The Last Victim in Glen Ross

M.G. Kincaid

Pocket Books £3.82 pbk

Rel Dec 2003

Reviewed by Ali Karim

Kincaid’s debut novel is an intricate mystery tale plotted in the spider-web style reminiscent of the golden age of crime fiction, brought right up-to-date with modern protagonists and a setting to die for – literally.

It takes all of tough Scottish Detective Seth Mornay’s skill to work on a murder case and keep his fractured private life in check. Mornay is a decorated former Royal Marine, now working in the small Aberdeenshire town of Macduff in Northern Scotland. Following his military career, he finds himself a decade later - a police DS and kept on a short leash by his boss, Detective Inspector Walter Byrne. Watching Byrne and Mornay from a distance is Chief Inspector McNab who knows the politics that connect the local constabulary to the troubling case of Ina Mathews, a local rose gardener found brutally stabbed in a local cemetery. As Mornay investigates, he soon finds himself enmeshed in the thorns of an earlier case, a case of the apparent suicide of Rector Evan Whelan’s wife Julia. Mornay soon realizes that his superior, Byrne seems to be steering the investigation off course, but doesn’t understand why. In the shadows we have the peculiar Sandrington family who seem to have secrets that they keep religiously guarded, as well as a linkage to the Rector and his own past and that of his housekeeper. Soon the victim’s cousin, Sarah Jenkins appears and more spider strands are woven into this witches brew, with many other characters muddying the investigation.

Kincaid as a novelist has a real evocation of place and landscape, as well as the mastery in managing (and defining) a large cast of characters and creating linkages that make the reader fly through the pages. Mornay is a very interesting lead protagonist and I admired the way Kincaid slowly reveals his character like a raw onion being peeled. Kincaid leaves much of Mornay still in the shadow as we have much more to learn about this troubled ex-Marine.

If character driven mystery novels with a strong sense of place are you cup of tea, then this novel is an extra strong brew. Rural Scotland rarely felt so malevolent.