Books with Real Settings in Rural (ish) Scotland?

[Ann]

Help. I am going to be writing an article for an international mystery journal. I'll be doing a sort of armchair travel (or for real travel) around Rural (ish) Scotland. Do you have any suggestions of books that have Settings in REAL locations in rural Scotland? Rural-ish means approximately 0-2,000 population (so small town, village, very rural). Not Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc. Books written in the last 20 years would also be ideal so that the settings may still be close to the same as described in the book. Any mystery genre. I'll be reviewing quality of writing and the real locations and how well the author infuses that setting in the book. Thank you!

[Gram]

The Hamish MacBeth series (more than 30 books - from 1985 to the present day) by M.C. Beaton is a delight. They are set in the Scottish Highlands, in the fictional village of Lochdubh (which means 'black lake'(loch) in Gaelic) , in the real county of Sutherland.

[Gram]

There's also a series of crime novels based on the Shetland Islands (the most northerly part of Scotland) by Ann Cleeves who writes about a Shetland-based police detective Jimmy Perez.

I should point out that some of this series of books and the Hamish MacBeth books have been turned into TV dramas by BBC Television.

[Ann]

Thank you Gram!

[Miss M]

Two I can think of:
Aline Templeton's Marjory Fleming - Cold in the Earth
and Peter May's Lewis trilogy (also set in the islands) - The Blackhouse

[I just saw Gram's comments in my feed and joined the group so...hi! :)]

[[deleted user]]

This series A.D. Scott that starts with A Small Death in the Great Glen is set in Inverness and environs.

I think Ian Rankin has a book set in The Black Isle but I might be mistaken.

[Ann]

Thank you Miss M and Paisley!

[Feliks, Moderator]

Hammond Innes wrote at least a couple books with a Scots setting. Then there's the infamous 'Whiskey ship' story.

[Miss M]

A few from my TBR stack, so unread but i think they fit the bill:

In The Shadow Of The Hill by Helen Forbes
Orkney Twilight by Clare Carson
Whisky from Small Glasses: A DCI Daley Thriller by Denzil Meyrick

[Ann]

Feliks wrote: "Hammond Innes wrote at least a couple books with a Scots setting. Then there's the infamous 'Whiskey ship' story."

As always, thank you Feliks!

[Ann]

Miss M wrote: "A few from my TBR stack, so unread but i think they fit the bill:

In The Shadow Of The Hill by Helen Forbes
Orkney Twilight by Clare Carson
[book:Whisky from Small ..."

Miss M ... you sure have some at your fingertips! Thank you...if you think of any others feel free to add at any time.

[Feliks, Moderator]

nonfiction, one of my fave sociological studies takes place in the Shetland Isles. Hard to find more remote than that...The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

[Miss M]

One more suggestion - you may already be aware of this...
The website stopyourekillingme organizes crimefic by region, here's Scotland.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Loc...

Good luck! Looking forward to your article.

[[deleted user]]

The Wasp Factory is more of a thriller type novel than a mystery, and the rural location isn't really named, but is well described.

[Ann]

Miss M wrote: "One more suggestion - you may already be aware of this...
The website stopyourekillingme organizes crimefic by region, here's Scotland.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Loc......"

Thank you...I was not aware of it actually Miss M! NOW I am :)

[Ann]

Paisley wrote: "The Wasp Factory is more of a thriller type novel than a mystery, and the rural location isn't really named, but is well described."

Paisley, thriller is ok...still listed under the more general topic of mystery. I'll check to see if the actual location is mentioned anywhere in it...

[Ann]

Ann wrote: "Miss M wrote: "One more suggestion - you may already be aware of this...
The website stopyourekillingme organizes crimefic by region, here's Scotland.

http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Loc......"

And I just glanced through it...there are going to be many appropriate ones on this website!

[Miss M]

Ann,
For me, that website is like going down a rabbit hole--I can get stuck for days! Have fun... :)

[Gram]

Glad to be of help Ann - especially since I'm a Scotsman!

I forgot to mention one of the latest additions to the field of "Tartan Noir" - T.F. Muir whose main character is Detective Chief Inspector Andy Gilchrist. These books (4 so far) have been published in the past 4/5 years and are set in the present, in and around the University town of St Andrews (population around 17,000) and other small towns on the East coast of Scotland, such as the fishing port of Anstruther (just to confuse folk, it's pronounced "Ainster"!). St Andrews is also home to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships. I haven't read all of them but I can recommend the first one in the series - "Eye For An Eye".

[Kay]

Take a look at the Lewis Trilogy by Peter May. The main character is a Scottish detective assigned to a case on an island in the Outer Hebrides. Writer Mays brilliantly captures the insular culture of the people living on this remote island,

[Freight]

Alan Warner's Morvern Callar, perhaps? largely set in Oban

[Feliks, Moderator]

Len Deighton's Spy Story takes place in a remote Scottish island