Còisir Ghàidhlig Leòdhais (a selection of choral singers from Lewis), and Peat and Diesel, and was presented with great humour by Niall Iain MacDonald and Cathy Bhàn.
It was one of these programmes that just felt really positive and happy – despite everything that is going on around us at the moment – and it certainly cheered up my Hogmanay in isolation no end.
Covid or not, my mum and dad managed to stay up past the bells and dad even managed a hot toddy! The following day, his symptoms were all but gone, so perhaps the cure for Covid is a hot toddy with the BBC Alba Hogmanay show!
On the 1st, to keep my mind off the fact I would normally be first footing, I put on Take the Floor where Gary Innes was introducing a fantastic New Year’s Day Party with music from Iain Cathcart and his Scottish Dance Band.
Gary had interviewed me for the programme before Christmas and asked me to choose a song to be played. I chose Clare Island by the Saw Doctors – two of whom (Leo Moran and Anto Thistlethwaite) I had the pleasure of singing with on a BBC Alba Hogmanay show a few years ago.
It was nice to think back on Hogmanays gone by; and look ahead to more lively ones in years to come!