A 17th-century Sleuth
The crime novels of Douglas Watt are immersed in Scottish history
Crime novelist Douglas Watt discusses setting his detective novels in the 1600s
WHEN Douglas Watt completed a PHD in history, he found himself drawn to late 17thcentury Scotland.
Not content with just studying the period, the Midlothian-based writer felt compelled to relive it through the medium of historical crime fiction.
As Douglas releases A Killing in Van Diemen’s Land, the fifth novel in his John Mackenzie series, he reveals more about his passion for Scotland’s dark history.
“I’ve always been interested in both literature and history,” Douglas says. “When I completed my PHD almost 25 years ago, I hoped to have a career in history, but things didn’t work out that way.
“Since then I’ve moved between the world of history and the world of finance – where I work in communications and copywriting. I’ve always written creatively too – poetry and short stories mostly.
“For my PHD thesis I wrote an academic article about Highland chiefs, Edinburgh
lawyers and debts in the 17th century and I wanted to do something with it, so I decided to turn it into a novel.”
That novel became Douglas’s debut, Death of a Chief, featuring John Mackenzie, a character whom Douglas plucked from the pages of history.
“During my research I came across a man called John Mackenzie of Delvine, whose family records survive in the National Library. John was a very successful advocate in the late 17th century.
“He was a Highlander and a Gaelic speaker and had a lot of clients up in the Highlands. I decided that he’d make a really good detective character.
“John’s sidekick Davie Scougall is a fictional creation. John is an older Highland Gaelic-speaking Episcopalian but Davie is younger. He’s a Presbyterian and is more religious and superstitious, than John. I wanted to create a contrast
“Old views on things like witch-hunting and ideas” superstition ran alongside modern
between the two characters as a way of exploring the late 17th century and the beginnings of the enlightenment in Scotland. That’s the real impetus behind the books.” But why the 17th century?
“The first book that really got me into Scottish history was John Prebble’s Glencoe which explores the Glencoe massacre of 1692.
“The 17th century had a real contrast between the old and new. You still had fairly old views on things like witch-hunting and superstition, but they ran alongside more modern ideas of the enlightenment.
“For me, it’s the period that I get the most enjoyment from. The difference between research and writing historical fiction is that you actually get to be those characters and imagine what it’s like to experience that history. It’s almost like reliving the past.”
Douglas’s characters John and Davie, are wading through more historical murder and mayhem in A Killing in Van Diemen’s Land, which is set in Edinburgh.
“The latest novel takes place in 1691, just after the first Jacobite rebellions. It’s a time when Edinburgh’s coffee houses and taverns were full of Jacobite conspiracy, but there was also a kind of scepticism in the air. Religious Orthodox was being challenged.
“In the novel a wealthy Presbyterian merchant is found murdered in his kitchen, so Mackenzie and Scougall investigate. It feeds into some dark goings-on within that household as well as spiritual crisis and mental illness. During that time people were very worried about blasphemy, atheism and the ideas that were circulating.”
Writing historical novels around a day job is no mean feat, but Douglas finds writing therapeutic.
“For me, writing is a bit like the golf course. Being in the world of finance, can be pretty full-on, but during my lunch breaks and evenings I’m escaping into a different mental zone completely. I find it very relaxing.”
“I work in Edinburgh, so I just grab my laptop and go write in a café for an hour. If I’ve got the energy, I sometimes write in the evenings too. It takes me about two or three years to write and research each book. They are all set in consecutive years and when I started writing the series, I planned to take them right up to the year 1707. The first novel took place is 1686 but I’ve only just reached 1691 now!”
Luckily, book number six in the series is already forming in Douglas’s mind.
“The next one will be set in the West of Scotland in Hamilton. I’m also planning the one after that too! Number seven is particularly exciting because it will be set in 1692, which was the year of the Massacre of Glen Coe. It’ll be written around that event.”
Another 17th century event which fascinates Douglas is the Darien scheme, which saw Scotland’s efforts to conquer part of Panama end in catastrophe. Douglas wrote the non-fiction title The Price of Scotland on the subject, which won the Senior Hume Brown Prize in Scottish History in 2008.
“It’s a piece of history that has absolutely everything – ships across the Caribbean, storms, slavery and gold! I look forward to writing it, at some point!”
“Dark goings-on as well as spiritual crisis