Murder at the Loch: A traditional murder mystery set in 1950s Scotland

By Eric Brown

Crime writer sleuth Donald Langham is invited to a remote Scottish castle to solve an intriguing mystery.

It’s the bitterly cold December of 1955, and Donald Langham has been asked by his friend, private detective Ralph Ryland, to assist him on a case. Ryland has been contacted by their old commanding officer, Major Cartwright, who has reasons to believe that his life is under threat at his remote castle in the Scottish Highlands.
On arriving at the castle, Langham and Ryland learn that Major Cartwright is attempting to raise the wreck of a German fighter plane which crashed into the loch in 1945. But it’s not only the bad weather that has put a halt to the progress of the salvage. Soon after Langham’s arrival, one of Cartwright’s guests is brutally murdered – and the hunt is on to stop a ruthless killer before he – or she – strikes again

• Language: English
• Publisher: Severn House Digital
• Release date: Jun 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781780107578

Eric Brown

Twice winner of the British Science Fiction Award, Eric Brown is the author of more than twenty SF novels and several short story collections. His debut crime novel, Murder by the Book, was published in 2013. Born in Haworth, West Yorkshire, he now lives in Scotland.

Reviews for Murder at the Loch

[druidgirl_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book reminded me of Agatha Christie. The story starts in a castle in Scotland with totally different types of characters.The characters are stuck in the castle because of a blizzard. I enjoyed the story line and cast of characters.****I received this book in exchange for an honest review.****

[eyes92c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Murder in the highlands!What's not to enjoy with this cosy read. A 'who dun-nit' that recalls a past era. Set in a crumbling Scottish castle by a loch, with plenty of action and a cast full of possibilities.It's 1955 and about to be married, Donald Langham accompanies his old army chum and friend turned private investigator, Ralph Ryland to a remote part of the Scottish highlands. Their ex-commanding officer, Major Cartwright has requested Ryland's help. Cartwright and a friend are attempting to salvage a German plane that crashed into the loch just before the end of the war. But what ensues is murder, and the perpetrator must be one of the guests trapped within the snow bound castle! I felt like I was there, lost in the 1950's, as the puzzle becomes even more tightly knit and the culprit or culprits ever more evasive.A NetGalley ARC

[iansales_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Eric is a friend of many years, although I wouldn’t read these books – Murder at the Loch is the third in the series – if I didn’t enjoy them. True, they won’t set the crime genre alight, and they might even be described as a bit “cosy”, but they’re fun undemanding reads, and it’s clear the author’s heart is in the right place. The stars are Donald Langham, a crime novelist, and his fiancée, Maria Dupré, a French immigrant, who works for his literary agent. The stories are set in the 1950s, which means the author doesn’t have to worry about mobile phones and the like generating so many plot contortions the story falls apart (in fact, part of the plot of Murder at the Loch involves the cast being cut off for several days at a Scottish cancel, with no way to telephone for help). While the back-story makes mention of WWII – in fact, it triggers the plot in in this book – and there are number of small details which anchor the novel to its time and place, it does sometimes read a little like it takes place in a political and historical vacuum. But that’s a minor quibble. Langham and ex-army pal and now PI, Ryland, are called up to Scotland by their old CO, Major Gordon, who now runs a posh hotel in a renovated castle. Someone took potshots at him and a guest a couple of days previously, and he’s understandably worried. What follows is a fairly typical country house mystery plot, with a few twists. Sunk in the loch is a Dornier Do 217 from early 1945, and its presence is a mystery as the Germans had stopped bombing the UK by then. It was while attempting to salvage this that Gordon and his Dutch engineer were shot at. Also resident in the hotel, or turn up shortly after Langham and Ryland arrive, are Gordon’s Byroneseque layabout son, an aloof Hungarian countess, a German aircraft enthusiast, a retired academic investigating the castle’s ghosts, and the three staff, including a young woman who is more of a family friend. A snow storm cuts off the castle, the Dutch engineer is brutally murdered, and you can’t really get a more faithful implementation of the country house murder template than that. But if the identity of the killer isn’t all that hard to figure out, and the clues dropped along the way make the motive as plain as day, it’s all handled with a nice light touch and very readable prose. I pretty much read Murder at the Loch in an afternoon, and sometimes that’s the sort of book you want to read.

[cathyskye · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you are a fan of classic Golden Age mysteries, Murder at the Loch should be your perfect cup of tea because it has just that feeling about it. The puzzle is the thing, as it usually is with books originally written during that period. I, on the other hand, tend to prefer my crime fiction with more characterization added to the mix. This book is well written and has a good, fast pace to it, but I found it rather easy to deduce the identity of the killer, and-- ultimately-- the book just wasn't very exciting. But as we all know, your mileage may definitely vary!