crimeworm is a big fan of Lin Anderson’s Dr Rhona MacLeod series, about a forensic scientist. This is a standalone – how does it measure up?
I’m such a big fan of Lin Anderson that I read this book as soon as I possibly could – I normally read books strictly in the order in which they’re to be reviewed, but this one jumped the queue! Dr Rhona MacLeod books are usually – but not exclusively – set in Glasgow, but this one is set in the Highlands, on a shooting estate. Having been brought up in such a background, I combed it carefully (and quizzed my Dad, who’s from further north – he even beat grouse for Prime Minister-to-be, Harold Macmillan, as a 11-year-old, and was rewarded with a £5 note, a massive sum in the early 1950s) looking for any mistakes. There were absolutely none!
Okay, so it’s set on a shooting estate. Tell us more…
Like most estates, this one earns its money by taking in parties, who go out shooting accompanied by a gamekeeper, in this case Greg, one of the principal characters. While there the groups stay at what locals call “The Party House,” as it’s become synonomous with wild parties involving large amounts of booze and drugs. During lockdown one such group came to the village, despite it being against the law, and with them they unknowingly brought a particularly virulent strain of Covid – which spread to the village, resulting in the death of five very young children, as well as the District Nurse.
So, when news gets out that The Party House is going to reopen, with Greg going to London to a game fair to promote the stunning all-mod-cons house, beautiful Highland estate and the shooting, the people of the village of Blackrig are not happy. While Greg is in London he speaks to Joanne, a journalist, to help advertise the estate. He has a fling with her, inviting her up to stay, little expecting her to appear – which she does, not long after he’s home! He’s delighted to see her – they both feel the connection they made in London had the potential to be something more.
However, Joanne has an ulterior motive, and had deliberately targeted Greg – she desperately needs to find somewhere to stay, as remote as possible, for reasons of her own.
But something disturbing happens shortly after Joanne arrives, doesn’t it?
It does indeed. A village hall meeting discussing the reopening of the estate for the first time since the lockdown deaths becomes somewhat heated, due to a group of youths related to some of the children who died interrupting it, and making threats towards the estate’s owners. Later that night, Greg’s out walking. He’s unable to sleep, thinking about the recent arrival of Joanne; the inevitable jealousy of his ex, Caroline; the reopening of the estate and the impact it could have, when he sees a group of balaclava-clad individuals.. As it’s a small village, he recognises the youths by their voices, and they smash up the paving stones around the hot tub the owners had installed close to the house. Spotting something unexpected concealed beneath, they take fright and run. Afterwards, going to investigate, Greg realises it’s the body of Ailsa – a young woman in her late teens who’d disappeared five years previously. After an investigation had netted no indication of foul play, it was presumed that she’d returned to Glasgow, from where her family had moved.
So it looks as though someone local – or staying locally – was responsible for her death, and her body being concealed under the hot tub…
Exactly – and, as before, police arrive from Inverness. They assume, as Ailsa was an attractive young woman with no shortage of male admirers, that her murderer was one of the local men. They’re all summoned to the village hall – the ad-hoc police base – to give statements and DNA tests.
But Joanne can’t help wondering: what’s Greg got to be so worried about?
What else is happening in the book?
As well as Ailsa’s body, there’s the imminent arrival of the estate owners, the same people who brought the fatal strain of Covid to the community. Joanne is desperately praying no one will come looking for her in the remote corner of the Highlands where she’s hiding, while also hoping Greg doesn’t learn what she’s writing about Blackrig. And, of course, being a journalist, she can’t help but show an interest in Ailsa’s death…
The police begin to close in on anyone they think could have had a hand in Ailsa’s death, and as the long hot summer days with no rain stretch on, the woods around the village only need one spark to go up like a tinderbox…life in Blackrig could be set to get very hot indeed…
Whoa! Sounds like there’s loads going on in this book!
There is – and I absolutely flew through this novel, loving every page – I really enjoyed feeling like it was familiar territory Lin Anderson was writing about, but even if you haven’t visited the Highlands she brings the area beautifuly to life. Ditto as regards her characters, but she’s always been skilled at breathing life into her cast, as anyone who’s read a Rhona MacLeod book will know. I didn’t find it hugely difficult to guess who killed Ailsa – the relatively small number of characters ensures that – but it’s not just Ailsa’s death that makes this book so compelling. No, it’s all the other things going on, too, so that the drama just doesn’t stop. It’s an absolutely cracking thriller, and I was absolutely gutted when I turned the last page and realised I would be leaving Blackrig, and those who populate it. It’s an utter corker of a book, a real rip-roaring read, and ensures Lin Anderson more than deserves her place at the very top table of those who write Scottish crime fiction.
This has been a great year for crime fiction, and The Party House is among the best – 2022 is truly spoiling crime and thriller fans!
Miss this at your peril!
With thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate in the Blog Tour, and Pan Macmillan for the ARC. This has not affected my review of the book, and this is my honest opinion.
Author Lin Anderson
Follow all the other magnificent bloggers and see what they thought of The Party House!
BLURB: Devastated by a recent pandemic brought in by outsiders, the villagers of Blackrig in the Scottish Highlands are outraged when they find that the nearby estate plans to reopen its luxury ‘party house’ to tourists.
As animosity sparks amongst the locals, part of the property is damaged and, in the ensuing chaos, the body of a young girl is found in the wreck. Seventeen-year-old Ailsa Cummings went missing five years ago, never to be seen again – until now.
The excavation of Ailsa’s remains ignites old suspicions cast on the men of this small community, including Greg, the estate’s gamekeeper. At the beginning of a burgeoning relationship with a new lover, Joanne, Greg is loath to discuss old wounds. Frightened by Greg’s reaction to the missing girl’s discovery, Joanne begins to doubt how well she knows this new man in her life. Then again, he’s not the only one with secrets in their volatile relationship . . .
crimeworm 