The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
“We were allowed to play outdoors but had to remember not to share food”
The Little Boy Who Didn’t Like Corned Beef by Eric R Davidson
Susan Welsh talks to the Aberdeen author who set his latest thriller during the city’s typhoid epidemic of 1964
When he started writing his latest thriller, the Little Boy Who Didn’t Like Corned Beef, the ongoing health crisis was unheard of.
But Eric R Davidson’s crime novel has proved rather topical as it is set in 1964, the year Aberdeen was gripped by a health scare, caused by a typhoid outbreak.
“I was nine, going on 10 during the outbreak and my only real memory of it is that we got more time off school than usual – and it was lovely weather,” said Eric, who grew up in the Mastrick area of the city.
“Unlike the current health crisis when you were encouraged to stay at home, we were allowed to play outdoors but had to remember not to share food and drinks.
“My neighbour was taken off to hospital with typhoid, and that seemed to bring the outbreak much closer to home.
“The coronavirus was unheard of when I started writing this book, but we were in full lockdown by the time it was published.
“A lot of what I was writing, admittedly on a far smaller scale, was very similar to what we went through in 1964.”
Fifty-six years ago, the city of Aberdeen was on full lockdown.
Schools were closed, people had to isolate, and there was a travel ban as frantic attempts were made to find the source of the typhoid outbreak.
Eventually it was found to be a contaminated tin of Argentinian corned beef, sold in a branch of the William Low grocery chain.
The city, then a hugely popular summer holiday destination with Scots, became a no-go area.
Following the end of the outbreak, in July that year, the Queen made a high-profile visit in a bid to kickstart tourism again.
Eric’s book follows the events taking place in the Granite City and their repercussions through the eyes of those involved. Readers will find themselves drawn into a fascinating world involving murder, mystery and – of course – disease.
“I wanted to tell the story from three different viewpoints,” said Eric. “One of the characters is Dr Ian MacQueen, who finds himself appointed epidemic specialist.
“He is the only ‘real’ person in the book as he was the medical officer for Aberdeen.
“He found himself having to deal with press from around the world and do daily briefings in the same sort of style we’ve seen recently.
“I always have to have a murder in my books – it’s the only way to go – and Chief Inspector Graeme Ogston is the police officer dealing with a murder with no clear motive or obvious suspect
“I’ve also included a main female character as I like to have a female character in all my books.
“These are the three main voices telling this story.
“What I always try to do is write a story that could have happened.
“I like a grounding of facts then to add fiction on top of those.
“In this case that involved a lot of research in the local library while a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive allowed me to immerse myself in the stories newspapers were publishing at the time.”
Hospitals back in 1964, just like NHS staff currently, were under immense pressure to keep the situation under control using limited resources.
The Little Boy Who Didn’t Like Corned Beef offers a fascinating insight into the lives of the frontline workers.
“There weren’t enough nurses, experienced in such diseases, to man the wards,” said Eric.
The themes that are relevant to us in the current crisis – school closures, medical isolation, travel bans, the impact on various industries – offer a rich and interesting background to a gripping thriller by the author, who worked in the civil service and the former Grampian Police force before becoming a prolific writer.
The Little Boy Who Didn’t Like Corned Beef is now available in paperback, £8.99, or Kindle format £3.49 on Amazon or free with Kindle Unlimited. Don’t miss next week’s your life for the first of two extracts from the book.