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My guest this week is Alan Calder, author of The Glorious Twelfth, a mystery/suspense
novel set in Scotland.
The Glorious Twelfth is set in my native Caithness
where I was brought up and went to school. The most northerly Scottish mainland
county has a particular atmosphere. It lies beyond the Highlands, the people a
mix of Viking and Gael, the land littered with the stones of its prehistory,
the geography dominated by the rugged cave infested cliffs of old red
sandstone, the sky vast and the sea always brooding. Indeed the sea has always
played a vital role in Caithness life, especially during the 19th
century when the herring fishing became established and provided the basis of
between the wars writer Neil Gunn’s famous novel, The Silver Darlings.
Caithness is a unique place and a fitting setting for the first novel that I
began to write.
In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown speculates
that the Holy Grail lies buried in the filled in crypt of Rosslyn Chapel near
Edinburgh. This mysterious church was built by the Sinclairs in the first half
of the fifteenth century, by which time the clan was well established in
Caithness where it still holds the Earldom. Caithness, then remote and
inaccessible, would have provided a much better hiding place for the Grail than
Rosslyn, especially after the Sinclairs began to build a series of heavily
fortified castles round the Caithness coast.
In Caithness, the Sinclairs also built
several mausoleums where many generations of their upper echelons were laid to
rest. One of these, an enchanting building with an ogive shaped roof, is built
over the remains of an ancient chapel to St Martin and surrounded by a
graveyard which once contained a class II Pictish stone, conferring great
antiquity on the site. So the mystery of
the Sinclair Clan is the main driver of the novel.
The Glorious Twelfth opens on an
archaeological dig led by archaeologist, Ben Harris, on the land of Sir Ranald
Sinclair. Ben is soon distracted both by the laird’s beautiful daughter, Fran
and artefacts that point to a medieval shipwreck near a cave that he discovers
is connected by a tunnel to Sir Ranald’s mausoleum.
ABOUT ALAN CALDER
Alan Calder is a Scottish born writer who
divides his time between Yorkshire and his native Caithness. He is married to
Jennifer and has two daughters and four grandchildren. He has BSc and PhD
degrees in chemistry from the University of Aberdeen.
Writing novels and poetry follows a
successful career in research and marketing with ICI/Zeneca. He was made a CBE
in 1996 for services to the chemical industry. He is also interested in
fishing, walking and photography. His first book, The Stuart Agenda, was
published in 2011.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Glorious Twelfth opens as archaeologist Ben Harris
finds a Celtic stone and evidence of a medieval shipwreck on the Noster estate
of Sir Ranald Sinclair. Careless talk by Ben at a conference in Paris sparks
off a robbery at Sir Ranald’s mausoleum,
uncovering a treasure that has been hidden for centuries. The robbery follows
the opening day of the grouse season, hence the title of the book. The chief
villain, grail fanatic Russian Boris Zadarnov, also abducts Sir Ranald’s
wayward daughter, Fran, who is already in love with Ben. American oilman Al
Regan, a neighbour of Sir Ranald, leads a rescue party to Paris where Fran is
freed and most of the treasure recovered, but the thieves escape with a ruby
encrusted chalice
For a series of misdemeanours, Ben is
sacked from his university job. He finds consolation in the arms of Fran and
moves north to continue treasure hunting, making the discovery of his life near
one of the ancient Sinclair castles. Has he found the greatest archaeological
prize in Christendom, the Holy Grail? Will he be able to protect it from the
malevolent attention of the Russians?
The genre is mystery/suspense with a streak
of romance running all the way through. The action takes place mainly in
Caithness with forays to Edinburgh, France, Italy, Egypt and Poland. The book
can be downloaded to e-readers from Amazon or the publisher’s website.
Buy Links for The Glorious Twelfth
Also by Alan
Calder, The Stuart Agenda published by Willowmoon www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005BJ3GNI
5 comments:
Sounds like great fun, Alan. Did researching this book create an interest in archeology or was it something that always fascinated you?
Couldn't help but wonder if my ancestors had anything to do with the history in your novel.
Alan, you've hit on some of my favorite things--Scottish history, archaeology, and suspense. I'm sure I'll enjoy The Glorious Twelfth. Looking forward to it?
BTW, one of my ancestors was Redmon McFarlane from Scotland--long, long ago.
Thanks all for the comments. I have a long standing interest in archaeology especially in the north of Scotland which is particularly rich in sites. In a future blog I'll be talking in more detail about how archaeology helped to inspire the writing of The Glorious Twelfth. Interesting to note the Scottish ancestry of Maryn and Ellis. My wife is also a Sinclair and Calder has strong Caithness affiliations. In the north it's always interesting to wonder whether you're of Viking descent. I know from Y chromosome analysis that I'm not. I'm a descendant of the original hunter gatherers who moved into Britain after the Ice Age. Best wishes
I would like to read your future blog on inspiration of the plot for this book. Where? I am curious whether you outline or write to see what you are going to say (Flannery O'Connor). Do you have a favorite author in this historical thriller genre? Enjoyed the post. Thanks Ellis for the spotlight.
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