The Peat Dead

                                                        
                                                               Mr Allan Martin


Today I am heading for Cambridge for the Heffers Summer Party and the What's Your Poison event so I am in all manner of Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

Knowing that this was coming up,  I blagged a guest blog from a man I met on one island, who writes about another but it turns out he now lives on the mainland in Milngavie ( pronounced mill guy just to confuse people).

And, he's just been long listed for the McIlvanney Debut Award!!

Mr Allan Martin has been a  teacher, a teacher trainer and a university lecturer. He only turned to writing fiction after taking early retirement.  From his website, he seems to travel a lot spending much of his time in the Hebrides ( pronounced Heb  Rid  Dees, not He Brides as I heard someone call them once, a Scottish person I hasten to add !). Indeed he has translated an Estonian locked room mystery into English. He knows a lot about Scottish things and has published short stories in the iScot magazine and 404Ink.

He handed me a copy of The Peat Dead TS a few years ago when I was doing an event on the Isle Of Bute. It was a good book, well written and quite atmospheric.  I liked the review that said Police Procedural meets Brexit Noir! Mix that with a beautiful island, a historic murder or two and some weather, and you have The Peat Dead.

The books feature Insp Angus Blue and forensic Archaeologist Dr Alison Hendrickx.

Apologies for the gap in the text below but between me and my dog, we couldn't fix it!
                 
                                                       

Islay by Allan Martin
                                     
                          

Islay is one of the larger islands of the Hebrides. It’s often known as the “Queen of the Hebrides,” although it’s not clear who first applied that sobriquet. 

It has an ancient history. Standing stones and hill forts indicate ancient occupation of this fertile island. The magnificent Kildalton Cross bears witness to early Christianity. And in the Middle Ages Islay was the centre of the realm of the Lords of the Isles; you can still visit their headquarters – an island on a loch on an island – at Finlaggan. At that time war galleys would have been a frequent sight around the island’s coasts, as well as the trading ships that carried goods and people up and down the western seaboard.

                                        

 Later on Islay felt the pain of the clearances, as landlords turned people off their lands in the pursuit of wealth. The Islay landlords may have been less vicious than others – offering assisted passages to the New World to get rid of their tenants – but the effect was the same. Much of Islay that is empty today was bustling with activity in times gone by.

Let’s fast forward to World War Two. Like many of the more remote parts of Scotland, Islay was a busy place back then. The air base at Glenegedale offered a runway long enough for big planes coming over from America, via Newfoundland or Iceland. And all sorts of secret activities went on there. Nowadays Islay’s modest airport sits on part of  the site.

Islay’s bustling capital is Bowmore.  Visit Roy’s Celtic House shop, with a great selection of books and an excellent cafe upstairs. Islay’s other main settlement is Port Ellen, a picturesque village clustered around a sandy bay. The biggest building here is the malting plant which serves the island’s distilleries.

And distilleries are a species Islay’s not short of: there are nine now. Whisky is part of Islay’s identity, and central to its economy. And each one tastes different, so you need to visit several! At Bruichladdich you can draw a bottle of your own from a unique numbered cask. Ardbeg, as well as the smokiest whisky, has the best cafe on the island. If you go to Lagavulin, look across the bay, where the story comes to a shattering climax, to see on a headland the dramatic ruins of Dunyvaig Castle.

                                   
History is never far away from us – that theme runs through the book. If you want a real atmosphere of past events, there are two places I’d recommend. The first is Kildalton, where the ancient stone cross presides over a landscape emptied of its once-thriving population. The second is Solam, a village where, as the story goes, plague was brought by a shipwrecked sailor, and the village cut itself off, to save the rest of the island. The skeletons of houses in the empty glen are very evocative.

You’ll find Islay a welcoming place. The Ileachs are friendly people, and there’s plenty to do and see. There are good walks, including the tempting ‘Three Distilleries Path,’ fine beaches, good places to stay and to eat. But before you go, read The Peat Dead – it’ll whet your appetite. And even though I’m biased, I think you’ll enjoy the story too.

Photographs by Vivien Martin

Allan Martin Guest Blogging For Caro

Wishing him best of luck in the McIlvanney!