Beneath the Abbey Wall - (Highland Gazette Mystery) by A D Scott (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Booklist called A Double Death on the Black Isle, "a stunner...with lots of action, lots of atmosphere." Now the acclaimed mystery series about a newspaper staff in a 1950s Highlands town continues--everything is quiet and quaint until one of their own is murdered.

The third lyrical, evocative, and character-driven entry in A.D. Scott's mystery series set in the 1950s in the Scottish Highlands.

As a decade of change comes to a close, murder hists close to home in a small Scottish town...

On a dark, damp Sunday evening, a man taking a shortcut home sees a hand reaching out in supplication from a bundle of sacks. In an instant he knows something terrifying has happened.

In the Highlands in the late 1950s, much of the local newspaper's success was due to Mrs. Smart, the no-nonsense office manager who kept everything and everyone in line. Her murder leaves her colleagues in shock and the Highland Gazette office in chaos. Joanne Ross, a budding reporter and shamefully separated mother, assumes Mrs. Smart's duties, but an intriguing stranger provides a distraction not only from the job and the investigation but from everything Joanne believes in.

Beneath the Abbey Wall brilliantly evokes a place still torn between the safety of the past and the uncertainty of the future, when rock 'n' roll and television invaded homes, and a change in attitudes still came slowly for many. As the staff of the Highland Gazette probes the crime, they uncover secrets deeply rooted in the past, and their friend's murder becomes the perfect fodder for strife and division in the town and between her colleagues.

Review Quotes

"Beautifully written and atmospheric, Beneath the Abbey Wall transports the reader to the bleakness of Scotland after World War II. This has everything I enjoy in a book: a terrific sense of place, real people, complicated relationships and a suspenseful peeling away of layers of back-story." --Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of Hush Now, Don't You Cry


"The third installment in this fine character-driven series...expertly evokes an area struggling with a painful past as it seeks a better future."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"A plot that's ingenious, characters that are both believable and surprising, and evocative Highlands atmosphere make this another must-read."-- "Booklist (starred review)"

"Good solid writing in a character-driven story,"-- "Suspense magazine"

"Scott doles out the clues and keeps it interesting all the way to the end."-- "Suspense Magazine"

"Scott vividly evokes Scotland of the period...The well-drawn characters, who come from a range of backgrounds, give a broad view of the social milieu."-- "Publishers Weekly"