AD | Rob McInroy's Perthshire Crime Fiction Series
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Oxford has Inspector Morse, Shetland has Jimmy Perez, Edinburgh Inspector Rebus. Now, thanks to Crieff-born writer Rob McInroy, Perthshire has Bob and Annie Kelty. Rob has written four books in his historical crime series set in Crieff and Perth in the 1930s and 1940s and they’re beginning to make a splash in the world of crime fiction.
The first book, Cuddies Strip, was based on true crimes in Perth in 1935 and was longlisted for a Crime Writers’ Association award for best debut novel. “Highly recommended” by Val McDermid, it introduces us to Bob Kelty, a gauche and painfully shy young policeman who investigates terrible crimes on the Cuddies Strip, just outside Perth.
At the end of the second book, Barossa Street, also set in Perth, Bob relocates to Crieff, where he sets up a café in James Square. The third book, Moot, opens here with Bob and his new wife Annie working at the 3rd International Rover Scout Moot, a scout camp which really happened on the grounds of Monzie Castle in July 1939. Suspicious events occur during the Moot, but the authorities seem strangely reluctant to investigate, leaving Bob to wonder when is a crime not a crime?
The fourth book, Barvick Falls, was shortlisted this year for the Crime Writers’ Association award for best historical novel. Again set in Crieff, it introduces us to Ellen Laing, a 12-year-old Glaswegian evacuee who comes to live with Bob and Annie. Gallus, opinionated and fearsomely bad-tempered, Ellen’s adventures are as funny as they are thrilling.
Barvick Falls also features a terrifying schoolteacher, Lorna Carrington. Everyone knows something about Lorna Carrington, but nobody knows everything. And if they did, they’d be very, very frightened. Will people talk to one another in time to stop her from doing something truly terrible?
December sees the publication of the eagerly-awaited fifth book in the series, Maggie Walls Wood. It is now March 1940 and Bob, a pacifist, has been called up for national service. He must decide what to do and his resolve and courage are about to be tested to the absolute limit.
Meanwhile, Ellen is still getting into mischief. Despite living in Crieff for over six months, she still feels like an outsider, untrusted and untrustworthy. She learns the story of Maggie Walls, a local woman burned as a witch, and feels an instant connection she can’t explain.
Where will this lead? And what will she do when she discovers she is not the only person to endure prejudice?
At turns moving, hilarious and frightening, Maggie Walls Wood is a story about outsiders and how life can be made very difficult for people who don’t conform.
Rob is very keen to use Perthshire as the backdrop for his novels. “People of my parents’ generation,” he said, “who lived in Crieff through the war, are now dying off, and I want to remind everyone of what life was like back then.”
He’s not finished yet. “There will be ten, or possibly twelve, books in the series,” he said, “taking Bob and Annie through to the 1980s.”
So there’s much more historical crime fiction with a Perthshire flavour to come.
You can find out more about Rob’s books on his website at www.robmcinroy.co.uk
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