Flawed Characters:The Party House By Lin Anderson

I had an early holiday, actually - I was house and dog-sitting for friends and picked up two books to put in the suitcase; well, the weather forecast was bleak. Yet again, coincidence hit the spot. I knew this novel was set in the Scottish Highlands but when I read the intro to the author, Lin Anderson, and saw that she co-founded the Bloody Scotland Crime Festival which is held in Stirling, I looked up at the Wallace Monument, because Stirling was exactly where I was. It made me feel quite at home.

There is a map at the beginning which I always find useful. I like a map: it usually helps to remind the reader of the geography of the setting.

Set sometime after the covid pandemic and lockdown, the village of Blackrig is still reeling from tragedy. Wealthy visitors to the remote Highland village had previously come up from London, flagrantly breaking lockdown rules, to enjoy luxury, fun and frolics at the Party House, more properly known as Ard Choille. They had brought with them ‘the invisible enemy’ and it was vulnerable locals who paid the price: six deaths including ‘four tiny coffins’. Now, the estate owners, Global Investment Holdings, plan to reopen the Party House and the locals are not happy; no one was ever held responsible for what they see as murder and reopening the house now, is too soon. Grief is still raw.

It’s a fine balancing act when trouble erupts, especially when he has secrets and a troubled conscience.

Greg is the estate gamekeeper who has to tread a difficult path: a local boy, he must try to appease both friends and employers. It’s a fine balancing act when trouble erupts, especially when he has secrets and a troubled conscience.

Having been sent to London to publicise Ard Choille ahead of its reopening, Greg meets Joanne and after a weekend of sex and sensuality, invites her to visit him whenever she wishes – an invitation she accepts, all too eagerly. She has her own secrets and meeting Greg was no coincidence but a carefully designed ploy. He is the chosen one; he has his uses, he just doesn’t realise it.

Then there’s Ailsa Cummings who went missing five years ago and whose body is suddenly discovered in the grounds of the Party House. No longer a missing person cold case, this is now a murder case and DI Snyder does not care how much he stirs up the horrors and passions of the past if it means he finds the perpetrator. Forensics suggest Ailsa was raped and murdered. All the men in the village had been under suspicion when she first went missing and this time, DNA and fingerprints are taken from them all as the police seek a match, setting the locals on edge.

As a landowner, he regards himself as a local but is arrogant and insensitive, with little compassion and no tact.

The mood isn’t helped by the presence of the obnoxious Aidan Statton and his party at the Party House. As CEO of Global Investment Holdings, he has brought his friends up from London to enjoy the facilities prior to the grand reopening. As a landowner, he regards himself as a local but is arrogant and insensitive, with little compassion and no tact. He and some of his party seem to revel in macabre fashion, in the morbid details of past events. He was there at the time of Ailsa’s disappearance, too, and seems to have some hold over Greg which he uses in an almost menacing fashion. It doesn’t help when he brings his friends to a private party in the local pub. Despite being denied entry, he tries to use his weight and self-perceived authority, to force his way in, causing still more ill feeling.

Using DNA evidence, the police identify who Ailsa had sex with before she died and the first arrest is made and so the nightmare starts all over again. Friendships are tested, intimacies and secrets are revealed and healing may take a long time, especially in such a small community. More arrests follow; more questions are asked. In the end, it appears Ailsa died for the oldest of motives: jealousy and a desire for revenge. The case is solved but not without a few shocking revelations. The reader has come to know the locals, has eavesdropped on private conversations, and feels a part of the community, so shares the emotional response.

Who escaped retribution and who didn’t? Who stuck rigidly to the rules and feels let down by the many who did not? Here, a group of rich, self-important people thought nothing of flouting all advice ...

Joanne’s secret provides a secondary thread in this layered tale, as it touches on coercive control and worse; Richard is a menacing presence despite the distance between them. Whether or not she and Greg ever tell each other the truth and find a way forward is for the reader to find out.

There is some beautiful description of the wild highlands, the changing light and the magical forest with its trail of creatures. The fire is a serious threat and treated with due respect as the locals come together to fight it and save their village. It’s a detailed account, lending the novel authenticity.

The novel does throw up the interesting question of the difference between murder and causing someone’s death. Lockdown rules have been called into question in the review of the government’s handling of the situation – not for discussion here – but how many of us will admit to being guilty of some infringement, however minor? Who escaped retribution and who didn’t? Who stuck rigidly to the rules and feels let down by the many who did not? Here, a group of rich, self-important people thought nothing of flouting all advice and as a result of their actions, spread a deadly virus, with fatal results. They were never held responsible but locals who mourned their dead thought them guilty of murder. This is fiction but how many of us can point to parallels, if not quite as dramatic?


The Party House is published by Pan Books