A Double Death on the Black Isle (46 page)

Which of the new characters in this novel most intrigued you, and why?

Patricia Ord Mackenzie of course! Even now, I don't know her and am still intrigued by her. I feel that if I met her I would like her yet at the same time be slightly intimidated. Believe me, there are many of her ilk still living
on country estates throughout the UK. Yes, the class system is alive and well.

Spatial relationships and positions are very important in this novel—where the Devil's Den is located in relation to the Munro farmhouse; where the Dores Inn is located in relation to the Falls of Foyers, etc. How do you keep it all straight when you're writing? Do you create maps?

First, this is my home. This area is where I was born and brought up. We used to holiday on the Black Isle and I couldn't count the times we crossed over on the ferry, the old Eilean Dubh (Gaelic for Black Isle). I married on the Black Isle, had children, and my son went to a local one-teacher school there. But, as an aide-memoire, I have an original and very detailed map of the area printed in 1954. The map has great detail and the topography is shaded in beautiful colors.

Of all of these characters, whose voice comes to you the most naturally? Whose requires the most crafting?

Hmmm, that's a tough question. I find it most difficult to write Joanne as I too want to shake her and say, “Have more confidence in yourself!” But the most naturally? That's easy. Don MacLeod. I want a best friend just like him.

Tell us about your inspiration for the May Day scene. Was this a ritual you ever took part in as a child?

Yes, it is—in parts. My mother and my grandmother had so many superstitions and rituals that, as a child, it never occurred to me that not everyone saw faeries and
bogymen and ghosts. It never occurred to me that standing stones were unusual, that not everywhere were there castles and ruins and fairy wells. The May Day ritual of washing your face in the morning dew was fun. Hanging a cloth at the Clootie Well was fun. Picnicking at the stone circle of Clava was fun but creepy too. It is a strange place indeed.

There is such electricity between Joanne and McAllister! Will it ever be realized?

Wait and see!

Issues of class are very important within the novel. For those readers who might not be familiar with Scottish history and culture, can you give us some background on what the socioeconomic structures of Scotland looked like in the 1950s?

It would take a huge volume to explain that. Back then, everyone knew their place, “The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate.”

One thing we have lost is the pride and status the workingman had in his employment. If you worked on the railways, for the postal office, or on the farm, there was a pride in those essential jobs that seems to have disappeared. As for the Lairds, very few of them left too. Nowadays, the estates are mostly owned by insurance companies or rich people from Europe.

In one particularly evocative passage, McAllister thinks to himself, “The lochs, trapped in the long narrow glen by bleak and beautiful mountains, ended in an equally
grand manner on the west coast. They could not be seen, but their presence, their geography, made the town what it is. And the people what they are.”
Can you elaborate further on this idea? Do you think every person's character is influenced by the physical landscape that surrounds them, or is there something unique to the influence of the Scottish Highlands?

I absolutely believe we are shaped by the landscape of childhood. I believe that throughout our lives our physical environment influences us. But even in the bleakest of circumstances we can find inspiration, be it in a flower, a cloud, a shaft of sunlight. As for the Scottish Highlanders, we are shockingly sentimental about our Highland home. The Bard Rabbie Burns put it best, “My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here . . . my heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.”

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Also by A. D. Scott

A Small Death in the Great Glen